### Moonspell: Under satanae

#### 10/10/07 || Euthanatos

Like most, I would guess, I first came in contact with Portuguese powerhouse Moonspell through “Wolfheart”, an impressive debut album which captivated many. The band, not surprisingly, took the path of many other doom/death acts like Paradise Lost and Tiamat and went into a more gothic-oriented sound, eventually. They completely lost me there.

What’s curious about Moonspell, though, is that after a while they started thinning their gothic influence and getting back into death/doom growls. That’s something you don’t see often. And while “The Antidote” was a healthy return to form, “Under Satanae” is damn good and takes the band right back to the “Wolfheart” level.

I’m completely overwhelmed by the sonority of this album. It has so many middle-eastern elements to it, as you can notice by its awkwardly named intro. There are many interludes and intermissions here that also follow suit throughout the album, and all of them are very pleasing to the ear.

But focusing on what really matters, i.e., the metal side of it all, Moonspell have apparently rekindled all their inspiration and released it in this effort. Take the first “real” track, for instance, “Tenebrarum Oratorium (Latin something and something other)”; it has all the elements of a doom metal classic. The powerful visuals it confers with its majestic beginning, the desperate vocals being complemented by female choir vocals, and Fernando’s trademark clean singing, which now more than ever has shifted from Gothic to My Dying Bride Doomish territory.

Calling the album doom metal would be a bit deceiving, though. It has elements from a whole gamut of sub-genres, doom and death metal being the front-runners of it all. But if you truly want to bathe yourself in an entertaining, haunting song, listen to “Wolves in the Fog”. Not only does it bring back the whole wolf mythos, it is one epic and amazing song, with references from everything from gothic to black metal.

A very pleasant surprise, probably the biggest I’ll have all year, and I certainly had discarded Moonspell as an interesting band that would never amaze me again. Quite the comeback.

The cover: Some horns, pentagram, moon, red, forest. Satanic ohhhhh.

8 howls out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: SPV
- Website: www.moonspell.com
- Band
- Fernando Ribeiro: vocals
- Ricardo Amorim: guitars
- Pedro Paixão: guitars, keyboards
- Aires Pereira : bass
- Miguel Gaspar: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Halla alle halla al rabka halla (Praeludium/Incantatum Solistitium)
- 02. Tenebrarum Oratorium (Andamento I/Erudit Compendyum)
- 03. Interludium/Incantatum Oequinoctum
- 04. Tenebrarum Oratorium (Andamento II/Erotic Compendyum)
- 05. Opus Diabolicum (Andamento III/Instrumental Compendyum)
- 06. Chorai Lusitânia! (Epilogus/Incantatam Maresia)
- 07. Goat On Fire
- 08. Ancient Winter Goddess
- 09. Wolves From The Fog
- 10. Serpent Angel