Himlabacken Volume II - Moon Safari

If it's silly and yet it works, it's not silly. :P I mean, to be fair, before Himlabacken II came out, I had my preconceptions about the Moon Safari sound, and I expected another Blomljud. And when the album premiered, it was anything but another Blomljud.

Edited by Hrychu - June 06 2024 at 15:56

I'm listening to Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse again, and when I convinced myself that the song is by Magic Pie, not Moon Safari, I'm enjoying it way more.

This album was kind of a disappointment for me. Did not really feel like Moon Safari, bit too AORy. The epic is good though but I feel like they reached their peak with Blomljud and Lover's End and wish they kind of just evolved further with that sound they were going with.

The Epic is indeed very very good. Thanks for those who advised giving it another listen.

I’ve listened once and certainly will again! Agreed on the Van Halen-type sound at the very beginning of track one, but prog metal?!! Er…….

Sounds very good to me 😎

^ It contains metal riffs and a very modern metal guitar tone. Really cool! But I agree that it is not a metal release. Prog Art AOR/Metal will be my designation.

Negoba wrote: I'll give it another go.  Blomljud is too long but what's good on there is so good.  As I said in my review, the fact that they just lean into the super sweet and own it just works for me. And I usually get drawn to weird, darker music.

IMHO the best way to listen to this record is when you get rid of all your preconceptions about how a Moon Safari record should sound like. I'm listening to the 20 minute track right now as I'm typing this post (I'm at 8:00 timestamp) and I'm enjoying it. I can best describe it as prog metal for those who don't like prog metal. Compositionally it's at the highest level. A 10/10.

But I feel every time the listener's reminded that the band is still Moon Safari, something feels off. The signature MS tropes just don't go well with the prog metal-lite style. It's almost as if the band wanted to completely rinse off their recognizable sound after the departure of Tobias Lundgren, but midway through the songwriting process, they felt the need to still somehow lure their hardcore fans so they threw in their classic soft acoustic syrupy vocal harmony parts here and there, and even though those soft parts mostly fit the arrangements.... sometimes they sound forced as hell. Perhaps the next MS record will be even more heavy sounding, less Moon Safari esque but way more organic and honest. Time will tell.

I'm not as keen on Blomljud. Too bloated and not interesting enough for me. This one I enjoy moreso, but not quite as much as part 1 or Lover's End.

I’ll certainly give it a listen when I get the chance. Love Blomljud….