Moon Wisdom
“Let Water Flow” (Hypnotic Dirge Records, 2026)
A detailed review of Moon Wisdom’s debut EP “Let Water Flow” (2026), exploring Italian Black Metal, melodic restraint, atmosphere, and musicianship.
From time to time, we jump headfirst, completely unaware of what might happen once we land, and the same thing happens with music; you jump into an album, a band, get drawn in due to the graphic aspect of a release, a little detail that catches you eye… Sometimes you hit a jackpot, sometimes it is utter rubbish. Toss of the coin, you never know what will happen.
This time around, we head off to Italy. One of those countries with which you quickly fall in love forever more. Musically speaking, and Black Metal in specific, Italy is not a country I have ever dove into. Opera IX and Mortuary Drape are the two acts I always mention, and the only two acts with which I have a connection; the remaining Black Metal scene, from the Past and the Present, is completely unknown to me; nonetheless, I decided to give Moon Wisdom a go, and to be honest I do not recall what caught my eye – as mentioned above – that made me choose to give the trio an opportunity to win me over.
Structurally, “Let Water Flow” is 1-intro, 5-tracks, 1-outro. This is, in total, around 29-minutes, which is tremendously great! And with age I started to appreciate “shorter” releases increasingly. Regarding the music itself, the band plays Black Metal with the addition of what could be called “The Heavy Metal Moments”. The band members seem to be quite talented, and that is clearly heard in these 7-tracks. There is quality, there is knowledge of music and writing. Very melodic, very carefully designed and assembled. This is not a brilliant piece of Black Metal in any way; nonetheless, and assuming the members are quite young, this clearly shows a bright path ahead.
As oddly as it may sound, I feel the music has class. Coming from Italy, one can easily expect class, of course. But how is that put into music? Uhm, great question. Risking being taken as mildly crazy, I just feel it. Ok, you feel it. Great, I will stick with that, then. Jokes aside, I feel the band’s sound is quite interesting. Not completely enrooted in the past, not completely modern; a dynamic sound, a dynamic flow. The band’s Black Metal feeds from bands like Immortal, at times. “Solitude” might be The Black Metal tune from the 7 track that compose this release; it has a cold atmosphere that gives out that “walk through the snow” vibe, wind blasting and snow falling. I tend to visualize music, so sorry the experience…
Oh, if the totality of the EP sounded like “Solitude”, I would place it a lot higher, period. Again, the virtuoso pops up and sounds its skills. Guitar hero, right here! Never exaggerated, always au-point. The lad sounds good, really good. Again, I feel he comes from a more classic reality, as the riffs and solos are classy, classier than one would expect in a Black Metal release – unless we are talking Emperor, for example – so it was a cool surprise. And never over-complex, as we like. “Dark Shades”, immediately before the “Outro”, closes the first release by Italian Black Metal band Moon Wisdom.
Musically skilled, it will be interesting to see what they are able to
craft in the future. From this first experience, I dare say these lads are able
to come up with good and interesting Music.
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