Born on August 26th, 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, Fernando Ribeiro should not be an unknown name to devotees of his craft as the singer and lyricist of Portuguese dramaturgs, Moonspell. Though, beyond his predominant responsibilities in Moonspell, it is to remark that he is also a thriving author and novelist plus official translator. I dare say that professionally, Fernando Ribeiro’s aspirations are utterly encouraging considering he took Philosophical Studies at Faculdade De Letras in Lisbon and previously published a few poetry books, and is preparing to reissue his latest book in a special Brazilian edition. ‘Purgatorial’ most respectfully, will be published this coming September 15th, 2015, through Brazilian publisher, Aquário Editorial.
His plunge into the writing world began with the abysmal debut ‘Como Escavar Um Abismo,’ an introductory experiment induced by Fernando Ribeiro and published by Portuguese publisher Quasi Edições. ‘Como Escavar Um Abismo’ was later reprinted in 2005, containing seventy-six pages of darkly splendid necromantic poetry, yet quite a liturgical chapter that embraced devious thoughts penned in his mother tongue, Portuguese.
‘Senhora Vinganca’ was published in May 2001 and was the fruit of Fernando Ribeiro’s necromantic creative power, to portrait a fable that took trajectory between Portugal and France, in which a Queen falls entwined in a plot which deeply enriched my political insights and democracies of vampires alike, dangerous and anticoagulant by fair means, closely approaching authentic matters present at the time of its publishing.
In 2004, Fernando Ribeiro published his second book, ‘As Feridas Essenciais,’ a book that aimed to touch deep the quintessence of the human psyche, as he pronounced in the media press gathering while accompanied by José Luis Peixoto, an award-winning Portuguese writer that among his work is the highly praised ‘Antidote’ book, that gave the title and sinfully bestowed lyrical theme to Moonspell’s sixth studio album ‘Antidote,’ which was released on September 23rd by Century Media Records. ‘Antidote’s notable element was the return of Moonspell back to the ‘Darkness And Hope’ days (released in 2011 under the same record label), deep in sonority and gloomy aura that surrounded their album, although it is nonetheless quite different from all the previous albums.
Fernando Ribeiro’s third book entitled ‘Diálogo De Vultos’ perceives its publishing in 2007, afresh through Quasi Edições, compiled in eighty pages of eloquent poetry. By the time ‘Diálogo De Vultos’ was published, there were rumours of him working on his first fiction book, to be entitled ‘O Bairro das Pessoas,’ however, said book never emerged.
‘Purgatorial,’ hitherto published in Portugal, is rightfully prepared for an individual Bazilian reissue on September 15th, 2015. The book is one of the numerous echoes that upsurge as fire and descend as ashes amidst screams of affliction and naked truths, a darkened voyage through Fernando Ribeiro’s reasoning. ‘Purgatorial’ compiles an amplitude of poetic resonances carefully sculpted on paper.
Besides his personal publishings, Fernando Ribeiro frequently contributes to numerous supplementary publications, encompassing with the introduction to ‘Os Melhores Contos de Howard Phillips Lovecraft,’ published in 2005 by Saída de Emergência. Besides which, he also did the official translation to Portuguese of comic book series ‘Lovecraft,’ under the responsibility of Vitamina BD Edições.
At an extreme metal edge, Fernando Ribeiro occasionally contributes to Portugal’s best-selling metal publication, Loud! Magazine, in which he holds a monthly chronicle called ‘The Eternal Spectator.’
Music-wise, Daemonarch, Fernando Ribeiro’s side project is with members of Moonspell, with the exception of drummer Mike Gaspar, therefore using a drum machine during the recordings, a light on 1998, when the act released their debut, (unfortunately all points to be the first and last) studio record entitled ‘Hermeticum.’ The act, Daemonarch’s sonority closely resembled Moonspell’s early ages, during the time when they released their debut EP via Century Media Records, the cult released ‘Under The Moonspell’ that portrayed a colder, extremely versed black metal approach toward the Lusitanian elderly sounds.
Orfeu Rebelde, another side-project of Fernando Ribeiro and Pedro Paixão (synths and guitar player for Moonspell) also saw the release of their debut album, ‘Cada Som Com Um Grito’ in 2006 through Optimus Discos.
On an even darker spectre, Fernando Ribeiro participated in the ‘Apocalypse Cancelled,’ a Portuguese-language EP consisting of spoken-word passages of Anton Szandor Lavey taken from ‘The Satanic Bible’ and ultimately ‘Satan Speaks!.’ ‘Apocalypse Cancelled’ spoken words were vocalised by Fernando Ribeiro’s alter-ego, Langsuyar as known since the early eras of Moonspell (formerly known by then as Morbid God), accompanied by the soundtrack created by Luís Lamelas (from Portuguese act, F.E.V.E.R), under the alter-ego Euthymia. The silvered deluxe 10 EP was entirely funded by the Associação Portuguesa de Satanismo and limited to 666 hand-numbered and signed exclusive copies worldwide. The EP was an homage to Anton Szandor LaVey and the 10th anniversary of his death, an attempt to remember his passing through the earth. ‘Apocalypse Cancelled’ was then released on October 1st, 2007, during Halloween.
In 2009, Fernando Ribeiro partook in the cultural project ‘Amália Hoje,’ an homage to Portuguese iconic Fado singer Amália Rodrigues, alongside prestigious names such as Sónia Tavares (his wife to be more precise), Nuno Gonçalves e Paulo Praça. In the very same year, he takes a moment to participate in a song composed by Bizarra Locomotiva, entitled ‘Anjo Exilado,’ released on their ‘Álbum Negro’ in 2009.
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