“Black Avalanche” is the latest release by One Hundred Moons, an outstanding Canadian band based in Toronto. Arriving after “The Architect,” “Ear To Ear,” “Volodya,” “Black Avalanche,” and “Take Two,” five excellent compositions that vividly showcase what you might expect from the remainder of the material, it’s the new full-length album coming after their self-titled debut, released in 2021. Lyrically, this release explores a range of sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances, making it a highly relatable collection of songs that will immediately resonate with a broader audience. Sonically, One Hundred Moons blends various music genres, approaches, techniques, and directions to create a luxuriant sonic imagery. They tastefully, wisely, and expertly play with textures and layers, crafting a perfect backdrop, immediately wrapping around the listening apparatus, grabbing by the collar, and instantly transporting the listener to another realm. Perhaps shoegaze comes to mind first, as the fundamental elements of this style are dominant in the mix, but you’ll also notice how some of the finest properties borrowed from post-rock, dream pop, psychedelic rock, art-rock, alternative, and many other genres find their way into this sonic equation. One Hundred Moons thoughtfully implemented all these additional sonic ingredients without spoiling the initial sonic direction, demonstrating their impressive songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing abilities. Although “Black Avalanche” shines with qualities that meet all the trends in contemporary music production, you’ll notice a subtle touch of nostalgia lurking around, evoking some of the finest moments of seventies psychedelia, eighties shoegaze, and nineties rock music. This dedication to the craft is rarely heard and seen nowadays, but it seems that these experienced musicians assembled these songs with such ease. Therefore, these experimentations with various styles, approaches, techniques, and directions resulted in a comprehensive collection of hypnotic, addictive, irresistible, ethereal, otherworldly, and fascinating songs that will not only appeal to the post-rock and shoegaze fans but also anyone who appreciates cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed music.
As soon as you press play, you’ll notice that these folks are not joking around with their music. You’ll immediately hear how the soulful, passionate, emotional, and powerful vocal performance decorates all the songs, elevates them to new heights, commands attention, and guides listeners on an epic journey through the expansive sonic universe. The impressive vocal range seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes with such precision and finesse, emphasizing everything One Hundred Moons intended to achieve with this full-length album. Besides decorating all those segments and instrumentations, these vocal harmonies also contribute more than necessary emotional depth and complexity to an already intricate structure. You’ll also hear the additional vocal layers and back vocals, implemented wisely during the particular sections for a more ethereal, anthemic, atmospheric vibe. There are also generous servings of various effects such as reverb, echo, and delay, which, in this case, add more depth and psychedelia to the vocal harmonies. Tracks like “Black Avalanche,” “Chairman Of The Bored,” “Ear To Ear,” “Shade Of Night,” “Volodya,” and “The Architect” exemplify how all those vocal maneuvers shine in the limelight, but you should pay attention to the remainder of the material as well. In the meantime, the interplays between guitars shape a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. You’ll hear how the rhythm and lead guitars collide harmoneously from scratch to finish, crafting a lush ambiance that immediately grabs you by the collar. The arpeggiated and regular chord progressions and powerful riffs resonate on one side while the other shines with thoughtfully arranged, catchy, memorable, and engaging leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic maneuvers. Depending on the song’s mood or ambiance, these guitar works carry clean or heavily distorted notes, decorated with generous servings of reverb, echo, and delay. These clever guitar players go so far that even particular tracks use different types of reverb, such as spring, hall, or plate. While the entire album carries so many brilliant moments, tracks like “Black Avalanche,” “Death On The Party,” “Ear To Ear,” “Shade Of Night,” “Volodya,” “The Architect,” and “Into Nowhere” are some of the standouts where those interplays between various guitar layers truly shine. The band also incorporated synth pads, harmonies, melodies, and themes, and leads on tracks such as “House Of Mirrors” and “Into Nowhere.” Paired with the guitars, these synths give even more depth to One Hundred Moons’ luxuriant sound.
Of course, this album wouldn’t sound complete without an equally impressive rhythm section. You’ll immediately notice all those intricate, warm-sounding, vividly hearable basslines, rumbling beneath all those guitar works and contributing more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth to the tracks while simultaneously acting as a binding element between the mentioned orchestrations and rhythmic patterns. These low ends are rich, deep, dense, and heavy, adding groove and detail. The exceptional drumming, based upon wisely assembled, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics, keeps everything in line while dictating the groove and pace. Each hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation on the hi-hat, and splash over the cymbals has its place and purpose in this sonic equation, making these tracks even more interesting and pleasant to the ears. As you can see, One Hundred Moons thought about everything while writing, composing, arranging, and producing this material. “Black Avalanche” is a shoegaze masterpiece, created by the masters of the craft. This material not only showcases how shoegaze music should sound in 2025, but it also breaks all the rules and shapeshifts the boundaries of the genre in so many ways. With the additional styles included along the way, “Black Avalanche” confirms that modern shoegaze music can be fresh, unique, innovative, and exciting, as it should be. From otherworldly vocal harmonies and marvelous guitar works to lush synths, intricate basslines, and superb drumming, this material proves that One Hundred Moons is one of the best shoegaze bands on the contemporary music scene. You should immediately place “Black Avalanche” on your music radar. Head to your favorite streaming platforms and check it out.
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