Moonlyght
Encyclopedia
Moonlyght is a metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

 band from Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Background

In 1995, guitarist/vocalist Sébastien "Roby" Robitaille, drummer Luc Gaulin, guitarist Vincent Gauvin, bassist Christian Jacques, and backup guitarist Simon Rheaume-Goulet formed Moonlyght, and recorded a demo tape in cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...

 format by 1996, Midwinter Melodies, which sold out almost immediately. Between 1996 and 2000, the band changed members, and internal tensions were running high enough to nearly dissolve the band. Luc left the band in 1999, and was replaced by Guillaume "Caps" Côté. In 2002 after releasing their first professional studio album Progressive Darkness published by the Metal Disk Records label, guitarist Vincent Gauvin left the band shortly after, and was quickly replaced with Fred Bédard. Progressive Darkness was met with almost unanimous critic appraisal. A 2004 re-release featuring new cover art was published worldwide under the Escapi Music label.

In 2006 the band entered Nokturn Studio in Quebec to record their second album, entitled Shining. Shortly after he had recorded his tracks, Guillaume Côté left the band to focus on his other band Mauvais Sort. He was replaced with their original drummer, Luc Gaulin. The album was mastered at Tailor Maid in Sweden by Peter in de Betou.

Roby left the group in December 2007, citing personal reasons upon his departure. Moonlyght decided to release Shining via Mankind's Demise Records, label home for Roby's black metal side project Sorcier Des Glaces. The band called it quit after.

In October 2011, Sebastien Robitaille decided to reunite Moonlyght with former members Luc Gaulin and Thierry Nadeau-Cossette. A third album is in songwriting process, to be recorded in 2012. Working title is "Return to Desolation".

Critical reception

While Midwinter Melodies was limited in its release and extremely rare, the band's worldwide debut with Progressive Darkness was widely praised by various websites, including In Music We Trust, the latter citing: "the epic songwriting is imperative; only one song is under five minutes long, and this device serves to place the listener on a fantastic, metallic journey that melds traditional style metal with some more progressive and experimental elements. If you've got the attention span and the ability to appreciate detail, or if Dream Theater is your favorite band but you dig Satyricon and Cradle of Filth too, then Progressive Darkness is right up your alley. Also the styling of melodic black and death circle the themes"

Present line-up

  • Sébastien "Roby" Robitaille (Vocals,guitars,bass 1995–present)
  • Thierry "Theo" Nadeau-Cossette (Keyboards, 2000–present)
  • Luc Gaulin (Drums, (1995–1999, 2006–present)

Former members

  • Fred Bédard (Guitar, 2003–2008)
  • David "Davey" Turbide (Bass, 2000-2008)
  • Vincent Gauvin (Founder, Guitar, 1995–2003)
  • Guillaume "Caps" Côté (Drums, 1998–2006)
  • Simon Rheaume-Goulet (Founder, Guitar, 1995–1996)
  • Christian Jacques Myspace(Founder, Bass, 1995–1998)
  • Marc-Étienne Fournier (Bass, 1998–2000)
  • Guillaume Tremblay (Keyboards, 1998–1999)
  • Philippe Poissant (Keyboards, 1999)

Studio albums

  • Progressive Darkness (2002)
  • Progressive Darkness (re-release) (2004)
  • Shining (2008)
  • Return to Desolation (working title, to be recorded in 2012)

External links

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