Now here's a hard working band. MOONLIGHT AGONY might not be the most original act in the planet still their music is quite intellectual and well performed. These Swedes have definitely listen A LOT of times the albums of SYMPHONY X, EVERGREY and everything else in between (is there anything else in between really?) and they have managed not simply release a copycat album from the above mentioned acts but mostly a heavily influenced piece of work.
MOONLIGHT AGONY are indeed a hard working act. Formed in 1999 they have already released three demo CD's (Dust in 2001 Moonlight Agony in the same year and Echoes Of A Nightmare in 2002) and one full length album in 2004 (Echoes Of A Nightmare). In they ranks they include Chitral Somapala (ex FIREWIND ex AVALON ex... lots of things) and Christer Zigge Pedersen (DRAGONLAND) while their line up in general has suffered a lot of changes through the years.
So what's Silent Waters is all about? Well performed technical power metal, quite catchy and a distinct voice on top. Indeed Chitral gives that extra something to the whole package making it really interesting. Don't get me wrong: MOONLIGHT AGONY is a band with quite talented performers that easily managed to pull out an album that can last long against the test of time. Indeed I managed to listen this album three times in a row and never felt down for a moment.
The album is packed with a good production, yet they could do a bit more hard work on this and get a much flashier outcome. Still considering this is only the band's second full length runner I must admit that MOONLIGHT AGONY should be consider a force on the rise in the near future.