01. Em Nome Do Medo
02. 1755
03. In Tremor Dei (feat. Paulo Bragança)
04. Desastre
05. Abanão
06. Evento
07. 1 De Novembro
08. Ruínas
09. Todos Os Santos
10. Lanterna Dos Afogados
11. Desastre (Spanish Version)

Miguel Gaspar - Drums
Pedro Paixão - Keyboards, Samples, Programming, Guitars
Fernando Ribeiro - Vocals
Ricardo Amorim - Guitars
Aires Pereira – Bass

Dark, symphonic majesty from the Iberian shadows.

A concept piece devoted to the year that saw Lisbon devastated by a colossal earthquake, 1755 makes its lofty ambitions known from the start. Opening overture Em Nome Do Medo brashly reaffirms the band’s symphonic credentials, as Moonspell vocalist Fernando Ribeiro howls at the moon from within a startling conflagration of choral bombast and shimmering melodrama. When guitars finally kick in on the title track, it’s instantly obvious that the Portuguese veterans have rediscovered the swagger and defiant eccentricity that made early albums like Wolfheart and Irreligious such potent and enduring benchmarks for extreme metal’s gothic wing. Not that there was anything much wrong with the band’s last album, 2015’s Extinct, but where that record revelled in subtle acts of subversion, 1755 consistently feels like a sparkling rebirth for the classic Moonspell sound: dark, romantic, unsettling and knowingly extravagant in both design and delivery.

Songs like Desastre and Evento plainly owe their souls to the greats of 80s goth rock, but Moonspell have never abandoned their underground metal roots; for all its simplicity and catchiness, 1755 is uncompromisingly heavy, too. Sung entirely in Portuguese, the conceptual thread may take some unravelling for non-speakers, but something this band have always done well is to create a believable backdrop for their frontman’s flamboyant proclamations: here, riveting emotional substance is in plentiful supply. Several moments, not least jaw-dropping closer Lanterna Dos Afogados with its elegant orchestral flourishes, are almost absurdly moving. Always deserving of a bigger and broader audience than their cult status allows, Moonspell have dug deep and delivered their finest album in many full moons. --- Dom Lawson, teamrock.com

Nowa płyta Moonspell - "1755" to album koncepcyjny nawiązujący do potężnego trzęsienia ziemi, które w 1755 roku spustoszyło Lizbonę. Wszystkie teksty zaśpiewane są po portugalsku. Producentem płyty jest Tue Madsen (Meshuggah, The Haunted, Dark Tranquillity).

"To nie jest po prostu nasz kolejny album. To muzyczny i liryczny dokument, hołd dla naszego dziedzictwa i niesamowitych zdolności i odporności naszych rodaków Portugalczyków i całej ludzkości w momencie, gdy musi ugiąć się przed gwałtownymi siłami natury" - mówi wokalista Fernando Ribeiro. ---rozwalwzmacniacz.pl

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Alpha Noir:
01. Axis Mundi (4:57)
02. Licknthrope (3:49)
03. Versus (4:39)
04. Alpha Noir (4:30)
05. En Nome Do Medo (4:27)
06. Opera Carne (3:53)
07. Love Is Blashemy (4:31)
08. Grandstand (4:54)
09. Sine Missione (4:57)

Omega White:
01. Whiteomega (4:21)
02. White Skies (3:35)
03. Fireseason (4:29)
04. New Tears Eve (4:46)
05. Herodisiac (4:47)
06. Incantatrix (4:40)
07. Sacrificial (4:11)
08. A Greater Darkness (7:25)

Fernando Ribeiro - Vocals
Pedro Paixao - Guitars, Keyboards
Ricardo Amorim - Guitars
Aires Pereira - Bass
Miguel Gaspar – Drums

Moonspell drop the goth and every other extraneous influence in favor of a no-frills blackened metal approach that should surprise longtime critics while forcing their fan base to accept a slightly linear listening experience.

