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MOONSPELL – A Taste Of Live Eternity
Anthony Morgan
August 2018


Moonspell (l-r): Miguel Gaspar, Ricardo Amorim, Fernando Ribeiro, Aires Pereira and Pedro Paixão


On February 4th, 2017, Portuguese metal group Moonspell performed at the Campo Pequeno arena in their hometown of Lisbon in front of a 4,000 strong crowd. Visually captured, the event is presented in the form of August 2018 release Lisboa Under The Spell, a live DVD / Blu-Ray / 3CD package.

“It’s a big project, and it seems like people are really getting into it,” reckons Fernando Ribeiro, vocalist of Moonspell. “To be honest, DVDs and live recordings are sometimes something that bands just put out there, and I’ve never been a huge fan of live recordings myself. Obviously, I really like Live After Death by Iron Maiden (October 1985) and Earth Inferno by Fields Of The Nephilim (April 1991), but it’s rare. However, I do understand that especially for the fans, they really like alternative releases, and not only music. A lot of people saw us live, and they want to have kind of a document. When we set up to do Lisboa Under The Spell, I told Napalm that it would have to be really different from what’s out there. With all due respect to the Live At Wacken DVDs that bands tend to release, I said ‘We have a history, so let’s try to tie it together and really show.’ That’s why we played the three albums as a whole.

“The feeling and the attitude going into the DVD was definitely to give people something a little bit different; something more entertaining, and more representative of what Moonspell is. At the end of the day, I think we definitely came up with a very different idea for the DVD, with all of the big show and also the documentary – the fact that we are also showing more private parts of our lives. I think that was really the deal breaker for us, that the DVD definitely had to be something that could get the fans’ attention, and not something that was just put on the shelf. So, definitely. We worked hard to make something… It’s not like Moonspell is a spectacular band every time onstage. It’s not what we mean with the DVD, but we mean that Moonspell is a different band, and that we definitely want people to know about that.”

How the frontman feels Moonspell is a different proposition is in the way they draw upon their influence. “I think that we’ve always been different,” he clarifies. “Musically, I think it’s quite obvious that we draw influences from Bathory, Celtic Frost, Type O Negative, and all these kinds of bands, but we try very hard to draw influences in our own way. What I feel nowadays is that Moonspell is not the kind of band to rush; we definitely take time to work out and to make the releases as best as possible. Not that the other bands don’t, but I see many things happening that I wouldn’t be happy with if it was my band – especially with live DVDs.

“It’s not that we’ve done better or worse. I just feel that when I see all these different bands, I think that we have a very individual past when compared to most bands. There’s our musical decisions, the way we are, the way we behave, and the way we release. It also boils down to the fact that we are from Portugal; people talk differently, and people think differently – for instance, people from central Europe. We want to covey that difference. On the DVD, that’s very important for us, and so far people have seen the difference already. Those that have seen it, they’ve really got the message. They really know that it’s not a DVD that will just see a short breath of life, and that it’s something that they have to sit down and see through. I think that that’s the main difference.”

As part of the Campo Pequeno concert, Moonspell performed three full-length albums in their entirety; Wolfheart (April 1995), Irreligious (July 1996), and Extinct (March 2015). “The idea behind that was quite obvious,” Fernando reckons. “I think hands down, Wolfheart and Irreligious are the foundations of our fanbase. There was no discussion about that, but we also have a big musical thread that holds up after Irreligious, of course. Many people would have probably split up after making two such amazing albums, but that was never the plan. We never wanted to be defined by just two albums. I think that music is a process, and definitely a longer path than just getting lucky with the first couple of albums. We kept that in mind, rather than the band crumbling, so that people didn’t lose track. We definitely wanted to play Extinct onstage, which is an album that we really love. It was our latest album, released before 1755 (November 2017) – 1755 is musically about the Portuguese / Lisbon earthquake.


Fernando Ribeiro

“On the other hand though, Extinct is also the album where musically and also probably concept-wise we’re gonna pick when we set ourselves next year to make a new album. So, there’s a lot more from Moonspell. I think that there’s formidable playing though, and these three are integral sing-along albums. It’s great. We could have done it with a lot of other albums, but I think this fit Lisboa Under The Spell, which is more of a travel through time type of concert. We definitely wanted to show the time, as it unveils, for us, which isn’t always being caught up in our glorious past. There’s also the fact that every day, on the scene, with all of the bands and all of the competition, we are still trying to make great music.”

Wolfheart marked Moonspell’s debut offering proper back in April 1995, issued via the Century Media label. “It’s quite surprising,” the singer views. “At the end of the day, we were probably number one in thinking that we couldn’t go any further because we were from Portugal, and that the odds were probably against us. On the other hand though, it happened by chance, by luck, by… I don’t know. As musicians, I think it’s always a little bit of everything in order to construct a career beyond your first album. Personally though, what I think is that it’s difficult to remember the time that has passed, because sometimes memories are very fresh. It seems like all of the Wolfheart things, like the release, the acceptance, the touring of Europe, the fans, it’s very real and concrete. I remember it very well, but on the other hand, when you start doing the maths, Wolfheart is more than two decades old. It has stood the test of time, but also on the other hand, what I honestly think is that that’s more for the crowd to say whether an album has stood the test of time, or whether they like every album.

