The Killing Moon – Strange Desolation

The Killing moon is a new darkwave / synthpop project that has just emerged onto the scene from Romania. The duo of Marius Muntean and Silviu Pop seemingly formed in 2021 as their debut single, ‘A Silence In Every Word’, released in May of that year. Following that, they released their debut EP “Strange Desolation”. While their history is short, the mark they have left on me is not. If anything, “Strange Desolation” should help bring these two relatively unknown musicians to the forefront of the darkwave and synthpop fields. 

Cinematic synths build up in the opening moments of ‘To Fall Quiet’ before synth keys come in to lighten the mood. The background ambiance continues to sway until a very clean but persuasive rhythms consisting of bass guitar, the ticking of a cymbal, and more breakthrough. This is interspersed by lush, dreamy electronic segments. Musician Marius Muntean is able to keep the beat consistently moving without ever allowing the song to bore. The six-minute and twenty-seven second song never feels that long because of its ever-shifting structure. Vocalist Silviu Pop has a handsome set of chords and easily takes into account the flow of the music; he never fights it, but goes along with it. The result is a masterful melody of sullen live and electronic music. 

‘Love Is A Thief’ continues the set-up from the first song with a change to a further synthpop environment. However, rather than heading straight into a dance track, The Killing Moon keeps the mood serene with a slow-paced beat. The third track, ‘When We Were Young’, is a nearly three-minute instrumental ballad. It’s just as emotional as any of the other tracks on the album, complete with somber piano keys and plenty of ambiance. The piece really comes together around the one-minute and fifty-second mark. The final song on the album ‘A Silence in Every Word (western desolation)’ has – as you can guess by the title – a rather western feel to it thanks to the thumping rhythm and implementation of acoustic guitar. Still, it fights right within The Killing Moon’s current repertoire. 

The Killing Moon is nothing short of spectacular on their debut EP, “Strange Desolation”. While understanding the tropes of the genre, they also breathe life into it. The production on the EP is rather solid, as well; mixing and mastering is handled great and I can’t spot a point on the EP where I thought anything was too loud or too low. It was just right. The Killing Moon is simply a triple-threat and if a major label (if they want to go that route) doesn’t recognize it soon, they’re going to get scooped up by someone else eventually. Eight out of ten.