Atlanta alternative psych unit MOON DESTROYS (w/ ex-Torche and Royal Thunder) sign to Blues Funeral Recordings; US tours with Dozer and The Sword coming!

Atlanta alternative psych rock unit MOON DESTROYS have signed to Blues Funeral Recordings for the reissue of their self-released debut "She Walks By Moonlight" as well as their new album release in 2026. The band is ready to embark on their US West Coast tour this week alongside Dozer and Abrams, and will be touring the East Coast with The Sword this fall.

Formed by guitarist Juan Montoya (ex-Torche) and drummer Evan Diprima (ex-Royal Thunder), Moon Destroys released their first EP 'Maiden Voyage' in 2020. The 5-song debut featured contributions from Troy Sanders (Mastodon) and Bryan Richie (The Sword) and laid a foundation that would come fully into focus when vocalist/guitarist Charlie Suárez (MonstrO) and bassist Arnold Nese completed the band in 2024.

April 2025 found Moon Destroys thrust into the limelight, supporting Elder on tour just as they were self-releasing their debut full-length "She Walks By Moonlight" in limited form. Despite hurrying to get the new LP ready in time to take on the road, the album inarguably captured the band’s tremendous evolution beyond the connections to the members’ former outfits.

Gritty and distorted yet hazy and hypnotic, "She Walks By Moonlight" shifts from shimmering post-rock to driving riff-doom and back to shoegazy psychedelia. It's a cinematic and otherworldly journey from a band who breeze easily into the environs of Floor, Mother Love Bone, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Russian Circles and Ride, ultimately collapsing all efforts at categorization into its effervescent, compulsive swirl.

Blues Funeral Recordings is proud to welcome Moon Destroys to the label just in time for a string of US tour dates supporting Swedish icons Dozer alongside labelmates Abrams. The label will bring forth a proper worldwide release of "She Walks By Moonlight" this October as they will hit the stage for a coveted run of dates with The Sword, followed by their next album release and more touring in 2026.

The band says: "We are extremely excited to join forces with Jadd and the Blues Funeral Recordings team to continue the saga of Moon Destroys. It’s an honor to join a roster with great, like-minded artists to keep pushing the heavy underground forward! We will see you out on the West Coast this month supporting fellow label mates and Swedish legends Dozer. After that, we’ll be out supporting our friends and fellow rippers The Sword this October on the East Coast before heading back into the studio to finish a new album. We are looking forward to working hard for the rest of the year to make for an even busier 2026! It’s full steam ahead now with a great team!“

Summer 2025 supporting Dozer w/ Abrams

August 7 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Swan Dive
August 8 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
August 9 - San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick
August 10 - Palmdale, CA @ Transplants Brewing
August 12 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
August 13 - Eureka, CA @ Savage Henry Comedy Club
August 14 - Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s
August 15 - Portland, OR @ Dante’s
August 16 - Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw
August 17 - Seattle, WA @ Substation

Fall 2025 tour supporting The Sword

October 13 - Boston, MA @ Paradise
October 14 - New York City, NY @ The Bowery Ballroom
October 15 - Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
October 17 - Buffalo, NY @ Higher Ground
October 18 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls
October 19 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
October 22 - Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theater
October 23 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
October 24 - Orlando, FL @ The Beacham
October 26 - Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl

"She Walks By Moonlight" reissue - Available October 17, 2025 on Blues Funeral Recordings
Shop on BFR website / Bandcamp / European store

MOON DESTROYS is

Evan Diprima - Drums
Juan Montoya - Guitars
Arnold Nese - Bass
Charlie Suárez - Vocals, Guitars

MOON DESTROYS links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

BLUES FUNERAL RECORDINGS links

Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | Youtube

Thanks to Purple Sage PR for all of the details and you can read my review of the album here:

Moon Destroys - She Walks By Moonlight (Album Review)

 

Release Date: April 04th 2025. Record Label: Limited Fanfare Records. Formats: DD/Vinyl

She Walks By Moonlight - Tracklisting

1.She Walks By Moonlight

2.The Nearness of June 

3.Only 0

4.Set Them Free

5.A Song For Jade

6.Losing Sleep

7.Echoes (The Empress) 

8.Metallic Memories

9.Sway

Members:

Juan Montoya - Guitar

Evan Diprima - Drums/Synthesizers

Charlie Suárez - Vocals/Guitar/Synthesizers

Arnold Nese - Bass

Review

She Walks By Moonlight is the debut full length album from Alternative/Psych/Stoner Rockers Moon Destroys who features current members/ex members of bands such as TORCHE, Stallone, Monstro, Royal Thunder, Gold Pyramid and Sunday Driver. With a rich creative pedigree in their ranks, their debut album is quite different to what I expect when compared to their excellent debut EP Maiden Voyage which I reviewed all the way back in 2020.