“At the end of the day, we’re not The Beatles. That’s something we just do to express ourselves, and then let people put it in a certain place. Luckily for us, they’ve put Wolfheart in a great place within the European scene. They’ve said that a lot of bands are influenced by that sound. I don’t really know about that, but on the other hand, at the end of the day, it all depends on your perspective. My perspective is that albums like Revolver from The Beatles (August 1966) have really stood the test of time. With Wolfheart, it really depends on the crowd, but I think from what I’ve seen, different generations listen to Wolfheart. Not only people who grew up in the 90s, but also kids. It’s surprising and amazing, in a way.”

Music listeners will inevitably hear Wolfheart at different points; some listeners will hear Wolfheart first and work their way forward through Moonspell’s discography, while others will hear Moonspell’s latest jaunts and work their way backwards through the discography. “I love the first Bathory (Bathory, October 1984), I love the first Iron Maiden (Iron Maiden, April 1980), and I love the first Celtic Frost (Morbid Tales, November 1984), but I love the rest of the catalogues as well,” Fernando replies. “I think it really depends on how the music affects you, and how you want to grow or not together with the music. Some people don’t; some people just…

“It’s a very interesting way of being into music, wanting to be pleased and not challenged. Most of the fans right now want to be pleased and not challenged, and I have no doubts about that in my mind. For the most part though, yeah, there are differences. We have been together for 26 years now, and have a lot of musical perspectives. We consider the waves that come and go, but I think that Wolfheart and especially Irreligious were a great start. Sin (February 1998) was a difficult album for people to get into, so a lot of the acceptance problems were there.

“When we reached the 2000s though, people were listening to stuff like Darkness And Hope (August 2001) or The Antidote (September 2003), or Memorial (April 2006) or even new albums like Night Eternal (May 2008), etcetera. I don’t know. I don’t have an elaborate thought about it. For us, it’s that simple. We write the lyrics, we write the music, and then it’s really up to the crowds to make the albums count or not. With Moonspell, we play live – we’re a professional band. It’s Russian roulette; you never know what’s going to happen, really. What we do like most is that we have this big band outlet to express ourselves, and I think that’s what keeps us together, really. From writing everything, to making the artwork, to the videos, it’s more like… But we’re not wizards, where we all have magic wands for the music that people want. Sometimes it might happen. It happened with Irreligious, which was a great album. Also, that was because it was out in 1996, when gothic metal was exploding in the European scene. It’s a question of timing sometimes, as well.”


Mariangela Demurtas and Fernando Ribeiro

Judging Moonspell’s inaugural LP nowadays, the mainman describes it as a “very diverse album. I think that we really put all of the meat on the grill. We were six members back then, and it was more like a hydra head. Everybody wanted to put his bit into Wolfheart, and we got quite lucky because we managed to have a really, really good production with all of the scattered pieces. If people listened to Wolfheart before it got into the hands of Waldemar (Sorychta), our first producer, it would’ve been a different thing. People in the band were into black metal, especially Bathory. You can hear that on ‘Wolfshade’, for instance, or ‘Alma Mater’, but there were also people into folk metal, which you can hear on songs like ‘Alma Mater’ or ‘Trebaruna’. There were people into gothic, so it was a mish mash of everything.

“I think that’s the secret really, because we also changed a lot back then before Irreligious. We wanted to have more of a mind set-up when thinking about the albums, and make them more ingenious in a way. That was shown in the fact that we did Irreligious, but then Wolfheart was a crazy cookie in the jar (laughs). I think people liked that, people liked that we came from Portugal and didn’t really give a shit, and just put everything we knew and loved into that album. We didn’t concern ourselves a lot about a particular musical direction – I think that’s a problem that came afterwards. I have good memories of Wolfheart.

“My best memory of Wolfheart, if you want to know, is when we got out of Hagen, Germany. I had a Walkman with a tape, like a chrome tape – it was a good tape, recorded in the studio. I had my Walkman, and I was listening to it non-stop up until we reached Portugal, which is like a three-hour flight or something like that. I was really happy, like ‘Now we’re gonna make it.’ Not that kind of happy, but happy that we could finally listen to our instruments and it sounded like structure, and it sounded like a true band. I think that that was the biggest achievement of Wolfheart, was to also make us sound like something of an album. Sometimes Moonspell was just bits and pieces scattered around with no-one to put them together. We had much to thank Waldemar for back then, definitely.”

