Moonspell
Extinct
Napalm Records
2015
Almost 3 years after their previous work, “Alpha Noir/Omega White”, Moonspell are back with a more focused and “back to the roots” album. The band is looking back to its atmospheric gothic metal past and gives some very good examples of how they used to sound in albums like “Irreligious”. Surely, it’s not the mid-90s anymore but that doesn’t mean that the band shouldn’t use the best elements of their past to produce “new” music… on the contrary.
The album has some “oriental/eastern” passages on a few tracks and it also has a modern sound and production. The album was mixed & produced by the renowned Jens Borgen (Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Opeth, etc.). Possibly, this is the best production Moonspell had ever had! The extreme (death/black/thrash) tracks are OK but it’s the atmospheric, dark gothic ones which make this album rather special. This is the kind of music which made Moonspell what they are today – one of the top dark gothic metal bands of our time.
Tracks like “Medusalem” (which also features ex-Orpahned Land Yossi Sassi), “Domina”, “Last of Us”, “Funeral Bloom”, “A Dying Breed”, “The Future is Dark” & “La Baphomette” are the best examples of how the old Moonspell sound meets the contemporary one. This album also features various elements from their previous works, which add to several tracks that distinctive aura of Moonspell. Do not mess things up – those are genuine atmospheric gothic metal tracks and not the “popy-gay-gothic” ones by the joke-band HIM. Even the (remix) bonus tracks are very good too. The older fans of the band will like it more than they would expect to and the new ones will also “discover” why this band became so successful back in the 90s. Either way you see it this is a very good album which you should check out…
The album has some “oriental/eastern” passages on a few tracks and it also has a modern sound and production. The album was mixed & produced by the renowned Jens Borgen (Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Opeth, etc.). Possibly, this is the best production Moonspell had ever had! The extreme (death/black/thrash) tracks are OK but it’s the atmospheric, dark gothic ones which make this album rather special. This is the kind of music which made Moonspell what they are today – one of the top dark gothic metal bands of our time.
Tracks like “Medusalem” (which also features ex-Orpahned Land Yossi Sassi), “Domina”, “Last of Us”, “Funeral Bloom”, “A Dying Breed”, “The Future is Dark” & “La Baphomette” are the best examples of how the old Moonspell sound meets the contemporary one. This album also features various elements from their previous works, which add to several tracks that distinctive aura of Moonspell. Do not mess things up – those are genuine atmospheric gothic metal tracks and not the “popy-gay-gothic” ones by the joke-band HIM. Even the (remix) bonus tracks are very good too. The older fans of the band will like it more than they would expect to and the new ones will also “discover” why this band became so successful back in the 90s. Either way you see it this is a very good album which you should check out…