Fragments Of The Moon - Concerto Moon

Concerto Moon are one of the more prominent Japanese heavy metal bands, for no real reason other than the relative scarcity of Japanese groups. Their style is very much rooted in the melodic power metal tradition, with crossover into the shred genre of Yngwie J. Malmsteen and others, but oddly (though perhaps mercifully), this is not followed through with a focus on guitar virtuosity, despite the evident talents of axeman Norifumi Shima. This first release from Concerto Moon holds no surprises for anyone who's ever listened to a heavy metal CD ever, and despite its occasional neoclassical flourishes, confined mainly to Osamu Harada's keyboards as in the ...