Manic Movement - Dark Glitter

Manic Movement was started in 1993 and initially started out with a dark sound. They released two records, the first one being Thousand Sufferings, followed by Future Dreaming self in 2001. After the second album, things remained silent around the band for years. At least what where new material was concerned. 2009 was the year that the band decided to put out a new album, called Dark Glitter. For those unfamiliar with Manic Movement, this Belgian dark metal band released two albums with a way more heavy and darkened sound than the album we’re about to review.

For starters, the screams and grunts have been replaced by the more soothing female vocals of Virginia Fantoni. And with that, the entire sound of the band changes. The music is still dark and at times really melodic, but the female vocals take this a step more into the direction of mainstream, which is a pity.

If you stop moaning about the fact that Manic Movement transformed into an entirely different band and start focusing on the music, you’ll hear that this new direction actually works for them. The songs are deep, well-produced and have a dark, romantic atmosphere thanks to synthesizers and Virginia’s high quality vocals. The guitar solos actually fit in quite nicely with them, which is surprising at first because of the high ‘Lacuna Coil / Within Temptation’ factor.

Dark Glitter has some good moments for fans of dark, romantic metal. But for old school Manic Movement fans, this one might be hard to swallow.