Artist: Moonlight Malefice
Country: USA
Label: Solitary Night Collective
Formats: Digital Demo
Year: 2024
Only a week after the release of ‘Demo 2024’ there is this other short demo, also clocking under seven minutes with basically only one song as well. The first demo had a short few-seconds outro and this one has a few-second intro, so although both demos (two real tracks in total), could perfectly well have been released as one single demo, we will discuss both digital releases separately. There’s probably a story behind it, we’ll assume…
The intro on ‘Arbor Flame’ is not much more than some quiet strumming, but in a way it serves its purpose: it leads you into another track of near-perfect gloomy Black Metal. Just as ‘Demo 2024’ the main asset of this track (‘Candlelight Vigil’) is the thorough late 90’s/early 00’s Black Metal spirit. In the review for ‘Demo 2024’ I drew comparisons with Weltmacht, early Xasthur and Leviathan and mostly the more sombre sounding Nargaroth. A firmly riff-based mournful sort of Black Metal that is seldomly heard these days. After all, what passes for Depressive Black Metal today is really only a shadow of what it once was, and the whole thing today is typically peppered with icy screams and thick layers of keyboards – mostly to hide a lack of talent.
That is certainly not the case here, just as ‘Demo 2024’ it is the excellent song writing and sense for emotionally-laden riffs and melodies that makes ‘Arbor Flame’ another fine exercise in meaningful and substantial Black Metal. In comparison, this song is even a bit more strong on the riffs than the other, hiding a bit of those more pensive Moonblood recordings.
Since the identity of Pale Inquisitor is hidden in the mystery of the music, we can only guess at, say, age or possible musical background. But whether we are dealing with a young newcomer or rather a veteran, one thing is for certain: this pale figure knows his stuff more than well.
