Killer single... the rest is adequate - Moonspell are a Portuguese Doom/Gothic Metal band. I ve been following them for some time, waiting for them to make it. This CD brings them a bit closer, but they are not there yet. For Night Eternal, they have polished their approach a bit compared to other recent efforts, like Memorial. The production is cleaner, which takes some of the edge off of them for fans of hard Doom sounds, with a lot of distortion and growling. This CD leans more towards a Gothic sound, which is a turn off for some people, but others (like me) will find it more palatable. However, this CD has a problem common to all Moonspell releases, that is, songs are kind of similar to each other, making for a somewhat monotone listening that is not all that engaging. It s not bad, just feels adequate, and you probably expect more when investing your hard-earned bucks/euros in a CD. Having said that, there is a glorious exception, which is the song Scorpion Flower. This song features The Gathering siren Anneke van Giersbergen, and her contribution to the song lifts it from the monotony of the rest of the CD, making it one of the most powerful Gothic singles out there. The videoclip is also phenomenal, please youtube it. In summary, if you re a Moonspell fan, this release may feel a bit light. If you like Gothic, it may sound a bit monotonous and purposeless. But by all means, get Scorpion Flower. You can download it from amazon or iTunes, that song alone is worth it.
Living music! - I ve been following Moonspell since 1995. Each of their albums has it s own feel to it, but they all have one thing in common: They re organic. The music feels like it s alive. This one s no different in that respect! I d have to say that Night Eternal has captivated me more than their others. The richness and complexity is amazing! It s a great blend of raw black metal, to a very surreal, very ambient music that I can t even classify. Get it!
At tragic heights... - To be completely honest, I am not intimately too familiar with Moonspell. Aside from this record, the only other I have and love is The Antidote. But, in my defense, it is hard to find records from bands like this over here in the states in most modern record stores. And that s pretty much all Colorado really has to offer are name brand record stores, such as Best Buy, Hastings, and Circuit City.But I found this little jewel for sale at Hastings for $10.99. Yes, the limited edition digipack for $10.99. I almost crapped my pants, and had an even harder time controlling my bowels as the CD played in my car.This record is MIND BLOWING. It is a vast improvement over The Antidote, which was a great album of it s own. But this does it so much better. Super fast guitars and drums, thundering bass, orchestra out the wazoo, and evil vocals make this disc on hell of an experience. At Tragic Heights starts slower, with Fernando s typical whispered vocals, but bursts into a truly epic track complete with some of Fernando s best screams to date. Night Eternal comes on, and I can say with certainty that this is one of the most powerful songs I have ever heard in my life, just in its delivery. The next standout track is Scorpion Flower , a beautiful, haunting track complete with female vocals.I could go on and on about the rest of the disc, but if you haven t gotten the point of this review into your head by now, let me make it clear just what I ve been saying- this is one of the BEST metal records I have ever heard, and you should pick it up, whether you are familiar with Moonspell or not. You won t regret.
Sublime metal - This is definitely one of the best metal albums to come out in recent memory. I hadn t even heard of Moonspell until a couple weeks ago, and now I can t stop listening to this CD. It embodies everything I love about metal: darkness, beauty, brutality, heavyness, melodicness. Normally I can t stand the death grunt style vocals, but Fernando Ribeiro gets it right. He has the most perfect growl, blended with deep, wonderful clean vocals. This is gorgeous music, metal elevated to an art.
More powerful than ever. - Night Eternal is a powerful, beautiful piece of gothic metal as an art form.This album continues the progress they made in their album The Antidote. They lost some of this progress and skill when they made the bland, stale, but still grand Memorial. They got back on track with the next album, Under Satanae, in which they revisited old songs from their demos.That trip through the past was just what they needed to turn Moonspell back into a heavy metal super power. Night Eternal seems to be the culmination of what Moonspell has learned through their career. The music is powerful - as the album s first track picks up, you are swept away in the speed and majesty of the music. Fernando balances seamlessly between his dark, flavorful growls and his souring, booming singing voice. We re treated to more guitar solos than any album before it. The guitarist plays as if thrilled to be heard, and I was thrilled to hear him really spread his wings.The album is almost symphonic at times, with keyboards eagerly supporting the precisely-laid riffs from the guitars, all standing on the firm, solid foundation of the drummer s expert slammings. They even use a chorus once or twice, with stunning results.Not rare for Moonspell, but a technique more akin to their early days, is their use of female vocals in the song Scorpion Flower. These are not the useless dronings found in Luna, or the almost humorous female additions to the Wolfheart album... No, this woman adds a dimension to the song rarely heard in metal.Night Eternal is a triumph of metal, easily one of the best metal albums to appear for a few years.DIGIPAK INFO: There is absolutely no reason not to buy the digipak version, which, at the time of writing, is the same price as the regular version. The expanded album art is beautiful, and it even comes with a neat sticker.The bonus track, Age Of Mothers, is beautiful. The two remixes of Scorpion Flower aren t exactly necessary, but still worth a listen.