MONFLAME – Voyager (2023)

Retro ’80s is coming stronger and stronger into the music scene, with many artists from different genres joining the wagon with side projects showcasing their love for that decade. Curiously (or not) there’s a lot of musicians from metal acts doing this – take as example the international In The Movies collective recording ’80s classics.

In the case of MONFLAME it’s formed by two pretty extreme metal musicians; vocalist Ardentis (Stardown) & guitarist Alex Pavlov (Outcast, Stardown, ex-Amatory) – but instead of ‘metalize‘ classic pop songs, they write their own. Wrapped by synths galore but still retaining real drums, bass and electric guitar solos, MONFLAME’s debut album ”Voyager” sounds like a lost Eighties LP.

The sound of MONFLAME is pristine and melodic, and you hardly can believe this music is performed by metal-roots musicians. Even more surprising are Ardentis’ vocals, which feel all over designed for this type of poppy songs and not for the heavy metal band he fronts.
For them, ”Voyager” is an alternate reality that happened to Alex and Ardentis as if they didn’t play metal but lived and wrote their music in the ’80s. For us, a fun and enjoyable collection of songs.

Songs like ‘Play’, ‘Last Summer’, ‘Digital Heaven’ or ‘Back in Time’ are pure retro stuff, they even do a synthwave version of Kate Bush’s 1985 hit ‘Running Up That Hill’, a song which recently ranked in the charts again thanks for being featured in the Stranger Things TV show.
The band also did very well crafted videos too, with a big production for a side project.
MONFLAME’s music is a cocktail of romantic images of ’80s culture, arcade games, synth-pop, time travel movies, and the desire to preserve the eternal teenager inside us despite this rapidly changing modern world.
Highly Recommended

 

01 – Into the Dark
02 – Play
03 – Soma Dreams
04 – Last Summer
05 – In a Way
06 – Digital Heaven
07 – You & I (Mercury)
08 – No Matter
09 – Living Shadows
10 – Sputnik
11 – Back in Time
12 – Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush / Stranger Things cover)

Ardentis – vocals, keyboards
Alex Pavlov – guitar, synths
Sergey – drums
Yuri – bass
Dmitry – guitar

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