Rocket Attack, the latest album by The Man From the Moon, is a misleading album. It is misleading because Black Mark released the album. Some of the artists that have come “Under the sign of the black mark” (said label was created specifically for Bathory releases) include Bathory, Edge of Sanity, Memento Mori, Necrophobic and Lake of Tears. The psychedelic, astrological cover art on Rocket Attack may relate an atmospheric quality not unlike Lake of Tears, but this album shares little with LOT or any other artist on the said label.

Because of the spacey cover art and the Black Mark tag, one may have reason to get excited over this album, that all changes with one spin of the disc. The Man From the Moon is not an extreme metal project; in fact, they aren’t a metal band, period! Micke (Mimo) Moberg’s one-man group plays a mix of hard rock, early glam and progressive. “Warm Blooded Woman,” “Eagle Free” and the title track focus on hard rockin’ guitar grooves, which are bearable moments, but the piano and synth featured on “I am Your God” and “Ice Man” sound like the millions of generic pop groups that emerged throughout the 1980s, most often appearing as high school prom bands on romantic comedies.

Moberg’s lyrics parallel the cheesy, sterile quality of his music. Tracks such as “Eagle Free” (the title says it all) include cliché lyrics such as “The feeling of freedom makes me so high/When I fly like the eagle fast in the wind.” The lyrics to “Dance Mamma” are a MILF fetish concoction of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock And Roll,” David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” which is very weird. Moberg’s nasal vocals do not help, either.

The Man From the Moon plays a style of music that is potentially marketable, but the problem is the group is about three decades too late. Even if i>Rocket Attack emerged at a much earlier time, Micke Moberg doesn’t possess the song writing talents of a Top-40-worthy musician. < i>Rocket Attack is a blank page in the history of Black Mark. To put it simply: this album sucks!

www.themanfromthemoon.com