Moonlit Masquerade – ‘Wreckage’

(Limb Music)

If you’ve ever wondered what it would sound like if a cathedral learned how to headbang, Wreckage by Moonlit Masquerade is your thunderous answer.

This isn’t just melodic metal, this is melodic metal in full regalia, cape billowing, chin lifted toward a blood-red sky. Wreckage doesn’t walk into the room. It kicks the doors open, summons a lightning storm, and demands a stained-glass spotlight. Subtle? Absolutely not. Restrained? Perish the thought.

From the first towering swell to the final, echoing crescendo, the album operates in unapologetic excess. The guitars don’t merely riff, they cascade in gilded sheets of harmony, stacked high like gothic arches. Every lead line feels engraved in marble. The rhythm section doesn’t just keep time; it marches with imperial authority, drums detonating like ceremonial cannons while the bass rumbles beneath it all like tectonic plates shifting under velvet.

And the vocals? Grand. Heroic. Positively Olympian. They soar, they decree, they practically commission frescoes mid-chorus. There’s a theatricality here that borders on the absurd and that’s precisely the point. Wreckage understands that melodic metal thrives in the realm of the larger-than-life. It doesn’t wink at you. It stares into the abyss and belts at it.

What truly elevates this record is its commitment to atmosphere. Everything feels vast. The production is cavernous yet polished, like reverb captured inside a palace hall. Synth textures and orchestral flourishes don’t decorate the songs they crown them. It’s bombast with intention. Pomp with purpose. Every swell, every harmony, every double-kick barrage is part of a meticulously crafted sonic monument.

Does it flirt with excess? Of course. It practically slow dances with it under a chandelier made of skulls. But melodic metal has always been at its best when it embraces its own grandeur. Wreckage doesn’t apologize for its ambition. It builds its throne from it.

In an era where irony often dilutes intensity, Moonlit Masquerade double down on sincerity. They aim for epic and they hit it with cathedral-cracking force. Wreckage is big, bold, and gloriously over the top. The kind of album that doesn’t just fill a room – it conquers it.

7/10

Essential Track – ‘Show Me The Way’

Review by Woody