From Bandcamp, “The fourth full-length album from progressive metal group LUNAR. A captivating journey through time, while reflecting on the passing of time, featuring guest appearances from Wayne Ingram, Sam Vallen, and Joe Gullace. The album deals with something we can all relate to: the passing of time. Lyrically and musically, you will experience some of the highs and lows we all feel along the way. Originally the album was to be a four-track EP with seasonal concepts, but as the cooperative wrote more and more, they decided they wanted it to be more and have some general passing of time themes as well, so they pushed forward with a full album experience.”

“A Summer to Forget” is the first song, and the sound is peculiar. Like some Progressive Rock/Metal, there are odd chord progressions, some dissonance, and even some harsh vocals. The combination of these things doesn’t push a lot of melody, although their technical skills are obvious, and the anger grows as the song continues. “Fall Back into Old Habits” is a lengthy 11 minutes, and it comes out of the gate with a deep, venomous bite. From there, the journey is dark, angry, and somewhat circuitous. I love music that is out of the box, especially Progressive music, but so far, this is a bit harsh on the senses. The funky Jazz section is interesting, however.

“Seasonal Interlude” is more introspective, melodic, and thoughtful at first, but the harsh tones roll in after the half-way mark, and the vocals are quite guttural. “Weakening Winter Touch” has more of a balance between melody and anger. Still, this music takes a good deal to digest. “Spring in my Step” has a groove that is easier to follow, at first anyway. But again, it falls back to another heavy, dissonant sound at times. The final song is divided into three parts. The first part features piano and clean vocals, the second part keyboards and a stronger riff, with deadly harsh vocals and an impressive display of technique, and the final movement more of a balance between the extremes.

To summarize the album, admittedly, does put me in a quagmire. Their technical ability is right up there with a lot of Progressive musicians, but I just wasn’t able to really enjoy the album. I like a wide variety of music, but this just didn’t click with me. Some Progressive music can be hard to digest. Still, this is something that I believe a lot of fans of music outside of the box might enjoy, and I recommend that you listen to it and decide for yourself.