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Band: Astari Nite
Album title: Until The End Of The Moon
Release date: 13 May 2016
Label: Danse Macabre Records
Tracklist:
01. Engagement Ceremony
02. Endless Night
03. Useless Vow
04. Joyful Wish
05. Non- Disclosure Agreement
06. She Casts Spells
07. Time Hangs On Your Fingertips
08. Always Like Yesterday
09. Imaginary World
10. Until The End Of The Moon
Astari Nite, a quintet from Miami (FL), are back with a new album, their second full-lenght. The band was formed in 2008 and released their debut album, Stereo Waltz, in 2014. Since then the band was constantly releasing singles and made some videos as appetizers for things to come, so it was pretty much clear what could we expect to get from the new album, but still, there are some surprises. If the band already gained a big fan base with their flowing, melancholic and emotional version of indie/darkwave/newwave/goth/post-punk, now it's obvious that they worked even harder, because new album sounds even more mature, it's better produced, has more structural variations, but has retained all that catchy easiness that was heard on Stereo Waltz.
Until The End Of The Moon offers ten tracks that are nicely blending together vintage 80s post-punk/goth sounds with rather more modern alternative rock and by doing that they don't sound American at all, they owe everything to European/British scene. Already when you press play for the first time and songs start to spin it becomes obvious that bands such as The Cure, The Smiths, Joy Division and Ultravox might be their main influence, but as well you can hear some things associated to Placebo, Editors, The Charlatans or New Order. But Astari Nite make things a bit darker, there's kind of a melancholy constantly present that shines out best through many really captivating melodies, like for example in the mesmerizing catchy popy refrain of "Joyful Wish", a song which will most likely be stuck in your head for quite some time, where the singer Mychael Ghost gets a company of female vocalist and I don't know why they don't use this approach more often as it's a winning combination. Astari Nite's main aces are deep emotive vocals, dramatic reverberate bass lines, sparkly melodic guitars, quite playful but still powerful drum beats, everything supported by nice gothy synths and some well inserted electronic samples, as an example I could mention the atmospheric nostalgic opener "Engagement Ceremony" or rather psychedelic thumper "She Casts Spells".
The band swiftly moves between scratchy indie rock grooves and melancholic, sometimes almost romantic, but often emotive soundscapes, for example in the vibrant "Endless Night" or "Useless Vow". Astari Nite enthuse with well balanced mix of before mentioned things, but still, in my opinion the band shines best when they serve with what I think they can do best, and those are sparkly goth/pop songs with memorable refrains, like in before mentioned "Joyful Wish" or in the absolutely nostalgic closing one, the balladic album title track. I was also positively impressed by "Always Like Yesterday" and those stunning witty guitar chords in perfect relation to strong danceable rhythmic line. But, not all of the songs hit me that hard, as there's some mellowness and if you are not really a fan of the traditional British, more concrete of the Manchester's post-punk/new wave scene, it can became a bit boring while listening to tracks like are "Non- Disclosure Agreement", "Imaginary World" or "Time Hangs On Your Fingertips".
Nevertheless, Astari Nite released a good album and I recommend it to everyone into indie rock, post-punk, gothic rock, dark pop and similar genres, but also to everybody who likes to hear some smooth melancholic danceable rhythms playing in some dark club late in the night. The album still sounds somehow frozen in time and I strongly suggest the band to work a bit more on some originality, to make their output more recognizable, and by doing that they could add that "cherry on the cake" in the future. With saying all that I'm still pretty sure that some songs from this album will be on my playlist for a long time.
Review written by: T.V.
Rating: 7,5/10
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