Album Review: Vandor – On A Moonlit Night (Scarlet Records)

‘On a Moonlit Night’ is the highlight of the brief but already remarkable Vandor’s career. Following on from their impressive debut album, 2019’s ‘In the Land of Vandor’, the Swedish power metal band will release their second album on July 16th via Scarlet Records.

Music to buoy the soul and get the blood pumping, Vandor’s On A Moonlight Night is a classic burst of power metal glory with subtle touches of progressive rock and metal to add some depth. Once the short intro of …Darkness Looms is out of the way things get really energetic and upbeat with Mountains of Avagale. Where some stunning bass lines, fiery riffs and epic vocals combine with a pounding drum beat, touches of melody and a general feeling of majesty to get this epic started in the best way possible.

There’s plenty more chest-beating, arm-pumping and horn-throwing splendour to come though. As River of Life showcases bursts of energy, harmonised vocals and is so damn catchy. Whereas Endless Sea has a little more folkish wonder about it, a track that captures distant worlds and faraway lands.

Though the high energy tracks are awesome, it’s the beautiful ballad of Future to Behold that really stands out. The melody is gorgeous and the vocals are stunning. The heavier chug of the riffs as it goes on doesn’t detract from just how chilled it is either. The latter portion’s guitar solo is phenomenal too.

It’s back to a higher tempo but with Vandor’s penchant for massive sounding choruses with Fate of Eltoria. Enjoy the short and punchy sound of this one as what follows is simply staggering. We’re talking about The Sword to End All Wars, a 17-minute marathon that really shouldn’t be able to hold the attention in quite the way it does. This is Vandor at their most intense, most elaborate, most progressive, most traditionally power metal and most epic. To call it stunning is to not do it justice, it is simply the perfect encapsulation of not just Vandor’s power metal but power metal in general. Go big or go fucking home.

It probably should have been the ending but the short and chilled melody/softly sung vocals of the title track is a nice enough comedown after such grandiosity. Unless you get hold of the hyperactive and catchy bonus track, Enter Twilight.

Power metal legends, move over. There’s a new band here to take the crown.

Vandor – On A Moonlight Night Full Track Listing:

1. …Darkness Looms
2. Mountains of Avagale
3. River of Life
4. Endless Sea
5. Future to Behold
6. Fate of Eltoria
7. The Sword to End All Wars
8. On a Moonlit Night
9. Enter Twilight (Bonus Track)

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