01/26/2012 22:40

Moonspell

Moonspell: 'Alpha Noir'

Portuguese dark metallers Moonspell's new abum 'Alpha Noir' will be released by Napalm Records on 27 April, 2012, and will also be available as a deluxe special edition including the musical twin 'Omega White'. Both masterpieces were produced and mixed by Tue Madsen, pre-produced by Benny Richter.

The band will present the new songs at the upcoming summer festivals. The double album 'Alpha Noir' / 'Omega White' will be played in its entirety at Lisbon's Campo Pequeno, that holds 5000 fans, with the most daring stage set and visuals the band has ever tried. The full statement from Fernando Ribeiro is available below.

"A true band has to have a glorious past, a solid present, and a bright future. More than that, a true band has to know how to live through all these seasons, dealing with their ghosts, their shadows, their aim at the light, moulding darkness with personality, with the impulse to be better, to do better while getting close to theirselves. Their true heart, soul and flesh. Never has a Moonspell album come so close to being the new opus magna (masterpiece). 'Alpha Noir' is scheduled to be proudly released by Napalm Records on the 27th of April, when spring racks through the wastes of winter, bursting new colors over familiar sights, once silent and white, yet now fiery under the blackest of suns.

The concept of this new record, painstakingly composed by the Portuguese gothic metal knights over the past three years, following the critically acclaimed 'Night Eternal', is bulletproof. The band managed to split their heart and soul in half, and the result is that they came even closer to themselves: the ambitious band they always were with a undying wish to not claim any throne, but to build their own ships that would take them and their fans to "give new worlds to the world", like in the 'Age of Discovery', where the Portuguese were a leading force in the world.

With their country drowned in a corrosive crisis, Moonspell filled their lungs with pride and created an incendiary album, with nine outbursts of their rockiest and thrashier riffs made superiorly dimensioned by the reindivictative lyrical content and songs structure that take you by storm from the get-go. Moonspell has tapped a notch into their energy-filled gothic metal by adding a guitar wall forged by timeless artists: Bathory, King Diamond, and even old thrash metal legends like Onslaught and Metallica's early Works, or Testament and Artillery make 'Alpha Noir' a truly surpring and fresh record, in which all the songs have climax with a high-tension charm that will for sure electricize live audiences everywhere.

Songs like the title track ('Alpha Noir'), the infectious 'Versus', the wolf hymn 'Lickanthrope', or the in Portuguese sung 'Em nome do Medo' ("In the Name of Fear"), as well as the closing epic 'Grandstand', might get you a welcoming chilling revisitation of the past, but make no mistake: 'Alpha Noir' is a leap of faith and a belief in their writing skills and progressive musicianship.

Together with 'Alpha Noir', packed in a deluxe and special edition on digipack, Moonspell and Napalm offer no live DVD, "making of", or any other kind of filler. Instead, they put another offering on the table: 'Omega White', the musical twin of 'Alpha Noir'; a collection of eight songs of pure atmosphere and shadow, close to their breakthrough album 'Irreligious', in a just homage to their Type O Negative and Sisters of Mercy roots. Tracks like the erotic 'Herodisiac', the catchy 'White Skies' or the heartbreaking 'Whiteomega' will certainly keep you in dark company through a night of fear and loss, both soothing and provoking. Both masterpieces were produced and mixed by Tue Madsen and pre-produced by Benny Richter!

Each song a jewel; each song a stronghold! Keep your watch and do not miss this new Moonspell record, for it is a true mortal sin to stay away from these eighty minutes of music, beautifully and violently carved by one of the most legendary and imaginative bands ever to surface the European scene. Do not forget to get your hands on this masterpiece and to catch the band live at any one of the summer festivals around Europe. 'Alpha Noir' / 'Omega White' will also be played in their entirety in Lisbon's Campo Pequeno to 5,000 fans and with the most daring stage set and visuals the band has ever tried."

(source: Napalm Records)