THE BEAST

Moonscape - Entity, Chapter II: Echoes From A Cognitive Dystopia - Reviewed By Necromance Magazine ! Check it out here at this link: http://necromance.eu/moonscape-nor-entity-chapter-ii-echoes-from-a-cognitive-dystopia/

A lunar landscape is referred to when it is intended to denote a desolate place, a barren and lifeless wasteland. Neil Armstrong stepped on the surface of our satellite way back in 1969 and, due to its conditions - the absence of atmosphere and wind - it is to be assumed that there he will continue his imprint on the lunar wasteland. Color and learn with Teo!

Throughout the centuries and millennia, Selene (the goddess of the moon for the ancient Greeks) has excited the imagination of men. Due to its influence on the tides and human behavior, our satellite has always been the reference of a super imaginary. That is why the reference of this band is doubly interesting. MOONSCAPE is the one-man project by Havard Lunde, another of those Norwegian geniuses who offers us a full length entitled "Entity, Chapter II: Echoes from a cognitive dystopia", the continuation of his first work, "Entity" from 2017. And although , a lunar landscape could seem like a desolate offer, what Norwegian offers us is a full length composed of four songs, long, very long.

The intro, “A prelude to Grief”, is majestic and orchestral, as the canons of the genre command. A melody for a Viking burial, so you can understand me. Two scarce minutes and we are already in flour. "Illusion or Reality?" it begins to unfold within the melodic Death, and here all the good old Havard assembles it: the guitars, the bass, the keyboards and the vocals. There is a constant line of keyboards in the background that give it a completely cosmic vibe. But the power and fierceness of the vocalizations and the guitars is there. Although there are also the clean voices that give it an epic counterpoint (and, damn, they even have a little point to the Geddy Lee). Then we started with the guitar spreading and the Prog is at ease. Long musical interludes in which good old Havard begins to reel off his entire school.MOONSCAPE . The theme unfolds as a long opus until sixteen minutes, with Jon Lord-style keyboard solos, orchestrations, bells, an emotional female voice, Death, Prog ... The paradox of man - a lunar landscape that is quite the opposite: uberrimous , bombastic, leafy and loaded with epicity.

After leaving you speechless with the subject, “The Ails to Withstand” enters with a mammoth and epic opening. A good hyperkinetic pounding of the box gets you up to speed and the track slides nimbly between Death and Black. Vocalizations that complement and double each other, playing question and answer. More medieval and precious orchestrations, and everything fits here and everything is perfectly integrated. The progressive development gives way to a new guitar attack and one of those progressions in the MAIDEN / HELLOWEEN wave, and this has no end. Everything, everything grows, mutates and connects with the latest song "In the mourning hours", which is purely HELLOWEEN, but with keyboards and without the Happy Metal vibe of the Germans. And again, this shifts and flips between Prog, Power, Epic, and Bombastic. And has all this occurred to a single person? Fuck it!

So you already know about the influence of the Moon. Now it remains to be determined whether Havard Lunde or, failing that, his offspring MOONSCAPE is the work of a lunatic - a moron affected by the changing Moon - or of a Selenite, because what he does is not of this world. Because of desolate, like the lunar landscape, it has nothing. 8/10 - Necromance Magazine

MOONSCAPE is a melodic death/progressive/power metal oriented project which was formed back in 2015 by Håvard Lunde, based in Gjøvik, Norway. Musical inspirations and influences include bands like EDGE OF SANITY, OPETH, ENTOMBED, AYREON, HELLOWEEN, YES, JETHRO TULL and many more. After many years of trying to find a proper musical direction in which he felt comfortable, he formed MOONSCAPE after rediscovering EDGE OF SANITY’s 1996 classic «Crimson» album, an album that stood out as the ultimate inspiration already in his adolescent years when he first became musically active. The idea of creating music that had low-tuned guitars with good melodies on top was an appealing one, and with added atmospheric and symphonic elements and variations in terms of texture and arrangement, he was better able to reach his goal; to create a large scale composition that his listeners would later on refer to as «a musical journey».