Moonspell have never been known as a traditional metal band. There’s no doubt that they’ve almost always maintained a metal element in their sound, but it has never been the sole influence. Over the course of twenty years and multiple albums they’ve dabbled with world music, rock, goth, electronics, industrial and more while integrating a varying level of metal as well. Even over the past few albums, as they have slowly moved towards a streamlined black metal sound, it has only seemed ‘streamlined’ in relation to their previous works. That is why Alpha Noir is such a surprise. With the release of Alpha Noir Moonspell have literally stripped their sound down to its core elements. The deep goth vocals that have almost always been a large facet of the band’s sound comprise no more than thirty seconds of the entire album, and the keyboards have been relegated to a very subtle support role. This is in addition to a noticeable absence of female vocals, electronics and industrial elements. What we’re left with is an album that derives its power almost entirely from thrashy, blackened riffs and visceral growls – and it works very well.

Alpha Noir opens with an undercurrent of feedback and rolling percussion before introducing the first blackened riff and Fernando’s guttural growls, and it is quite possibly one of the darkest, heaviest things that they have ever recorded. As it turns out, the opening section is also the song’s chorus and it’s the first major clue that this is going to be a different kind of album for the band. Unlike previous releases, Alpha Noir is an album that is focused on delivering powerful riffs and vocals while ignoring all the extraneous influences of old. This, as it turns out, is a double-edged sword that lends the album its greatest assets but also its most glaring weakness. On the plus-side, this is definitely an interesting change of pace for the band that features some of Fernando’s strongest vocals and some of the band’s best riffs, but sometimes it feels as if there just isn’t enough diversity. The songs all seem to be derived from the same general style, tones and tempos and it makes for an album that can feel just a bit too homogenous at times. The lack of diversity really is a minor complaint, though, as individual tracks are all very solid and memorable – it’s only over the course of the album that things might begin to feel slightly tedious.

Moonspell’s surprising decision to create an album full of streamlined blackened metal has turned out to be both good and bad. Overall, they’ve succeeded in creating a powerfully dark collection of metal songs that will be excellent in a live setting, but it has also led to a distinct lack of diversity (something that almost never occurred on previous releases). Despite the lack of variety, Alpha Noir still works very well due to the excellently crafted riffs and a top-notch vocal performance that has Fernando doing everything from guttural death growls to pitchy black metal rasps. In all actuality, Alpha Noir will probably be harder for longtime fans to accept than the casual listener because, to the former, the album will feel like it is ‘missing’ something while the latter will take it for what it is: a solid collection of no-frills metal that pulls from the darker realms of the genre. ---Trey Spencer, sputnikmusic.com

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01. Breathe (Until We Are No More)
02. Extinct
03. Medusalem
04. Domina
05. The Last of Us
06. Malignia
07. Funeral Bloom
08. A Dying Breed
09. The Future Is Dark
10. La Baphomette
11. Until We Are No Less
12. Doomina
13. Last of Them
14. The Past Is Darker

Fernando Ribeiro - vocals
Pedro Paixão - keyboards, guitars
Ricardo "Morning Blade" Amorim - guitars
Miguel "Mike" Gaspar - drums
Aires Pereira – bass

Portuguese goth-metal collective MOONSPELL are back with their eleventh album, the lush, tuneful and often beautifully constructed "Extinct". By now, this band has figured out how to write catchy songs, and they hardly need barking vocal congestions to be effective, much less heavy. Unfortunately, those remain and intrude upon the otherwise substantial, rock-driven material MOONSPELL has to offer here.

The pop-flirting "Breathe (Until We Are No More)" mixes between soft and elegant verses and harder choruses with Fernando Ribeiro's blended singing and ralphing. Pedro Paixao's keys and synthetic strings dress up the lacing verses where Ribeiro chimes his most seductive octaves then pits his violent yelling against them on the sweeping choruses. "Extinct", the heavier title track marches with muscular riffs from Ricardo Amorim, Pedro Paixao and Aires Pereira as Ribeiro changes vocal schemes, shoving his broiled hollers all over the verses as he sweeps into Peter Steele-esque cleans on the choruses. At least the stitching guitar solo is a killer touch behind the song's melodic force.

