Moonspell

Moonspell is a Black/Gothic Metal band from the city of Brandoa, in Portugal, led by Fernando Ribeiro.

History

The early years

The band was formed in 1989 under the name Morbid God and released the demo "Serpent Angel" during 1992. The band obtained a contract with the French label Adipocere for their single "Wolves From The Fog / Goat on Fire" and the demo "Anno Satanæ"; was introduced to the European markets.

Gothic Metal Period

After quickly becoming the leading Portuguese metal band, the group quickly accepted an offer from the German company Century Media. The Wolfheart album, obtained very favorable reviews, especially for its lyrics; which were old poems that Fernando Ribeiro wrote between the ages of 14 and 16, under the pseudonym Langsuyar Tenebrarum Rex.

Moonspell toured Europe in 1995 supporting Tiamat and Morbid Angel, before returning to the studio to record their sophomore effort, "Irreligious". Promoting the record saw them embark on two more tours where their status quickly grew from a guest spot with Samael to a higher profile with Type O Negative.

The year 1997 would witness the publication of "2econd Skin" before the group's return in 1998 with their new album, "Sin / Pecado". The album showed a much more gothrocker style than the previous ones. In recognition of the services rendered to their country, the band had to stop their tour for a formal reception at the Portuguese embassy in Santiago. Moonspell continued to open for big bands like Kiss and Manowar. At the beginning of 2000 they toured Germany supporting the already classic Kreator and Katatonia.

His album "Darkness and Hope", released in 2001, reached number 79 on the German sales chart. The band covered the classics "Mr. Crowley" by Ozzy Osbourne and "Love Will Tear Us Apart" of Joy Division for the special editions of "Darkness and Hope". Later they began a tour of the United States as headliners, supported by Lacuna Coil, on December 5 at the Trocadero Venue in Philadelphia.

In early 2003 they performed a version of the jazz classic "I'll see you in my dreams" to include it in the soundtrack of the homonymous Portuguese horror film. In March Moonspell notified the departure of bassist Sergio Crestana, hiring Niclas Etelävuori from Amorphis for the recording of "The Antidote". Aires Pereira, a member of Malevolence, took over the bassist position in June. The single "Everything Invaded" it entered the Portuguese chart at number 9. Moonspell embarked on a North American tour in November with Type O Negative and Cradle of Filth. In December they went on another European tour co-headlining with Lacuna Coil, Passenger and Poisonblack. The band returned to the road early the following year opening for Opeth on their 'Lamentations over America tour 2004', beginning in Edmonton, Canada on January 20.

In April they returned to the studio to begin recording their new album, after booking dates in May to play in Chile, Mexico and Brazil.

Reviving his black metal side

After years of work, Moonspell decides to record the album Memorial, but this time with the SPV/Steamhammer label, since the contract with Century Media had ended. The year 2006 was one of the great years for Moonspell, they won the European MTV Award for "Best Portuguese Band", and the album was a success, thanks to the singles Finisterra and Luna. They re-released it 2 times, including bonus tracks titled "Atlantic" and "Phantom North" respectively.

In 2007 Century Media decided to release a Moonspell compilation album, titled The Great Silver Eye and a DVD called Lusitanian Metal, while Moonspell was recording their album Under Satanæ, which was intended to revive the early demos and EPs of Moonspell. the band.

Today (2008-2018)

On May 19, 2008 they released the album, titled Night Eternal. This album features the song "Scorpion Flower", with the participation of the former vocalist of The Gathering and currently of Agua de Annique, Anneke van Giersbergen.

On April 27, 2012, the album titled Alpha Noir/Omega White came out, the first through the Austrian label Napalm Records. This album divided into two explores with Alpha Noir a more aggressive first facet, but with nuances that had already been perceived since Memorial with songs like Memento Mori. Omega White, on the other hand, transmits a more melodic atmosphere with a very marked influence from sounds like those of Type or negative.

On March 6, 2015 they released the album Extinct with the Napalm Records label, this album takes us through new sounds explored by the band and with notes of Death Metal and Symphonic Metal. In this album, the intention of making a concept album trying to bring the concept of extinction to music begins to be perceived. As is the tradition since Night Eternal, the album cover image is in charge of Seth Siro Anton.

Moonspell prepared the presentation of their new album 1755 with a series of concerts in Portugal: on October 30 and 31, 2017 in Lisbon and on November 1 in Porto. The scheduled release date was November 3. This production is completely in Portuguese and tells us about the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, it is then his first declared conceptual production.

The band's latest release is an album called Lisboa under the spell and was released on August 17, 2018. It contains the albums Wolfheart, Irreligious and Extinct in audio, DVD and Blu-Ray versions performed live.

Members

Timeline

Discography

Albums

• Under the Moonspell (1994)
• Wolfheart (1995)
• Irreligious (1996)
• Sin / Sin (1998)
• The Butterfly Effect (1999)
• Darkness and Hope (2001)
• The Antidote (2003)
• Memorial (2006)
• The Great Silver Eye (2007)
• Under Satanæ (2007)
• Night Eternal (2008)
• Lusitanian Metal (Album live) (2008)
• Alpha Noir/Omega White (2012)
• Extinct (2015)
• 1755 (2017)
• Lisbon Under the Spell (Album live(2018)
• Hermitage(2021)

DVD

• Lusitanian Metal (2008)
• Lisbon under the spell (2018)

EP

• Wolves From The Fog / Goat on Fire (1994).
• Under the Moonspell (1994).
• 2econd Skin (1997).

Simple

• Opium (1996).
• 2econd skin (1997).
• Magdalene (1998).
• The Butterfly Effect (1999)
• Night (2001)
• Everything Invaded (2003)
• I'll See You In My Dreams (2004)
• Finisterra (2006)
• Moon (2006).
• Night Eternal (2008).
• Scorpion Flower (2008).
• Lickanthrope (2012).
• White Skies (2012).
• Extinct (2015).
• Domina (2015).
• In tremor dei (2017).
• All of you saints (2017).

Demos

• Serpent Angel (recorded by Morbid God) (1992).
• Anno Satanæ (1993).