Moodring - Stargazer
Alt-metalcore band Moodring is the genre’s best kept secret... For now. I really hope this band blows up, because they really deserve it, but Moodring is one of the best bands you’ve never heard of. I can’t really understand why these guys haven’t blown up more, because they’ve got a sound that’s perfect for the rock and metal scene right now. They take everything that was popular in the 90s and early 00s, at least in terms of alt-metal, metalcore, and grunge, ultimately putting it all into a blender and seeing what sticks. I was put onto this band last year through their debut EP, Showmetherealyou, and I’m pretty sure that ended up on my yearend list as a late addition, but I loved it. They had the right amount of metalcore, alt-metal, and grunge to make for a really unique, catchy, heavy, and atmospheric listen. I never reviewed it, or anything, but I did briefly talk about it. I guess that’s my quick little review, but I had no idea that they were gearing up to release a debut album until I happened to see it last week on Apple Music. I’ve been keeping up with new releases every week this year, and it just showed up, so I was pleasantly surprised. I was really excited to listen to it, especially when I listened to the two singles released from the album and they showcased a couple of different key aspects to their sound, so I was excited to give this a listen.
Thankfully, like I said in the introduction, Moodring is alt-metalcore’s (which if that’s a genre that’s been coined already, it is now, because how else do you explain all of these metalcore bands with alt-metal influences?) best kept secret, and their debut LP, Stargazer, is great. I do have one issue with this record, and I’ll get it out of the way now -- it sounds just like Showmetherealyou, just in a more expansive way. There’s nothing different about the EP compared to the album, they sound the same, but at the same time, if you haven’t heard the EP, or you just want more of this sound, you won’t care. I don’t, frankly, but it’s worth bringing up, because they don’t do anything all that different here that they did on the EP. This LP is about 15 minutes longer, clocking in at 36 minutes, but it’s more of the same style. I love it, though, and these guys really do a good job with it. They’re one of the better bands in this vein, honestly, and I wish more people would listen to them. Are they doing anything super unique? No, not really, but like Static Dress, whom I talked about yesterday, they do what they do well, and they also have a bit of a nostalgic sound. Instead of being in the scene / emo era, they’re in the 90s and early 00s metalcore, alt-metal, and grunge era. These guys would fit right in on a Deftones tour, for example, and it would be all for the better, so give these guys a listen before that becomes a reality.