The peculiarly titled "Medusalem" nevertheless rocks with Miguel Gaspar's steady tempo as the brushing riffs chug on behind Fernando Ribeiro's dropped-back Andrew Eldritch impressions on the verses. He picks his octave a notch (without growling) on the breezing choruses to the suspended keys and the song moves efficiently even at five minutes, embellished only with a long guitar and key solo. "Domina" afterwards floats on a dialed-back groove and pirouetting guitar lines, giving Fernando Ribeiro a wistful platform to seduce his audience, sealing the deal on the song's spacious and exhilarating choruses — once again without growling.

MOONSPELL gives HIM a good run for the money with the harmonious, straight-playing goth rocker "The Last of Us", a singles-minded number running at a tidy 3:26. Ditto for the shaking thrusts of "Funeral Bloom" and "A Dying Breed", albeit Fernando Ribeiro's intermingled yelling amidst his Eldritch shakes would block these cuts from becoming true singles.

Nowhere near as compelling despite the shake-up intent of the songwriting is the laborious "Malignia", which crawls a bit too tenderly and becomes unfastened by Fernando Ribeiro's needless snarling sections despite Pedro Paixao's alluring keys.

What MOONSPELL has done over the years is largely good and often great. For their fans, "Extinct" is going to be one gothic pleasure pill after another. Still, for their vivacious song structuring and lashing harmonies, they suffer from the needless death growls that have grown out of place given where they are as musicians. --- Ray Van Horn, Jr., blabbermouth.net

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1 	In Memoriam 	1:25
2 	Finisterra 	4:08
3 	Memento Mori 	4:27
4 	Sons Of Earth 	1:51
5 	Blood Tells 	4:08
6 	Upon The Blood Of Men 	4:55
7 	At The Image Of Pain	4:21
8 	Sanguine	5:50
9 	Proliferation 	2:39
10 	Once It Was Ours! 	4:53
11 	Mare Nostrum 	1:56
12 	Luna	4:42
13 	Best Forgotten 	6:47
14 	Atlantic 	12:43

Fernando Ribeiro – vocals
Pedro Paixão, Ricardo Amorim – keyboards, guitar
Mike Gaspar – drums
Raimund Gitsels – violin (1, 3, 8, 10)

Once proclaimed poster boys for mid-'90s gothic metal -- European Union-style -- Portugal's Moonspell felt their popularity and influential relevance begin to wane when the movement's new millennium evolution saw female singers become de rigueur. Rudely pushed aside by the likes of Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Lullacry, and, heck, why not, Evanescence, too, Moonspell finds itself in "rebuilding" mode come 2006; delivering their seventh full album and first in three years, Memorial, through new label SPV, following the end of a lifelong relationship with Century Media. Their successful working symbiosis with German producer Waldemar Sorychta remains intact, however, and the fact that Memorial is quite possibly the heaviest Moonspell album yet, proves they're all aware that going soft to compete with pretty young boys like HIM is not a viable option, so good for them! Uncompromising cuts like "Finisterra" and "Blood Tells!" are virtually unadorned death metal assaults, where band leader Fernando Ribeiro drives the point home by using old-time Cookie Monster growls almost exclusively. Yes, he does let his melodious baritone vampire alter ego out of the coffin now and then, and classic gothic literature (Oscar Wilde, Poe and Goethe) is still his favorite source material, but his newfound balance between the two voices helps do away with Moonspell's excessive late-'90s Type O Negative-isms. Likewise, tracks such as "Memento Mori," "Sanguine," "Once It Was Ours!" and "Luna" (the last featuring added female vocals), incorporate synth and string arrangements without being overwhelmed by them. Finally, there are several worthy instrumental interludes -- including the atmospheric "In Memoriam" and symphonic fanfares of "Proliferation" -- easing transitions between tracks, while imposing closer "Best Forgotten" carries on in the band's tradition of epic finales. No matter its overall high standards, it's unlikely that Memorial will return Moonspell to their former heights atop the goth metal scene; but it does prove they are still a force to be reckoned with while doing their legacy no harm. ---Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi

