A lot of times I find myself skipping through my playlist that’s filled with plenty of death and black metal because that’s what I enjoy, but I get the itch to try something different and go into territory that I’ve been to before but it’s been too long since I’ve done so. Two styles that fit that perfectly are progressive and symphonic metal with it being a long time since I’ve listened to the latter. Almost instantly, Entropy Coding filled my need for both with their flashy new album that is all but delicious.
The formula for a lot of symphonic metal acts is mostly the same across the board in my experience: catchy rhythms, a solid level of heaviness but not a whole lot, smooth vocals that glide right across, and then keys that fly all over the damn place in just about every track. For a little while, I was ready to lump Entropy Coding in with the rest of those kinds of acts but it’s with the implemented progressive nature that “Tales of the Moon” manages to surpass plenty of other albums that would’ve normally fallen flat for me. It’s with these nine tracks that we still see plenty of classic aspects of both progressive and symphonic metal all over the place, but Entropy Coding manages to find that nice middle ground where we can get the flashy strings that dance all around with combined with fantastic vocals and keys that light up every single song when they bust in with all their glory. Entropy Coding also allows each track to feel solid on their own which isn’t a strength that many acts of the style can say they have while it’s with “Tales of the Moon” that we see it at every single turn. Pack all that into a flavorful near fifty-minute record and we get an incredibly well-rounded experience that’s far from the best thing of its kind that I’ve heard, but it’s marvelously entertaining to me nonetheless.
I can’t express at how much potential I see within what Entropy Coding has done here with this album. Sure, it’s a formula that’s essentially the same exact thing we’ve seen so many times, but Entropy Coding makes it work amazingly as “Tales of the Moon” is that familiar breath of fresh air that I’ve been missing and I’ve no doubt longtime fans will have a hell of a time here.
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