Danimal Cannon - Lunaria Album Review

Do you remember that time when you used to play your Gameboy and the electronic music when you would get into a battle that really got you pumped? Well imagine a whole album of electronic Gameboy battle music. Can't imagine it? Then prepare to be amazed at scientist-turned-videogame composer and musician Danimal Cannon's LP Lunaria.

The entirety of Lunaria, due for release on March 11th, was composed using a 1989 Nintento Gameboy, using retro 8-bit timbres which is heavily complemented by intertwining guitar work, and turns an incredibly eclectic range of influences into something we've never heard before.

Whether it be a tune that could slot into Pokemon just before you go into battle, or Zelda, or Rayman, whatever you used to play, this music could fit into your childhood games without a problem. 

Whether this 12-track EP relies on the nostalgic feelings that occur when you hear the electronic sounds, or whether it is pure ingenuity that makes this EP such a masterpiece, we will never know. But what it is easy to say, is that the record evokes images in your mind like no LP I have ever heard. Shut your eyes. When you hear the music, what do you see? 

Pokemon? Explosions? Pixelated figures running and jumping onto little platforms? Sonic and Dr Eggman fighting? Whatever it is, no matter whether you're fifteen years old or fifty years old, the memories of your childhood will come bouncing straight back. 

What is truly incredible about this record, is that not one track sounds the same. When you think of the limited amount of sounds that a Gameboy can create, it is amazing to hear track after track of something unique. 

The LP is wild, yet calming; a true oxymoron in itself. When listening to Lunaria, you step into the world of the multi-talented producer, and his world is full of colour and imagination; it is easy to get lost in its beauty. Although the LP is mostly instrumental, the few vocal overlays, especially in Surveillance and title-track Lunaria, cause the LP to have a trace of industrial/electro-rock.

Surveillance is an almost haunting track, an unexpected turn on the LP, whereas Behemoth is heavily influenced by fellow musician Gustav Holst and doesn't let you have a break from the twisting and turning of the prog/chip sounds that create such a high level of intensity, it is hard to keep up.

The combination of metal/prog and chiptune, creates an excellent blend of two heavily stereotyped social groups, and is an epic wizardry created by one of the best in the business. 

Closing on a piano version of LP opener Axis shows the true musicality of Danimal Cannon. If there was any doubt about the musicality behind Lunaria or criticism by the close-minded that it is just a collection of 'sound and noise', then Axis (piano version) will open their eyes immediately. 

In the words of the artist himself Lunaria is "an onslaught of melody, gratuitous guitar solos, advanced rhythms, and vicious synthesizer sounds that make your ears sizzle," and quite frankly, we couldn't sum it up any better ourselves.