East Of Asteroid by Moonsoon

An album recommended to me in Bergen, Norway, is from this beautiful city: Moonsoon, with their debut album, East of Asteroid, released in 2025.

I wasn't familiar with the band, so I looked it up online: Moonsoon is a progressive rock band composed of Helge Nyheim (drums, lead vocals, percussion, co-composer) and Daniel Hauge (synths, keys, programming, composer, producer, mixing, mastering), with whom a large number of excellent musicians collaborate on this album.

A beautiful album, right from the first listen with Tom at Rocade Musikk, who recommended it to me, but which I explored further once I returned to Rome.

It's a progressive rock odyssey, blending symphonic elements with futuristic themes and dystopian narratives. It transports listeners on an immersive journey through vast and mysterious soundscapes.

The album opens with a captivating keyboard riff and a fast rhythm, but from the second track onward we enter deep space, with layers of keyboards that shift into syncopated odd-time signatures, long instrumental sections dominated by drums and keyboards, a guitar that tastefully crafts melodies and Floyd-esque solos, an enveloping voice that transports us directly into the cosmos, sounds and noises that seem to come from satellites and interstellar communications. The sound design on this album is truly beautiful, but also a beautiful, almost "epic" rock sound, and the layers of keyboards and the deep, precise drums that alternate throughout each track.

There are electronic sequences reminiscent of 1970s krautrok (but with much more advanced tools), great creativity and research into sounds, I repeat, and pure rock interludes while the vocals and samplers work. "The Nasty Man," with its prologue and epilogue, are my favorite tracks, a cut above the rest for my tastes, but the title track, which closes the album with great breadth, is also beautiful.

The female backing vocals are also beautiful, as are the piano melodies and the fun "robotic" vocals, used briefly but centered on the song.

The artwork is also beautiful. The entire album was a wonderful surprise for me.

Once again, prog comes from the North, and I will never stop thanking the Norwegian and Scandinavian musicians in general who have breathed new life into the genre I love.

Thanks to Tom for the suggestion and thanks to Moonsson for this wonderful work, I will continue to follow you!!!

I highly recommend it and invite you to check it out online; you'll definitely find it on Bandcamp: https://moonsoon1.bandcamp.com/album/east-of-asteroid

Tracks
Virtual Avenue 4:08
Rays of Cosmic Embers (Part I) 2:49
Rays of Cosmic Embers (Part II) 3:25
Crack Our Codes (Prologue) 1:26
Crack Our Codes 4:45
The Nasty Man (Prologue) 3:38
The Nasty Man 4:06
The Nasty Man (Epic-logue) 2:02
Ones and Zeroes 5:01
East of Asteroid (Part I) 2:40
East of Asteroid (Part II) 5:17

The Lineup:
Helge Nyheim - drums, lead vocals, percussion, co-composer
Daniel Hauge - synthesizers, keyboards, programming, composer producer, mixing, mastering
With the contribution of:
Ian Ritchie – sax and flute
Kjetil Møster – sax
Bjarte Aasmul – guitar
And with:
Eric Campbell, Egil Hauge, Helge Haugland, Inge Rypdal, Kai Taule, Marie Moe, Bastian Veland, Ivar Kolve and Sharon Gaynor.