As the band fuse moments of Post-Rock, Alt-Rock, Post-Punk and Dark Wave sounds within the core Sludge/Stoner Metal aspect from where the heaviest grooves are built from. The sound can be quite gloomy and atmospheric with sounds that can easily be comparable to TORCHE and ROYAL THUNDER but with Moon Destroys building a closer affinity to the 1980’s Alt Rock and Electronica scenes especially with Charlie Suárez gloomy vocals. Moon Destroys develop a heavy Psychedelic Stoner Rock presence with the powerful guitars that I recognised instantly from Juan Montoya’s work with TORCHE and MONSTRO where he’s superbly joined by Charlie on guitar duties.

Evan Diprima’s intelligent and progressive drums add a real sense of urgency to the album with a calm delivery that elevates into some of his heaviest work I’ve heard from Evan in a long time. Charlie provides synths which add a gloomy and doom-pop texture with the recent addition of Arnold Nese on bass which solidifies Moon Destroys as a much better unit compared to their debut EP.

The record does have many different themes, ideas and sounds running throughout with a lush Post-Rock energy emitting from the quieter tracks on the album such She Walks By Moonlight, Set Them Free, A Song For Jade, Echoes (The Empress) and Sway. Though, the heavier parts of the record is where the heaviest, aggressive, frantic and highly melodic instrumental passages appear that allows Moon Destroys to easily stand on their own creative merits as a great band in their own right.

If you’re a fan of the recent outstanding new album DIVINER by Museum Of Light then you’ll no doubt love She Walks By Moonlight. As both records have similar sounds and ideas but are told slightly different. The added use of world weary Electronics and Synths adds an Ambient and Cinematic feel to Moon Destroys music which can be completely peaceful and tranquil one moment and completely bombastic and destructive the next.

She Walks By Moonlight is an exquisite and deeply rewarding album which will surprise you in many different ways with the band moving into a wide array of different sounds that defy genre expectations. This is about as perfect a debut album as you could possibly expect and I’m hoping there’s more great records from Moon Destroys in the future.

Awesome. End Of.

Words by Steve Howe

She Walks By Moonlight is available for Pre-Order on Cassette/Digital/Vinyl and will be released on Friday April 04th 2025 via Limited Fanfare

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Alternative Stoner Rockers MOON DESTROYS Announce New Album SHE WALKS BY MOONLIGHT

MOON DESTROYS is guitarist and songwriter Juan Montoya (ex-Torche, MonstrO) and drummer/bassist/producer Evan Diprima's (Gold Pyramid, ex-Royal Thunder) latest entry of sonically massive, swirling guitars and tight rhythmic counterpoints that recall classic Alternative, Post-Punk and Dark Wave sounds. The duo's 5-song EP, Maiden Voyage was released via Brutal Panda Records (Local H, Cherubs) in March of 2020 -- featuring guest vocalists Troy Sanders (of Mastodon) and Paul Masvidal (of Cynic) with Synthesizer contributions from The Sword's Bryan Richie.

It's been a long road to get to what would ultimately be the band's debut LP, She Walks By Moonlight, out April 4th, 2025 on Limited Fanfare Records (Palomino Blond, The Ettes, MonstrO.) Juan and Evan have worked together on a few projects previously that have led them down a path to a fruitful and creative working relationship...even while living 600 miles apart. 

"Juan and I started writing new music in late 2023. Most of the basic tracks were recorded remotely with him living in Miami and me being up in North Carolina. Juan would start off with a riff, we’d record the scratch guitar track into Logic over FaceTime, I’d cut the drum track in my home studio, and then send the session back to Juan to track the final guitars." said Diprima of the origins of She Walks By Moonlight. What they both realized halfway through the recording process is that a key ingredient was missing...a permanent member to take over vocal duties. Diprima continued, 

"Juan mentioned to me that he had reconnected with his former MonstrO [Vagrant Records] bandmate, Charlie Suárez. I've always loved his vocals and guitar playing and the three of us had formed a great friendship back then. We sent Charlie over a few songs...it was definitely meant to be!" With Suárez now head-first in the fold, his guitars, vocals and synth parts were tracked in Miami in the Summer of 2024 by Diprima, who handled most of the engineering and production duties – also mixing the album. She Walks By Moonlight was Mastered by Carl Saff (Sonic Youth, Magolia Electric Co., Melt-Banana) at Saff Mastering in Chicago, IL

