### Moonspell: Night eternal

#### 14/05/08 || Euthanatos

Moonspell, as I believe I have mentioned in the past, have done pretty much everything they could do. They started out brilliantly, they turned gay, they got tired of cock up their ass, they returned to metal and now, with “Night Eternal”, they’ve released their best work since “Wolfheart”. This album is quite appealing for a number of reasons. It isn’t as raw and satanically evil as “Under Satanæ” and isn’t as gothic as “Darkness & Hope”. It’s actually the perfect blend of the two. Production-wise, this album is also much better than the previous one, which sounded like a midget banging a bucket inside a cave. Tue Madsen finally got these guys on the right track, sounding aggressive, yet clear at the same time.

While tracks like “At Tragic Heights” and the title track open things up brutally, with a great mix of death and melody, “Scorpion Flower”, the most gothic moment, is where Moonspell truly shines, and this is the most fantastic song off this record. Great songwriting can also he heard in “Shadow Sun” and “Dreamless (Lucifer And Lilith)”. With Fernando Ribeiro getting his rasp and growl pleasantly controlled and focused (he had a habit of going all over the place) and his clean singing less theatrical and more intimate, this is probably his finest performance ever as well, and since, in many ways, Fernando is Moonspell, it’s not surprising this is such a strong offering from them.

Portugal has always been damn proud of Moonspell, but now I think they truly have reason for that pride, as the band reaches the level it promised it would so many years ago.

The cover: An interesting pietá type image. Very striking.

8,5 “I should have given the previous one a 7” out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2008
- Label: SPV/Steamhammer
- Website: www.moonspell.com
- Band
- Fernando Ribeiro: vocals
- Miguel Gaspar: drums
- Ricardo Amorim: guitar
- Pedro Paixão: keyboard, guitar
- Aires Pereira: bass

- Tracklist
- 01. At Tragic Heights
- 02. Night Eternal
- 03. Shadow Sun
- 04. Scorpion Flower
- 05. Moon In Mercury
- 06. Hers Is The Twilight
- 07. Dreamless (Lucifer And Lilith)
- 08. Spring Of Rage
- 09. First Light