Katanga – Moonchild (2011)

In the very weird shit category today we have Katanga and their album “Moonchild”. The band plays Gothic Metal with some Electronic/Industrial elements. The first thing to notice is the typical singing/spoken German vocals. The use of electronic elements is pretty cool through this release, making it very catchy.

The opening track “Marquis De Sade”, crafts a very psycho-sexual atmosphere and it serves as a great appetizer for this very diverse and interesting release. “Gottlos” delivers catchiness with powerful guitar riffs and catchy electronics surrounded by strong German singing. The ultra catchy “Moerder Der Erinnerung” draws similarities to Letzte Instanz, and with the added female vocals achieves very nice contrasts between the singing parts.

The album title track commences with trippy electronics and keyboards, followed by English vocals and very effective choruses. “Meine Traum” and “Lemuria” go along without a hitch due to their catchiness and very diverse structures. Our favorite track has to be “I’m Gonna Die For You” due to the great Gothic Rock feeling it has to it, sometimes even sounding like a song H.I.M could have belted out.

Nearing the end of this release we have “Mondscheinkind” and its very simple but effective structure, delivering more catchy combinations of electronic elements and guitar riffs like on the ballad-esque song “Das Nichts”. The album closers “Mondscheinfahrt” and “Bittermond” provide nice slow-tempo songs with the occasional rises in the mood that allow for the full Katanga experience to be complete.

In general “Moonchild” is a very entertaining release that goes through several different styles and tempo changes through the album. While we enjoyed the ‘up-beat’ songs, we definitely preferred the more emotional last few tracks. If you like Gothic Metal and are interested in getting a very diverse and effective release, you will not regret buying this album.

Release: January 28th, 2011

Country: Germany