Review Summary: Moonspell release their most ambitious album to date, separating the heavy and gentle sides of their gothic sound on a double album that succeeds partially in what it aims for, but regardless delivers a number of superb tracks in the process.
Having released 8 full-length albums and a handful of EPs and other releases, Moonspell had become one of the most popular and important bands within their particular goth/death branche of the metal genre after their release of
Night Eternal in 2008. Writing albums was accomplished with so much ease that Moonspell decided to change things up a bit. They wanted to take more time making a new album, so they did; it took them four years to release
Alpha Noir/Omega White in 2012, while before they usually took between one to three years to come up with new material. Furthermore, they wanted to challenge themselves; challenge themselves in the sense that they were going to rip apart the two sides of their musical yin-yang; their brighter yet melancholic side and their evil and ferocious side. The result of this experiment is Moonspell’s most recent release of date – that was released as a double album –
Alpha Noir (the black album) and
Omega White (the white album). In a 2012 interview, Ribeiro describes
Alpha Noir as “someone screaming at your face”, while
Omega White is “the voice inside your head or the unsuspecting murmur in your lips”. However, the interplay between Moonspell’s softer gothic rock touch and their heavy metal roots has always been one of the main reasons why they have become so successful, making this double album both their most ambitious as their most risky album to date.
Alpha Noir commences with
‘Axis Mundi’, which has an unexpected industrial air to it that reminds us of 1999’s
‘Soulsick’. This first track pummels relentlessly and mechanically, which epic chanting choruses that should work really well in a live setting. Two-thirds into the song suddenly an amazing guitar solo bridge kicks in, accompanied by Ribeiro’s whispering, guiding the song into its last part were once more the heavy hammering chorus kicks back in with mathematical precision. Overall, an excellent track – one of the better ones
Alpha Noir has to offer.
’Lickantrophe’ is the inevitable lead single of this album that concerns itself about a dark gothic version of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. The song has a strong Satyricon-ish sound to it, making Moonspell sound more blackened and simultaneously thrashier than they have ever done before. Albeit
‘Lickantrophe’ is catchy enough, it fails to be memorable asides from having an easy chorus – especially in comparison to the excellent album opener.
‘Versus’ sets this immediately right though; this is likely the heaviest and most venomous little song Moonspell have ever crafted in their entire career. It sports an almost punk-like feeling of raw aggression, with in-your-face styled lyrics such as
“I am here to take your life!” screamed frighteningly by Fernando Ribeiro, led by amazingly crushing guitar riffs. From here on, the album meanders on with typical ‘metal-anthems’ such as the title track
‘Alpha Noir’ and
‘Opera Carne’ and more Satyricon-influenced songs such as the crunching
‘Em nome do medo (In the name of fear)’ and the thrashy
‘Love is Blasphemy’. During the middle section of this album one track flows over unto the next too seamlessly, making one wish Moonspell would vary the unrelenting pace in which the album crashes onward more with softer parts, such as they did during the bridge of
‘Axis Mundi’. However,
‘Grandstand’ luckily stands neck and shoulders above the aforementioned songs and is rebellious and utterly aggressive by nature, and sees Moonspell at their finest on this first disc. Ribeiro stated that the economic depression and the international weak position of Portugal and all the frustration and anger that comes with that was one of the biggest inspirations for
Alpha Noir, and during this last track
‘Grandstand’ before an unnecessary instrumental outro one can hear his inspired rage clearly; and it is a blast to listen to.
Omega White could not start differently from
Alpha Noir than it does. One hears a sparkling intro sample, after which the song kicks in with a slow, beautiful guitar lead. Fernando Ribeiro finally reveals his gorgeous clean singing voice, which he uses with mournful emotion in this opening track
‘Whiteomega’, with tragic lyrical passages such as:
“From the trees our bodies, swaying
Once we were the lovers engaging below them,
Indifferent
Now it's the world that went on
Indifferent to us.”
The second disc of this double release continues with a happier sounding and faster track –
‘White Skies’ – that was elected as the second lead single. Overall this is a catchy, moody and great track that borrows its inspiration from bands such as Sisters of Mercy.
‘Fireseason’ is the next highlight, with its amazing Portuguese guitar plucking and more excellent singing by Mr. Ribeiro during the heartbreakingly beautiful chorus that provokes emotions of bittersweet melancholy and hopeless longing. Unfortunately, hereafter this white album goes downhill steeply.
‘New Years’ Eve’ and
‘Herodisiac’ are full of great ideas, clear production and noticeable Type O Negative influences (which is certainly a good thing) that somehow combine into a set of rather cheesy and forgettable songs.
‘New Year’s Eve’ suffers from way too loud Disney-like samples and a chorus that misuses female backing vocals.
‘Herodisiac’ has similar flaws – despite its verses and instrumentals being more than decent, the chorus manages to mostly destroy the atmosphere with overly dramatic female backing vocals and its plastic delivery.
‘Incantatrix’ and
‘Sacrificial’ meet up to Moonspell’s usual high standards much better, both being tracks that wouldn’t have been misplaced on 2001’s
Darkness and Hope. Especially
‘Incantatrix’ drips with atmosphere and manages to be soft and gentle while still sounding sincere. On album closer
‘A Greater Darkness’ Moonspell does everything right after having made some flaws earlier this disc; this song is captivatingly catchy, melancholic and has this unique epic and brooding Moonspell-vibe to it that reminds us of the gentler tracks of for example 2003’s
The Antidote.
In the end, Moonspell set the bar perhaps a little too high for
Alpha Noir/Omega White and almost drown in their ambition to split their aggressive and their melancholic sides into two discs. This causes
Alpha Noir to desperately require some breathing space in the middle section, partially overshadowing the overall high songwriting quality of the entire disc. Furthermore, the separation of their sound causes
Omega White to sound cheesy and forced at times where it’s supposed to be atmospheric and emotional, which could’ve been prevented by some darker, up-tempo parts somewhere in between. However, in the end Moonspell did not quite succumb to the pressure this double-album concept put on them, since they succeeded in delivering an overall great double album that is worthy of praise, with both the black and white sides being packed with excellent and memorable songs. Though, one cannot escape the notion that if Moonspell would’ve combined the fiercest moments of
Alpha Noir (including
‘Axis Mundi’,
‘Versus’ and
‘Grandstand’) with the brightest moments of
Omega White (including
‘Whiteomega’,
‘Fireseason’ and
‘A Greater Darkness’), then they would’ve released an album so dense with superb tracks that it would undoubtedly have been their best album to date.
