Despite being a delicious Chinese pastry, Mooncake is also one of the most promising sounds coming out of Russia these days. "Rain in the Ashtray," taken from the band's debut single, More Oxygen, I Said..., paints a marvelous picture of this quartet's future. Falling from the Caspian/Saxon Shore school of thought, Mooncake forges a quick, energetic track that focuses on interaction between different guitar layers. Half of the track sees the different components gelling into a dazzling whole, and the other sees the lead guitar soaring into the night sky on a glorious sliver rocket. Amazingly, in a six minute time span, Mooncake is able to pack that complete, epic sound that should have required at least twice as long to develop properly.

With such a promising glimpse of what Mooncake has to offer, our appetites are set for a larger release from this up-and-coming act. Only time will tell if they'll be able to break out of their homeland and impact the larger global scene, but so far it's looking positive.

-Jordan Volz