LUNATICA, formed in 1998, is a Swiss band and ready to release its fourth album New Shores (27th of February) from Napalm records. As a female-fronted band, walking the line of Melodic Symphonic Metal, they move around sounds like WITHIN TEMPTATION and they mix also the progressive element.

New Shores starts the trip, with a progressive intro, DREAM THEATRE elements here, EVANESCENCE themes there and power melodic traces. So the journey to irrationality begins. Two Dreamers is a hymn to meditative state and the keyboards here draw a specific background. With a bit of Candice Night touch at the start, The Incredibles is underlining the current situation of planet and the mankind, although the lyrics somehow sound too catchy. A dirtier sound blended with a ZED YAGO aura accompanies The Chosen Ones together with narrative parts and epic percussions. There are low tempo songs as well, like Farewell My Love, where there are male vocals also, with a Glenn Hughes-ish ending, from the title one can get theme. Of course in such songs violins and choir second vocals are a must. You got it, I suppose.
Winds Of Heaven and How Did It Come To This belong as well to the 'ballad' category with nothing more to mention. In Into The Dissonance there is a symphonic outbreak in the middle that escapes the low tempo in order to prepare the ground for The Day The Falcon Dies, which is dressed with progressive massive sound, good mixture with keyboards and sharp guitars. Allegoric character is met in the lyrics, where inconsistency strikes red. Heart Of A Lion fades away from the Metal sound and, with My Hardest Walk, LUNATICA enters into progressive field again.

As far as the composition aspect is concerned, the band has given a good example of what is capable of, but as far as the lyrics are concerned, sometimes they reach a catchy limit and that is a minus, just because the lyrics distract you enough to pay attention to the music part most of the time. The inconsistency toll has already been paid, but who cares? After all it is a trip to irrationality...