She Walks By Moonlight's first single, the crushing and beautiful "The Nearness of June," displays Suárez's hypnotic incantations and emotional, lyrical depth that is stamped across the 9 song, 32-minute record. The pumping drive and layered build of "Echoes/The Empress" addresses "the repetitive in-between areas of human disconnect with overwhelming uncertainty and reflective conviction," and the slow-burn propulsion of "Only" at it's core is about "a series of unreasonable requests and exhausting pleas to another in hopes of amending the irreconcilable" states Suárez.

In late 2024, the band recruited Suárez's former Sunday Driver (Doghouse Records) bandmate, Arnold Nese, to fulfill bass duties and complete the lineup of Moon Destroys who will support Elder throughout the US and Canada in April 2025. - Brian Kurtz, Limited Fanfare

She Walks By Moonlight is available for Pre-Order on Cassette/Digital/Vinyl and will be released on Friday April 04th 2025 via Limited Fanfare

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Moon Destroys - Maiden Voyage (EP Review)

Release date: March 27^th 2020. Label: Brutal Panda Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Maiden Voyage – Tracklisting

1.At The End Of Time 01:23

2.Blue Giant (feat. Troy Sanders of Mastodon) 03:50

3.The Shores Of The Cosmic Ocean 01:15

4.Stormbringer (feat. Paul Masvidal of Cynic) 04:20

5.The Edge Of Forever 01:24

Members

Juan Montoya / Evan Diprima

Review

Moon Destroys is the new band from Juan Montoya (ex-Torche) and Evan Diprima (ex-Royal Thunder). I’ve been looking forward to hearing this record for quite a while now. As I’m a fan of both Juan and Evan’s work with their previous bands especially with STALLONE. So you know these guys will bring an aggressive swagger to their new project. Moon Destroys isn’t too far off what Torche and Royal Thunder sound like when both members were involved with each band and still sound refreshingly different as well.

Their debut EP – Maiden Voyage – is a breath of fresh air for Sludge/Stoner Metal fans with it’s array of aggressive fast-paced sounds that remain constantly fresh and engaging from start to finish. The EP only lasts 13 minutes but Moon Destroys show their full potential on this release.

Opening song – At The End Of Time – is 90 seconds of fast-paced Sludge/Doom/Stoner sounds that made Torche famous back in the day. Though, here it’s more primal and in your face with a heavy Psychedelic sound holding everything together.

Second song – Blue Giant – sees Moon Destroys bring the big guns on this release as Troy Sanders of Mastodon fame lends his vocals to this song and writes the lyrics as well. This could have easily sounded like Mastodon but this song is very much Moon Destroys gig but with a little help from their famous friends. The subtle Sludge/Stoner Metal riffs do veer into Progressive Metal territory but this is a great song that maybe the standout song on the album. The loud and quiet parts of the songs work really well together and make you want more.

Third song – In The Shores Of The Cosmic Ocean – is another short aggressive song lasting about 75 sounds and you will be impressed by the sheer amount of heavy grooves that Moon Destroys play on this song.

Fourth song – Stormbringer – features Paul Masvidal of legendary Prog Metallers – CYNIC – and features a more twisted style of music from the band. The song is more gloomier and twisted with the dark psychedelic sounds fitting brilliantly around Paul’s vocals. The Sludge/Stoner Metal grooves are perhaps more evil on this song compared to Blue Giant though it’s good to see that Moon Destroys can experiment with their sound for a different style of music.

The final song – The Edge Of Forever is 85 seconds of instrumental Sludge/Stoner Metal swagger that is a great way to end the EP with. The Doom-Pop elements are there for the most part of the song and the atmosphere does have a cool sweet-natured atmosphere to it all. Though, the band play a distorted drone style of music for the last 30 seconds or so.

The only problem with Maiden Voyage is that it’s too damn short. I wanted a couple more songs from Moon Destroys. As 13 minutes is not enough time especially with the different themes and ideas the band have included on this EP.

I’m hoping there is a full-length album in the works for Moon Destroys in the near future. Until then, Maiden Voyage is a crowd-pleasing debut EP that presses all the right buttons especially if you’re a Sludge/Stoner Metal fan.

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp