Portugal's Moonspell have returned with a triple album which has all of the material from "Wolfheart" "Irreligious" and "Extinct" recorded live on 3 different disc's and also displays their mixture of black and goth metal and the album is called "Lisboa Under The Spell" which will be released on August 17th by Napalm Records and we will start off the review with the material from "Wolfheart".
Live audience inter reaction starts off the album along with a dark sounding intro before adding synths and clean playing onto the recording which also mixes in with the heavier sections of the music at times while the riffs also bring in a great amount of blast beats as well as the vocals also adding in deep yet grim black metal screams.
When clean vocals are utilized they add in more goth metal elements while all of the musical instruments have a very powerful sound to them along with most of the tracks being very long and epic in length as well as the solos and leads being done in a very melodic style, at times you can hear some influences from the atmospheric doom/death metal style of the 90's era and as the album progresses folk instruments can also be heard briefly and one of the tracks is an instrumental.
Next up is the material from "Irreligious".
Audience feedback and a very dark sounding intro starts off the live set while also introducing synths which are also a very huge part of their music along with a brief use of melodic chants before going into a heavier direction as well as the riffs also bringing in a great amount of melody.
Goth style vocals a re also used quite a bit throughout the set along with some black metal screams also being used at times while all of the musical instruments have a very powerful sound to them as well as the solos and leads being done in a very melodic style, spoken word parts can also be heard briefly and clean playing can also be heard in certain sections of the recording and as the live set progresses female vocals are also used briefly and a couple of the tracks are very long and epic in length.
Next up is their live set of "Extinct".
Audience feedback starts off the live set while spoken word samples are also used briefly before introducing synths into the music which also gives the music more of an epic atmosphere while also mixing in with the heavier sections of the songs along with all of the instruments having a very powerful sound to them.
When guitar solos and solos and leads are utilized they are done in a very melodic style while the clean vocals add in touches of goth along with the riffs also bringing in a great amount of melody and when the music speeds up a small amount of blast beats can be heard as well as the aggressive vocals bringing in a touch of black metal and the last 2 tracks are very long and epic in length.
On these 3 different disc's Moonspell brings out a different style with each album with the first one being their first recording to mix black and goth metal together while still having some folk influences while the second album goes for more of a black metal influenced goth metal style and the final recording shows a mixture of traditional goth rock and goth metal, the production sounds very professional while the lyrics cover Occultism, Paganism, Vampirism and Dark Poetry themes.
In my opinion this is a very great sounding collection from Moonspell and if you are a fan of this band you should check out this triple live album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Of Dream And Drama" "An Erotic Alchemy" "Opium" "Fullmoon Madness" "Breath (Until We Are No More)' and "The Future is Dark". 8/7 out of 10.
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