Moonspell

Fernando Ribeiro's Moonspell played a decisive role in shifting the centre of gravity of extreme metal away from the cold lands of black-metal's Northern Europe and the death-metal heartland of the United States, towards the warmer climes of Southern Europe, a region of the world usually marginal to the evolution of international rock. They weren't the only Southern European band to earn worldwide recognition, but along with Greece's Rotting Christ and a handful of others, the Portuguese were certainly among the leading exponents of Latin metal.

The late Seventies laid the groundwork for the possible emergence of bands like Moonspell. Two subcultures, both born from the ashes of punk, were carving out ever more space among the young, while still remaining minority pursuits. On one side, what would come to be known as the gothic-dark scene, born of a dark, introspective take on post-punk. On the other, in England, more or less at the same time and likewise springing from the more aggressive, faster strain of punk, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal emerged. Two completely different scenes, but united by the pull they exerted on groups of young people who recognised themselves in one another, dressed alike, listened to the same bands, and were viewed with suspicion by their peers — in some cases even facing outright discrimination.

Trying to merge two such distant sonic worlds in the early '80s would have been unthinkable, but in the world of rock – land of endless contaminations – and in the '90s, the crossover decade par excellence, the idea starts to become plausible. In this regard, the figure of Fernando Ribeiro is far from secondary. A lover of extreme metal, but also an expert in gothic literature, an atheist yet a scholar of the Bible, a Portuguese translator of Lovecraft and of Matheson's novel "I Am Legend", Ribeiro is an anomalous figure in the metal world, both intellectually and on stage.

These are the years when the dark metal of Type O Negative emerges – a band without which Moonspell probably would never have existed – and the years of the black doom of Paradise Lost. Together with these two bands, Moonspell form the triad that would set the rules of gothic metal, defining its boundaries and main characteristics. It is precisely the album "Irreligious" that would play the role of watershed in this sense.

The process of hybridization obviously didn't happen suddenly, but gradually. The pioneering bands of the genre were at first busy splitting between the two aesthetics and experimenting with making them coexist, only later dedicating themselves to blending them into that single whole we now call gothic metal.

The trajectory of the Portuguese band Moonspell, born as Morbid God, is emblematic of this process.

Where "Wolfheart", the band's debut LP, is a gothic metal record that still keeps clearly visible and disconnected folk elements and, above all, the violence of black metal, with "Irreligious" Moonspell seem to want to give the fusion of gothic rock and heavy metal a definitive genetic code, presenting the two components of this DNA knotted together in an inextricable tangle. The Portuguese band's second album must therefore be considered, without a shadow of a doubt, among the cornerstone records of the genre, on a par with "October Rust" by Type O Negative, "Draconian Times" by Paradise Lost and, a little more obliquely, very few others.

The rhythm section made up of Miguel Gaspar aka Mike on drums and João Pedro Escoval aka Ares is both thunderous and cavernous, gleaming with metal power, yet ceremonial in its rhythm as per gothic rock tradition. Ricardo Amorim's guitar is engaged in a constant heavy riffing job, but is always careful to leave the right space for the theatrical vocals of frontman Fernando Ribeiro. Sinisterly charismatic, the latter is in constant balance between the ferocity of heavy metal, often resorting to theatrical growls and other assorted shrieks, and the pursuit of a depth of tone close to that of Andrew Eldritch (Sisters Of Mercy). Finally, essential to completing the horror sound of "Irreligious" is the contribution of Pedro Paixão on keyboards and samples. With the former, particularly a recurring funereal organ, the keyboardist wraps the other instruments in a sinister fog; while with the latter, ranging from death bells to Mephistophelian sneers, he completes the grand guignol picture.

Over its nearly three-quarters of an hour, minus a few pauses, "Irreligious" unfolds as a single, horrifying sonic flow. The songs often fade into one another, with the feedback of one track giving way to the first torrential guitar riff of the next, creating an almost cinematic effect, like scenes following one another. Despite its title, the record opens with an introduction of about a minute, titled "Perverse... Almost religious". Amid ominously rumbling bells and gloomy Gregorian chants, Moonspell project us into a terrifying crypt where the macabre pagan ceremony of "Irreligious" begins.

Fired off in rapid succession after the intro, "Opium" and "Awake" are two gothic metal onslaughts, perhaps the manifesto of the newborn Latin gothic metal, revealing the band's new sound in all its proud, dark fullness. The former relies entirely on the alternation between highly charged verses, sinewed by a muscular, darting guitar riff, and a chorus as devastating as it is immediate, sung by Ribeiro like a dark hymn dedicated to the flower of perdition. The latter, by contrast, unleashes its thunderous guitar riff only in the chorus, while the verses build tension through the scaffolding of keyboards and strings, moving as if to trace the spires of a cathedral.

"Ruin And Misery" is just as immediate. Here Ribeiro is a demon who, immersed in macabre choirs and ashen organs, revels in the defeats and misery of others, marching gleefully to the pace of a relentless electric guitar riff. "For A Taste Of Eternity", on the other hand, benefits from a more complex structure, with the rhythm section showing off its technical qualities, both in the blazing verses and in a velvety, mysterious atmospheric interlude bordering on post-metal.

Aside from a sweeping electric guitar solo and a sinewy, cutting riff, "Raven Claws" is without doubt the least metal moment on the record. More oriented toward the imagery of pure gothic rock, the song not only has Ribeiro trading vocals with a well-judged female counterpart, but even sees the vocalist indulging in rock-soul flourishes. This is a track that even flirts with pop, confirming that on this second album the band knew no limits whatsoever.

"A Poisoned Gift" is another example of a perfect fusion of dark and metal elements. After an opening of ethereal keyboards almost in Cure territory and typically gothic vocals, the third minute brings an unexpected guitar riff, incisive and liberating, destined to become one of the most gripping moments of their live shows. Ribeiro confirms his passion for gothic literature with "Mephisto", while "Herr Spiegelmann" has something bizarre straight out of gothic theatre, yet fits perfectly into the context of the album.

Closing this horror rollercoaster titled "Irreligious" is one of Moonspell's signature tracks, a "Full Moon Madness" that over time has become the inevitable closer of the band's hieratic concerts, which Ribeiro announces to the crowd by making the sign of the full moon with his hands. Nearly seven minutes of quintessential gothic metal, sung by the frontman in both English and Portuguese, playing the part of the werewolf. The night is drawn through terrifying samples of howls, and the full moon is made to shine through crystalline guitar strumming. Then the curse is triggered by slow, solemn guitar and organ riffs that pile up and advance in unison. Every time Ribeiro ends his growl with the iconic chorus, reciting "Full Moon Madness/ We are as one and congregate/ Full Moon Madness/ We rise again to procreate", the music grows more molten and more saturated, first with blazing guitar solos and then with a triumph of epic strings.

So ends the spell cast under the moonlight, after forty-two minutes that still sound today like a small miracle of balance and poetry, bearing all the hallmarks of those albums we sense to be watershed works, instruction manuals for anyone wanting to understand a given musical genre. In a word, a genuine landmark.

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12/12/2021