MONS LVNAE -

\r\nMons Lvnae is a Portuguese female-fronted gothic/folk metal sextet and "Seven Winds" is their third demo. Their biography reads that in the beginning of their career the band played a mix of black, death and doom metal, but after a while they turned into gothic/folk metal adding even a flute to their sound. Following the steps of bands like The Gathering or Theatre Of Tragedy and Gothica and with some hints of Haggard’s musical approach yet performed with their own sound and musical attitude, Mons Lvnae features a multilayered structure supported by speed changes to restrained dynamics and the most diverse inclinations. The music is dreamy, atmospheric and easygoing with the piano and the synthesizer’s passages as well as the flute melodies that deliver a folk medieval essence to their sound with occasional inclusion of oriental rhythms while the guitar scales are really skillful. The female vocalist although she seems to possess a clear classical education she prefers to keep her distance from operatic display of any spectacular virtuosic skill and agility. Her voice is really beautiful and soaring accompanied by some deep male’s growling now and then. Although this growing tendency over the last years with the female-fronted bands has become a rather popular fashion, there are things in this album that really can make you treat this band with a less skeptic eye. Their oriental influences whenever they exist ("In Extrema Spe Salvtis", "The Long Nights Of Alamuts") are what make the difference here and for me that’s when the band shows up its highlight moments and that’s when the compositions are getting truly interesting, granting an attractive personality to their sound. From the other hand when they try to move more into The Gathering’s fields ("Lost Promise") or Theater Of Tragedy’s ("Twilight Skies") they are not bad either but they lose immediately that delicate captivation. Overall those Portuguese deliver a very nice effort, nothing unheard so far but if you like the bands mentioned above then surely Mons Lvnae will win your heart like a shot.\r\n

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\r\nVaso "Necromass" Prassa \r\n

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