The debut album «Entity» was released on October 2nd 2017, and received great reviews from the underground press, including a very rare 100/100 score from the Italian webzine Insane Voices Labirynth. The album is a concept album that told the story of a protagonist who isolates himself deeper and deeper into his own mind, in an attempt to escape from the real world. He finds shelter in the dark shadows of his own mind, but as a result of his isolation soon he finds himself forced to battle a demon he thought was long forgotten…

«Entity» was released as a digital album as well on a limited jewel case CD edition, pressed in only 330 copies. The vinyl edition was released in July 2018, and was limited to 100 hand numbered copies.

Ever since the release of «Entity», Lunde kept writing a follow-up album, which was released on November 23rd 2020. «Entity, Chapter II: Echoes from a Cognitive Dystopia» continued the concept where the debut left off, and marks the conclusion of the story. Whereas «Entity» was fairly atmospheric and melodic death/prog oriented, «Chapter II» has a slightly more direct expression. Still it retains the progressive orientation, with more symphonic elements and higher in tempo and intensity, qualities that are often typical to the power metal genre.

The album was released digitally and on a limited 6 panel digipack CD, pressed in 200 copies only. A vinyl edition is scheduled for release in March 2020, also limited to 100 handnumbered copies only.

In addition to the two physical albums, Moonscape’s discography also counts two singles, an anniversary reissue (Name Your Price on BandCamp) and an EP, all released during 2020.

MOONSCAPE’s discography includes the following releases:

Entity
– full length album (October 2017)
The Throes of Desperation
– digital single (January 2020)
Entity
– digital reissue to commemorate the 5 year anniversary of MOONSCAPE’s formation (February 2020)
Here With You – acoustic single (May 2020)
Resurgence E.P.
– digital E.P. released as a teaser to the new album, including two cover songs (September 2020)
Entity, Chapter II: Echoes from a Cognitive Dystopia
– full length album (November 2020)

All of MOONSCAPE’s releases are available on all major streaming services, and physical products can be purchased at moonscape.bandcamp.com.

MOONSCAPE’s music is solely written, composed, arranged, recorded and produced by Lunde himself, but features a rich variety of guests on both vocals and lead instruments. Lunde Plays bass, lead and rhythm guitars, keyboards, programming and lead and backing vocals.

GUEST PERFORMANCES:

Entity:
Jim Brunaud (The Gaemeth Project) – lead vocals
Matthew Brown (Arkhane) – lead vocals
Kent Are Sommerseth (ex- Unspoken, Varulv) – lead vocals
David Russell – piano
Leviathan (ex- Unspoken, Abyss Below, Kvesta) – lead guitars
Andreas Jonsson (ex- Spiral Architect) – lead guitars
Diego Palma (Lord Divine) – keyboards
Simen Ådnøy Ellingsen (Shamblemaths) – Acoustic and clean lead guitars
Jon Hunt – keyboards
John Kiernan – lead guitars
Alex Campbell (Seek Irony) – lead guitars
Noah Watts - lead guitars
Sean Winter – tenor saxophone
Justin Hombach (AeoS) – lead guitars

Entity, Chapter II: Echoes from a Cognitive Dystopia:
Pauli Souka (Coldbound) – lead vocals
Runar Steen Hansen (Firefight) – lead vocals
Drake Chrisdensen (Ruins of Elysium) – lead and backing vocals
David Åkesson (Qantice, Vivaldi Metal Project etc) – lead and backing vocals
Marcela Villarroel – lead vocals
Andreas Jonsson (ex- Spiral Architect) – lead guitars
Cezar Popescu (Days of Confusion) – lead guitars
Bret Barnes – saxophone
Linus Abrahamson (Guthrie Govan, PelleK, Andromeda, The Codex etc) – lead guitars
Aaron Minich (Nekrogoblikon) – keyboards
Eirik Dischler (Shamblemaths session member) – organ
Alexandra Laya (Qantice) – violin
David Russell – piano
Leviathan (ex- Unspoken, Abyss Below, Kvesta) – lead guitars
Rafael Agostino (Armored Dawn) – keyboards
John Kiernan – lead guitars
Mark Anthony K. (Projekt Gemineye) – lead guitars
Diego Palma (Lord Divine) – keyboards

LINKS:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2FD6PltivXbzITBq1L2MzR?si=nNiGjusZTbSk_W8SpoxD-w 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCevXN2-eQ1mVRKbwouNJZRw 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moonscapenorway/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moonscapenorway/

Merch: https://teechip.com/resurgence-entity2

BandCamp: https://moonscape.bandcamp.com/