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Rating: There are albums that, despite being beautiful and easily digestible, inevitably fall into oblivion after a short time, only to be unearthed at some moment when you're looking for something "different" from the many, too many releases of an entire year.
Then there are others that, upon first listening, prove to be challenging and intricate, not very catchy and hardly digestible, but which, even after being forgotten for a certain period, return and manage to be appreciated to the best of their abilities. And this second example is what happens with "Memorial", the latest, and already highly sought-after, work of the Lusitanian band Moonspell.
Moonspell have an extraordinary, although controversial ability: that of making people fall in love with their music in a total and unwavering way for those who follow them, or of appearing detestable, boring, and pitiful to many others. And this also happened with this album. There are those who love it, have loved it, and will love it madly, and those who listened to it, were disgusted by it, and forgot it on the shelf cursing the friend who recommended it and made them buy it.
With Ribeiro's band and company, there are no half measures, and in this, they share the same fate as groups of the same caliber like Type 'O' Negative and others, and anyway, it always remains a fact that with every release, for better or worse, there is always much talk about it, and the anticipation for each of their publications is greeted with frenzied excitement and uncontrollable impatience by those who know them, whether because they are madly charmed by them, or because they are waiting for nothing more than to take them down, once again, with a sawed-off shotgun. Lately, the number of detractors, bolstered by past albums not exactly up to the band's standards, has increased significantly, but it must also be said that besides these, a compact swarm of new-hour fans has been created who have learned to appreciate them, and who, with the necessary patience and broad-mindedness, are also rediscovering their past masterpieces.
But let's be clear, if Moonspell for you is represented by those who played in "Sin/Pecado" or "The Butterfly Effect", then this "Memorial" will surely not please you. And there would be nothing else to say at this point. You could also close the review window (which is already present in the database, but which, in my opinion, is certainly too ungenerous). If, however, you love the primordial sounds between Black Metal and Gothic of "Wolfheart" and "Irreligious", then you won't be able to do without this album anymore, simply because it is an almost maniacal and sadistic concoction of anger, gloom, whispers, and powerful epic rides and fundamentally cruel in their irritated but never chaotic spur.
Although not a Black Metal album per se, it is filled in terms of atmosphere, even the most somber. However, the minimal production and the totally nihilistic and booming approach are missing, which here shows itself to be furious, but in doses thoroughly and wisely distributed, with a crystalline yet atrocious manner, and you certainly understand this by listening to, for example, a song like "Finisterra" with Ribeiro's scream vocals that have nothing to envy the champions of the Death/Black genre in terms of brutality, but rather demonstrate incredible and astonishing versatility, both in the most prevalent moments of brutality and razor-sharp metrics, and in the most intimate and hissing, dark, and decadent episodes, precisely in the Moonspell manner, and which can be appreciated in many instances.
Already this puts "Memorial" as a strong and generally appreciable album, if you then add a rhythmic section that remains essentially gothic while overworking and wandering into criminal and steamroller races (and the drum work here is a clear example) of several songs, then one can understand what the band's attitude in this new millennium is: no more contamination at all costs, no more experimentations that sometimes left you completely flabbergasted, but powerful and ear-splitting Heavy Metal, albeit adorned with the tribal trademark of the Moonspell machine, albeit filled with references to the past and their very particular way of drawing from the more pronounced influences of Black Metal from which the band inexorably derives.
"Memento Mori", "Blood Tells", "At Image of Pain", will leave you completely exhausted after listening to them, effortlessly switching from haunting and dread-inducing atmospheres, intense and uncompromising, to guitar corps heavy as tanks, and seductive, albeit acidic, turnabouts in the fiercest and most murderous Gothic, that, just to make it clear, is most influenced by the black edges of existence and the conflicting thought between being at the center of the universe, and not being or representing anything at all.
To catch your breath, however, there are many interludes recalling the tribal nature and Mediterranean belonging of Moonspell ("Sons of Earth", "Proliferation" though sui generis, "Mare Nostrum"), almost like our guys want to mock many Scandinavian black realities, as if to say: "Here we are, too, able to recreate certain atmospheres, even without declaring ourselves sons of Odin, even without living amidst polar ice and dizzying mountains..."
But if that still wasn't enough, and you were missing the exquisitely gothic and claustrophobic hook of Moonspell's music, then here you'll be served on bloody and baroque platters dipped in tar "Luna" and "Sanguine", in which you might imagine finding yourself in forests populated by shadows, or in the presence of tragedy personified, and unable to even say, in your defense, how ordinary, useless, and oppressive your life has been.
These, in the opinion of the writer, are the Moonspell many have been waiting for after a long time; in their most dazzling form, in their most pronounced attitude to annihilate, baffle, and destroy, with various compromises agreed, but always and nonetheless with the necessary ferocity that distinguished them already at their earliest attempts, leading them to compose masterpieces like "Alma Mater" and "Full Moon Madness".
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Finisterra (04:08)
the world has turned once more inside
brought up a message from our dead:
the ones you love the most
are the ones you hurt as deep
the world has turned once more inside
anchored into captivity
the ones you wanted the most
the ones you buried under sea
exit wounds, waterdrums, dream the eternal return
tree of life rotting inside, autumn leaves, winter white
a light at the end of the world
whole world a ghost shading inside
true love waits for the bless of death
the doubt that sets me free
not to remember anything
stillborn, bloodlet, die in our feet like the trees
earthsong, neverland, let the blood have its way
a light at the end of the world
was it for this we sold our souls?
was it for this we missed our chance of leaving?
