Manuel Barbará premieres Moonrise

New Jersey’s Manuel Barbará is releasing his debut album “Moonrise” this coming March. The first single, which is the title track, is premiering today exclusively here on The Progspace.

Featuring seven instrumental tracks of classically inspired progressive metal, Manuel Barbará puts a conscious effort into making each song into a cohesive, well-composed whole rather than a collection of flashy guitar tricks.

This recording features songwriter Manuel Barbará on guitars and programming, Nick Thorpe on bass along with Joey Ferretti on drums. The album is designed to take the listener on a journey through a series of loosely interconnected sound worlds that Barbará has created. He explains the single “Moonrise”:

“It was actually the first complete piece I ever wrote that I was really happy with. It has gone through many revisions since then, but it is still special to me as that first one. I wanted to make something big and epic and heavy with just enough of a weird edge to keep people interested. Funnily enough, the chorus riff, which seems to be everyone’s favorite part, was supposed to be a throw-away idea that I was going to replace later, but it stuck around.”

Manuel Barbará – Moonrise (click here if the video doesn’t play)

According to Barbará, this album is the first step towards his longtime goal to take his training as a classical composer and apply it to this style of modern metal that he loves so much in a way that goes beyond the standard Yngwie “neo-classical metal” thing.

The full album is out on March 19, 2021.

Spotify pre-save here.
Apple Music pre-save here.

Album pre-order is available on 8stringalchemy.bandcamp.com.

Follow Manuel Barbará here:
Manuel Barbará YouTube channel
Manuel Barbará on Facebook
Manuel Barbará on Instagram
Manuel Barbará on Bandcamp