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01. At Tragic Heights
02. Night Eternal
03. Shadow Sun
04. Scorpion Flower
05. Moon In Mercury
06. Hers Is The Twilight
07. Dreamless (Lucifer And Lilith)
08. Spring Of Rage
09. First Light

Fernando Ribeiro – vocals
Ricardo Amorim – guitar, keyboards
Pedro Paixăo – guitar, keyboards
Aires Pereira - bass
Mike Gaspar – drums

It’s nigh impossible to find good gothic music, especially on the metallic side of things. Now, granted, I suppose being “gothic” is different now than it was when I was a lad (the 90s, back when things made a hell of a lot more sense in more ways than one), and as such “gothic” music is a different entity, but the burdens of time prove detrimental in this inasmuch as it does all other factors of life. The Marilyn Manson angst was replaced with moody Heartagram worship, which in turn was replaced with “Twilight” obsessions, all of whom, in turn, perverted the likes of Cradle of Filth and Type O Negative like so many second-hand bong hits, and…*ahem*…well, as you can see, it’s quite the devolutionary pratfall. And as such, finding good “gothic” music, is, well, like I’d said, nigh impossible to do.

That was put to the test when dealing with their latest…

What makes Moonspell’s gothic metallic leanings that much more palatable on my end is that they don’t beat you over the head with spiked bracelets and dripping eye-liner. Much like CoF before them, MOONSPELL use a black metal foundation to keep things nice and brutal while branching off into those Hot Topicky realms in a more sophisticated manner. That helped their later works become necessary listens no matter which side of the depressive spectrum you reside on, and when it comes to “Night Eternal”, that sensation helped makes it as good a listen as it is. The Type O Negative-like graveyard-dwelling darkness acts as a nice augmentation to the harsh metallic nastiness rather than a distraction, and that coupled musical duo wraps around the listener like a slowly closing fist. There’s plenty to enjoy, even for the more casual listener, where the midnighty melodies and head-banging elements seem more than enough to satisfy in terms of ability and being able to fit with one another like so many fittable puzzle pieces. For what it’s worth, the central scheme of things is more on the metallic end, more “The Antidote” than “2econd Skin”, in which twisted yet melodic guitar riffs/leads, creepy keyboard lines, punishing drum bashing and monstrous roaring/serene singing straddle that fine line between accessibility and the original evil heaviness as well as a group of their caliber can. In all my bitter honesty, this is a very solid product, a fine example of the kind of metal that should be taken and enjoyed in their era of -core bullshit, where one can (and should) jump through the crushing likes of “Night Eternal” and “Moon in Mercury” as well as the more soothing tracks like “Scorpion Flower” and “Dreamless (Lucifer and Lilith)” with the greatest of ease and enjoyment. Raging and emotional. And damn fine.

In the end, “Night Eternal” is the impressive solidification of what makes Moonspell as great as they are. While this may or may not appeal to their older-generation-type fans, this should still be enjoyed for what it is. Recommended. --- metal-archives.com

Wydając w 2006 roku album Memorial portugalski Moonspell chciał oddać hołd scenie lat 90., przenieść się w czasie do epoki, w której nowe standardy w metalu wyznaczały takie płyty, jak Wildhoney Tiamatu czy Ceremony Of Opposites Samaela. Idea szczytna, ale – przynajmniej moim zdaniem – nie znajdująca pokrycia w ciekawych pomysłach muzycznych. Może poza piękną Luną zabrakło tam naprawdę udanych melodii? Może zespół nie zdążył się wystarczająco rozpędzić po całkiem grzecznym The Antidote? A może potrzeba mu było czegoś takiego jak powrót do korzeni podczas pracy nad najstarszymi kompozycjami na płycie Under Satanae? Mniejsza o to, bowiem na Night Eternal Moonspell odrabia wszelkie straty, ba, proponuje materiał, który po prostu powala.

