Perhaps the most addicting guitar riff is found within the opening verse of "Devilred" ... Has moonspell finally figured out how to make their goth/rock have a groove to it with this song?

However, beyond, "firewalking" and "devilred," guitarwork is good, but nothing that you will see yourself playing air-guitar to. Strangely, the appearance of double-bass drumwork makes its most proliferic appearances in these two songs...too bad it didn't make it to any of the others; they do it so well!

The lyrics never get bad, but then again besides a few of the opening tracks and the interesting lines of the "rapaces" chorus, lyrics remain at the good level; great to sing along to but nothing to make you think 50 times about.

Moonspell seems to have a bit more of a pop/rock attitude in this disc, especially if you look at their previous work, which included the unbelievable song "soulsick" as the opening track. I can't imagine this disc becoming a fan-favorite very often when you compare it to "butterfly effect" and my personal favorite, "Irreligious."

However, you can't expect a band to put out a masterpiece with each release, and the disc very rarely veers off the traditional Moonspell path, save the disc's pop/rock sensibility. So, if you enjoy their masterpiece Irreligious, this should certainly be a part of your CD library! and besides, some of the textual comments on their website have given me alot of respect for this band, which is by far the best metal band i've heard from Portugal to this point!! 4 stars.

~eternal fear oct.06.2001~


Damnified   January 30, 2004
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This CD rocks. The guitar style blends together a very wide range of influence, from thrash to goth to industrial, and the synthesizers are done just right. Moonspell makes Type O Negative sound like cutout-bin material. The vocals are great for the most part; they're weak in some places, but I like the mix of deep clean vocals and mucusy death throes. Best song would have to be "Nocturna" although there are no weak ones. The Ozzy cover rocks too, I don't know why people keep complaining about it. Moonspell's vocalist (sorry, too lazy to go get the insert booklet) is better than Ozzy anyway. Drumming and bass are nothing to brag about, but they get the job done. Enjoyable, even if you're not one of those weirdos that wear all black...


Can't say this is dissapointing   September 22, 2002
 2 out of 4 found this review helpful

Moonspell has been heading in this direction since Sin/Pecado. For those who have heard their earlier stuff stemming from "Under the Moonspell", "Wolfheart" and "Irreligious" , they all know that Fernando somehow has stopped using his "beast" voice in most of his songs. Whatever happened to that ? I figure Moonspell is looking for a more commercial breakthrough than anything else.

It is still a good album with a couple of standouts. The track "Firewalking" is such a teaser of Fernando Ribeiro of old. This song bursts into your heart, mind and stomach as powerful as their previous "Opium" does. From that point on, unfortunately, the Moonspell tone just dwindles into "poppish doom-gothic metal" type performances, leaving Tiamat's new album sounding much harder and heavier.

With those fortunate enough to find a copy with the cover of Ozzy Osbourne's Mr. Crowley, it was done so-so, however, if you are one for the beastly voice of Fernando Ribeiro of old, this album might place itself in the "lame" category for you. Lookout for "Daemonarch", a black metal side project by Ribeiro and co. done a few years back. That will bring back some fond memories ...