Cursed Moon : " Rite of Darkness"

When a project claims to combine Christian Death with King Diamond they are obviously going to have my attention. I would say Christian Death and Venom might be a better comparison. The vocals are only element that is metal thus far, otherwise it death rock. Falling somewhere between Sisters of Mercy and Christian Death. The second song follows the same formula, the lyrics are about the anti-Christ, giving it a little more metal slant. By the time we get to the third song I am getting a little discouraged by the vocals. I like the reverse goth vocals over heavier music. Now I am getting roared vocals over music that is not as heavy. This one man project, begins to show the problem with many one man band's which is two fold. First some instruments are better played than others. I think the guitar playing is the best hear and the bass playing is a little clunky. Secondly it's pulling from a limited spectrum of influence . All the songs are beginning to sound like they are just stealing a page of early Sisters of Mercy. The keyboards are also way to strong in the mix, if this was
a band one of the four other people might have said, hold one maybe it might sound better like this...

"Ritual Sacrifice" is a little like a goth version of "Countess Bathory". There is a little more punk punk to "Creatures of the Night".  The chorus has a gang vocal. By the time we get to "Demon" the novelty is wearing off and we are beginning to fall into drudgery. I am the target audience for this sort of thing so sif you are losing my attention then maybe, my preferred formula of goth vocals and heavy music might be a better option. I think what he is doing here could work as a dynamic , but not for an entire album. I don't hate it, all the songs just sound the same. I am guessing this guy just can't sing so that why he is going this route. Even a spoken Joy Division vocal would have worked. Not really asking you to be King Diamond. The vocal is more spoken on "Witches Danse" but it is still that more rugged metal tone. Then when he covers " A Rock and a Hard Place" we hear why he was wise not to sing. He makes an attempt and can't get his voice down there so it makes him awkwardly ptichy.

There is a more Mercyful Fate like riff to "Turn the Cross Upside down" but his guitar tone is too clean. This song would have benefited from more grit from the guitars. I can appreciate where he is trying to go here. The cover of Skinny Puppy's "Assimilate" is pretty rough as well and this one didn't take any vocal wizardry. I like where this project could go the execution can be iffy in spots so I'll give this a 7.