Niby same klasyczne metalowe patenty – począwszy od cytatów z Apokalipsy św. Jana na otwarcie, przez brzmienia organów kościelnych i chóry, aż po rytmy grane na dwie centrale oraz przepotężny growling – ale brzmi to, jakby zespół właśnie napił się ze źródła wiecznej młodości. Siedmiominutowy At Tragic Heights, zbudowany zgodnie z zasadą „szybciej, mocniej, więcej”, stopniem złożoności i intensywności przypomina rozbudowane kompozycje Cradle Of Filth (niektóre fragmenty wypadają ewidentnie blackowo). Night Eternal atakuje ogromnym ciężarem w zwrotkach (znowu gra na dwie stopy), wolniejszym, naprawdę dramatycznym refrenem i rewelacyjną gitarową solówką. W Shadow Sun połamana rytmicznie zwrotka z wyszeptaną partią wokalną prowadzi nas do refrenu z riffem tak soczystym, że słysząc go trudno nie rozdziawić buzi z oszołomienia. Rozbujany Scorpion Flower (duet Fernando z Anneke van Giersbergen) zachwyca melodią i moonspellowskim romantyzmem, Moon In Mercury to ponownie spora prędkość i blackmetalowa nośność gitar...

Cały album zaaranżowany jest bogato, ale brzmienie ma naturalne i z odpowiednią dawką surowości, dzięki czemu zachowuje organiczną, naturalną energię. W połączeniu z solidną dawką melodyjności (Here Is The Twilight, czy znowu romantyczny Dreamless) daje to 45-minutowego kilera. To Moonspell, a nie np. Tiamat, rozdaje dziś karty, zachowując wszystkie atuty dla siebie. --- terazrock.pl

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1 	Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade) 	7:43
2 	Love Crimes 	7:33
3 	...Of Dream And Drama (Midnight Ride) 	3:58
4 	Lua D'Inverno 	1:48
5 	Trebraruna 	3:29
6 	Vampiria 	5:35
7 	An Erotic Alchemy 	8:05
8 	Alma Mater 	5:37

Birgit Zacher – vocals
Langsuyar – vocals
Mantus – guitars
Passionis – keyboards
Ares – bass
Mike – drums

Released at the height of the European goth metal craze, Moonspell's Wolfheart was a surprisingly accomplished effort by a band originating in the unlikeliest of places, heretofore relatively metal-free Portugal. Diligent students of their northern European neighbors, the bandmembers had yet to develop a wholly original voice, but quickly proved they'd done their homework by incorporating the genre's trademark elements (morbid lyrical schemes, dreary and melancholy riffs, ambient keyboards, demonic chorales) into the grandiloquent opener, "Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade)." Singer and group instigator Fernando Ribeiro (here named Langsuyar for maximum crypt-defiling effect) alternates death grunts and a guttural baritone style obviously inspired by Type O Negative's Peter Steele as he leads his troops through multi-faceted but often overly ambitious compositions. You can't blame the boys for trying but, with the exception of "Love Crimes," which somehow manages to combine galloping drums, Iron Maiden-like guitar harmonies, and ethereal female vocals to great effect, the album's second half (introduced by the gypsy lute of "Lua d'Inverno" [Winter Moon]) soon collapses into a jumble of well-intentioned but not yet fully developed tracks. The strange chorus of "Trebaruna" never quite gels with the surrounding guitars, and the absurdly over the top gothic operetta "Vampiria" is a tad too much to stomach. Thankfully, the group pulls it together for a closing couplet featuring the easy-flowing epic "An Erotic Alchemy" (note the barely corrupted "Crazy Train" riff) and punchy closer "Alma Mater." All in all, Wolfheart was a strong launching pad, which would set the tone for Moonspell's accelerated artistic maturation in years to come. --- Eduardo Rivadavia, allmusic.com

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