Moonspell – Alpha Noir

Releasedate: 27-04-2012; Label: Napalm Records
By: Martine Goffard

It’s four years now that the brilliant Night Eternal came out. This last one had been acclaimed by the critics and It seemed to be hard for the Lusitanians to impress us as much a second time. As masters of gothic metal, they have nothing more to prove and Alpha Noir is certainly musically impeccable with breathtaking riffs. This album is less gloomy as Night Eternal.

The music is played faster and more energetically. The intro song, Axis Mundi, has all we can await of a Moonspell song. We have the creepy intro, the rolling drums, the fall in the pit of abysses covered by theatrical choirs. This dramatic violence and the grandiloquence of the composition are so delightful. The following titles are interesting but never reach the level of Axis Mundi. The wolves in romance with a sexy red riding hood on Lickanthrope could have brought more lasciviousness. The song still hits by its bestial growls. Most of the song’s lyrics are clichés of the genre. It’s regrettable that there are no innovations on that point. A good thing is that they still keep to their roots and sing some songs in Portuguese, even if Em Nome Do Medo though good is not exceptional. Alpha Noir, the tube of the album, has the catchy chorus made for arousing the audience once played live but lacks of some consistency. We are far from the delectable Alma Matter or the magnificent Night Eternal. The dark, inspired, instrumental Sine Missione closes the album and refers to Axis Mundi with its flesh cathedral effects and melancholic piano.
Of course, it’s a good album. Now, Moonspell doesn’t take a single risk here to offer us something peculiar. It’s all mainstream formatted, barely harrowing. There’s something wrong with the production of Alpha Noir. We regret the old albums with their rough sounds, the women’s choirs and the sepulchral but sometime romantic atmospheres. After listening, we sadly don’t remember much of Alpha Noir.

Line up :
Ricardo Amorim – guitar
Miguel Gaspar – drums
Pedro Paixão – keyboard
Aires Pereira – bass
Fernando Ribeiro – lyrics

Tracklist: 01. Axis Mundi 02. Lickanthrope 03. Versus 04. Alpha Noir 05. Em Nome Do Medo 06. Opera Carne 07. Love Is Blasphemy 08. Grandstand 09. Sine Missione

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