Lunatica resides from Switzerland and came together in 1998. The search for a vocalist ended when Andrea entered the band in 2000. She immediately recorded the vocals for their debut album called Atlantis. Their second album called Fables And Dreams pushed them further to stardom in their home country. With New Shores these Swiss metalheads are already up to their fourth album.

 

New Shores starts very nice and easy and the comparison with a softer version of Nightwish is easily made during the first couple of tracks. Luckily enough Lunatica isn’t afraid to add in some extra influences which lead to a nice thrashy riff during “The Chosen Ones”. Above all there is still the vocals of Andrea that gives the sound its own face. A nice example of this is the song “Into The Dissonance”. Here the entire band takes a step back and Andrea shows what she’s capable of.

 

The only problem with this album lies in the second part. With “The Day The Falcon Dies”, “Farewell My Love” and “Heart Of A Lion” the power of the previous songs is completely gone. I know, “Farewell My Love” is a ballad, but it still misses the power of a great ballad such as Savatage used to make. Fortunately the band get’s fired up again during “My Hardest Walk”, but the damage is already done by then.

 

Fans of female fronted metal band with a poppy taste could like Lunatica very much. The combination of vocals with some strong arrangements and the crystal clear production of Sascha Paeth give you almost an hour of listening pleasure. Still, I think that most metalheads will find this album too soft.