(for) a lie at the end of the world
03 Memento Mori (04:27)
I am the moment, the soul
the moment that ends it all
I am the second, the will
the serpent, the one you last recall
the living pulse of nightmares
is on my side
with the shadows I fade into you
a secret promise of leaving
blanking your eyes
when you look for me try for once inside
in the sleep of cruelty
the old sounds of you and me
I am the moment, the soul
the moment that ends it all
I am the second, the will
the serpent, the one you last recall (you are lost)
the ones so long forgotten
now at your side
their spirits travel from me into you
a rush of waters then afterlife
the wind in the trees
yours is the fight in this minute dark
I am the moment, the soul
the moment that ends it all
I am the second, the will
the serpent, the one you last...
in the sleep of cruelty
the old sounds of you in me
and for a moment it's gone
the beauty of it all
I am the second, the fall
the logic of it all
I am the moment, the soul
the moment that ends it all
I am the second, the will
the serpent, the one you last recall
memento mori!
05 Blood Tells (04:08)
in my blood you reached this far
in my soul you found this much
the circles of hell on earth
travelled together times upon times
when you have lived this cruel
and emptied the veins once full
bloodlines of life going back in your hands
bloodlines of life in return to the past
blood tells. memorial.
now you have gone too far
now you have found too much
the circles of blood completed
as it was once for the last
now we have lived this full
still we have nothing at all
from the line of the life we fall
in the shifting sands of the heart
blood tells. memorial.
to put together the words,
to bring together our worlds
to be together the curse,
to live together our horrors
now we have lived this full
always we had nothing to prove!
what the soul hides, blood tells!
now we have lived this full
to you we have nothing to prove!
what the soul hides, blood tells!
memorial.
07 At the Image of Pain (04:21)
Man confirmed by the carnal
Like a damnation supreme
Man you are bound to this world and this blood
Raise hands to the wonders
In honour of you
Man condemned again
Created at the image of pain
Beast conceived in the spirit
Such is your instinct supreme
Prince in all of this world and beyond
Blood oaths to the solemn
In return to you
Man condemned again
Created at the image of pain
"A prince must possess both nature of beast and man"
(Can you feet? It is real...)
Man condemned again
Fallen at the image
Man condemned again of pain
I am the son of the earth
Pain!
08 Sanguine (05:50)
find me with the howling
in the night i will be waiting under
remember how cold the touch
when you fall with another
approaching the eternal day
the everlasting nothing between us
the everlasting nothing around us
returning in your other shape
at midnight the failing wonder
remember there can be only one
we the trophy of each other
sanguine- your love comes to me in oceans of blood
find me with the howling
in the night I am going under
remember how cold the touch
you have fallen with another
leave me by the fading
silenced in the trust
remember how cold the truth
when we breed one another
sanguine- your love comes to me in oceans of blood
the everlasting ignorance around us, forever living sickness inside us,
the silence still not finished with us, the madness breeding when we do.
for you I will cut my veins open and let you hide on them
for you I will cut my veins open, let you live freely on them
sanguine- your love comes to me in oceans of blood
10 Once It Was Ours! (04:53)
Vanishing act inside the weak
In need of you and all what's real
Spirited into our lost ways
In solitudes to follow
Across the land departed on sea
We will be living our last days
Remember!
Once it was ours
We have waited forever
We are to blame
For once it was ours
We are a revolution strong inside the weak
The anguish of the all to be
Lost forever into your unique ways
In telling blood decisions stay
Keep the light strong for me!
My darkest hour ahead it lays
Remember!
Once it was ours
We have waited forever
We are to blame
For once it was ours
It's a resolution! Our destination shall be ours again
It's a resolution! And it's coming our way...
Remember!
All that you see
Could ever feel
Once it was final
Once it was all...
Remember!
Once it was ours
We have waited forever
We are to blame
For once it was ours
Remember - We are living our lost days
Once it was ours!
12 Luna (04:42)
Bleed no reflection
Upon the waters that you fear
Make things happen
Accept no resignation
For some life has been cruel
You have set the mood
Thinking about you... Luna..Luna..Luna
Lay the serpent's egg
In this world of make believe
And make things real
My seed of a lunacy
Was a sign made to resist
A mood set from birth
Thinking about you... Luna..Luna..Luna
Show me your moon burns
Take me as the moon burns
The freezing moon
Making things real for me
The killing Moon
Making things happen for me
Luna..Luna..Luna
Luna - all above
Wound of light in the enemy skies
Make things happen for me
On the eve of self destruction
On the eve of all can be...Thinking about you
13 Best Forgotten (14:08)
Arms towering into fear
Feels like I am going in my sleep
The dead are breeding under my pillow
Is there a place for you in me?
Best forgotten
Gates closing when you draw near
At the very heart of melancholia
Those were his last words
Is there still something to die for?
Inside my heart a wasteland
That only you can fill with life
For ther are strangers in our way
Pulling us under, dreaming us under tonight
As certain as the grave
If I lie to you again
Imposed in the darkness
Every word is true
and best forgotten
Words surrender into a seal
My life is a curse I keep to myself
The dead are breaking under my pillow
Memories of when you were there
Best forgotten
Lips drying when you are near
At the very pit of melancholia
Those were her last souls
Is there still something to dream of?
Inside my heart a wasteland still
That only you could make me feel
For there are snakes in our way
Feeling us under, nesting us under tonight
As certain as the grave if I lie to you again
Imposed in the darkness
Every word is true
and best forgotten
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Other reviews
By Fidia
I find the comparison made by many music critics who have praised the singer for a supposed return to the depth of the early works’ vocals to be decidedly wrong.
This mediocre Memorial unfortunately represents one of the most evident current examples of the decay that gothic in metal is undergoing.
By _Ozzy
This album, sadly, marks the end of my relationship with Moonspell.
Fernando Ribeiro, always the true star, is undeniably the focus of the album and it hurts to hear him sing bland and senseless melodies.
