Moonlight Malefice – Demo 2024 [Demo]

In the span of just a week, American Moonlight Malefice has delivered two digital demos. Although both demos last only a little over 6 minutes, that should not spoil the fun for those who love raw but also atmospheric Black Metal. This anonymous one-man formation clearly knows how to write an incantatory piece of music…

While the music might seem instrumental at first, there are actually some vocals deeply tucked away in the guitar-dominated sound of ‘Demo 2024’. That one fact already gives away much of what Moonlight Malefice is built on. Although the harshness and unpolished nature of the music provides a lot of atmosphere, it is clear that Pale Inquisitor, the unknown entity behind Moonlight Malefice, knows his (or her) stuff when it comes to song writing. With clearly one layer of guitar that he allows to come to the fore, this musician makes himself vulnerable by showing what he has to offer. After all, the guitar not only carries the musicality, but also the atmosphere. There are no audible or at least no prominent keyboards used in the single track and the few seconds of the outro, so everything comes down to the guitar which generates haunting and at the same time melancholic melodies and riffs.

The bare structure and character of the music contribute to that same eerie feeling the music conveys. This way it aligns rather splendidly with the first wave of gloomy Black Metal; meaning Xasthur, Weltmacht, Leviathan and with the more sombre sounding Nargaroth (‘Geliebte Des Regens’). Especially that Nargaroth album feels very close on an emotional level.