Moonspell seems to go farther into the expression of the human emotion and inexorable feel of loss and decay, and with this forthcoming album ‘Extinct’ the band goes on to a whole new level with it, showed clearly in the recently released single that gives the name to the album through Decibel Magazine.
The Lusitanian quintet took the band’s sound from the black metal they portrait in ‘Wolfheart’, to then mutate in different shades, surfing from black, goth metal, doom and so on with delivered freedom, because in the band’s mind, they were free from expectations from the industry and fans. In the case of ‘Extinct’, the title track of the album, the atmosphere created by the music and the deep voice of Fernando Ribeiro reach a different level, and for me, not a committed fan of the band, the sound is outstanding. Perhaps the orchestration gave another kind of deepness to the whole idea, but the opening riffs are impressive, to say the least. You can check for yourselves in the link bellow.
‘Extinct’ comes as the successor of the highly acclaimed mirror album ‘Alpha Noir / Omega White’, and in the words of Fernando Ribeiro himself to Decibel Magazine, this album expresses exactly the place in which Moonspell is as a band. Many changes had taken place in the lives of the members, including Fernando Ribeiro, that had created an atmosphere for retrospection intense enough that neither of the band members could escape from it, and the natural to purge to the thoughts created in such environment was to record a new album.
[blockquote cite=”Fernando Ribeiro”]Our personal life, our coming into the autumn of our lives have not been peaceful, it’s not like walking on an open boulevard, parading and getting applause for us It’s so much harder than that. The wounds are open and they are permanent. ‘Extinct’ is born under this recognition. In ‘Alpha Noir / Omega White’ we were fool enough to dare to tell about warriors, larger than life, preaching stuff, playing it louder and faster. ‘Extinct’ is more what we are, what I especially am, a witness to my own fading away… ‘Extinct’ came from adult pain. We don’t think that’s entertaining or smart, but at least tries to be honest. I could quote you a thousand influences and ideas we had, but I prefer to stick to what really made the album come into life: the worst and weirdest time I have ever experienced in my adult life. What is curious is that I should maybe be blossoming with joy because I am a father now, and indeed I found a love like I never felt before. All the rest is now transitory. It gets endangered and then extinct in our minds and hearts, even if the physical beings we saw disappearing still roam the same land, or live in the same house with you. With a greater love, greater pains have arrived.[/blockquote]
It seems that the recording process went a bit differently this time, since in the tracking of ‘Extinct’ all members were present in the process and contributing instantly, to the point that in moments of release of steam on a more productive way, they could create a solid song in a wimp. Such was the case for one particular song, ‘The Future Is Dark’.
[blockquote cite=”Fernando Riberio”]That song [‘The Future Is Dark’] process symbolizes for me much of ‘Extinct’. I had a terrible night and I went straight to the studio after my kid’s babysitter arrived. The other guys were there and they knew I was in a bad place. I asked Pedro Paixão, “Can you please open a session just for vocals?” and without questioning he did so I sang most of ‘The Future Is Dark’, just vocals and went as far as making a little vocal structure for it, similar to what it is now. Turns out Pedro Paixão had the perfect song for it so we took it from there. Every time we listened to it while it progressed, we got deeper and deeper into it. We never even talked about it, the message is crystal clear. Fast forward a month, I am doing vocals for this one, with dimmed lights and all, when I feel a presence behind me. It was Jens Bogren and he scared the shit out of me as he is never in the vocal booth, but in the master room and we communicate through the headphones and microphones. I thought, well I must be singing shit, but he started talking and saying that this song is so intense, that it was the best that a goth song could be and that he just needed a break for a minute because it was too much emotion… That made me proud. To make a restless man, that never gave us a day-off, that didn’t stop until the idea was perfect and the word properly said, he needed a break because of that song, of that emotion. It had never happened to me before.[/blockquote]
‘Extinct’ will be released on March 17th through Napalm Records, and a follow-up tour can be expected, so Moonspell fans can get embraced by the dark, self-conscious atmosphere this ever evolving band has created with ‘Extinct’.