Released a mere 14-15 months later in late July 1996, Irreligious acted as an immediate follow-up to Wolfheart. “There wasn’t a lot of time to think, really,” Fernando reflects. “After Wolfheart, we had just been on the road constantly. We started off with Morbid Angel and Immortal throughout Europe, and that really kicked the whole thing off for us. While we were in the van, we were also meeting people, and meeting other bands. We were in Germany most of the time, so I listened to a lot of music that was being listened to there, and that’s why we got in contact with so many gothic bands like Fields Of The Nephilim, especially. We would listen to the tapes in our van. Change was unavoidable. We recorded Irreligious straight from coming off of the Wolfheart tours, which was something that we weren’t used to – touring so much. We went immediately into the studio, though. I think with Irreligious, we had a lot to prove to ourselves.

“A lot of people think Wolfheart is great. Whatever I think, it was an album that definitely marks our career and everything. Back then though, we weren’t totally happy with it because it was too diverse. We weren’t into folk metal any more, back then. I think when Skyclad got out of the scene, and then all of these bands that came from Scandinavia produced all of this troll stuff, we didn’t like it. We thought that it was too cheesy for us, so we decided to make something a little bit more mature. Even lyric-wise, it was more inspired by great western European classics of literature, etcetera, etcetera. Irreligious had a little bit better songwriting, and was a little bit more gothic as well. I think that was our mindframe back then, which was to make an album that had better songs. In a way we achieved it, because Irreligious I think probably has our best songs, like ‘Full Moon Madness’, ‘Mephisto’. To me, I think those are a little bit closer to being timeless than all of the Wolfheart songs.”

As was the case of Wolfheart, the musician harbours a best memory of Irreligious. “I think my best memory of Irreligious was when I was on the phone with our ex-manager,” he recalls. “I was in east Germany for a change (laughs), and we were touring with Samael and Rotting Christ. We got invited by Type O Negative to do the October Rust tour in Europe, and I couldn’t believe it myself. Type O Negative was, at the time, our number one band to tour with. It was just a big, big dream, so I think the music and the impact of that album… A lot of the touring was in Germany, and in Scandinavia we were doing so well with Irreligious as well.

“I think that was my fan moment, or like foreplay, because back when we toured with them, our first show was in Helsinki. We were having dinner, and we had never met the band before. Obviously, we were trying to not get in the way. Type O Negative were huge, but still they just came and said ‘Hi,’ and I think that they are my best memories. It’s not related to the music, but it’s related to what Irreligious brought to the band. The biggest achievement was definitely that tour with them – with Type O Negative – who we love so much. Watching the shows not only as fans, but also learning so much from such an unbelievable and an unforgettable band.”


Moonspell (l-r): Miguel Gaspar, Ricardo Amorim, Fernando Ribeiro, Aires Pereira
and Pedro Paixão

March 2015’s Extinct emerged almost two decades later, various other Moonspell records having surfaced during that time. At the time of the Campo Pequena arena performance, Extinct was the latest among the discography. “Extinct was to make the bridge to the future,” Fernando explains. “That’s why it’s on the DVD, to represent the actuality of Moonspell. We also decided to make it very theatrical live. I think after we did Alpha Noir and Omega White (April 2012), we definitely needed some difference in our lives. We wanted something more melodic, and something a little bit more progressive. So, we teamed up with Jens Bogren and went to Sweden for a month (recording at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro), and went totally old school with all of the band members playing together, etcetera. We came back with an album which I think has a very interesting note, especially as a singer. Over there, I think I could really evolve and have time to sing properly, with a proper emotion and a proper tone.

“Extinct, even though it’s not an album that closes within itself, I think it has a lot of songs like ‘Breathe’ and ‘The Future Is Dark’ that we will definitely pick up in order to start building upon them – to make the foundations of a new album. I think after Wolfheart, there was a lot of discussion, like ‘Is Moonspell gothic?’ or ‘Is Moonspell metal?’ Honestly though, we don’t participate in these discussions at all (laughs), and we never did. We are a band that does music. Our influences are definitely diverse; even our favourite bands like Celtic Frost have done albums like Morbid Tales, but also Into The Pandemonium (June 1987). That’s the stuff that we look up to, and I think that Extinct was definitely possessed by that spirit. Also, the new album is going to be, definitely.”

Directing proceedings for the Lisboa Under The Spell DVD project as a whole was Victor Castro. “Victor Castro is my buddy,” the lyricist enthuses. “I really love him. I don’t know how he’s not a really, really big director for DVDs, honestly. What I did with this DVD was to say to Victor, ‘I have this concert. Let’s work it out.’ I told him that it was gonna be a big DVD – that it was gonna be a big three-hour show – so it was going to be hard technically and also artistically to put together. However, I told him that he had cart blanche; that I didn’t want him to do something by the book, and that the band didn’t have to be the focus all of the time. I told him to just do something, and he did. His first idea was not to record with drones and big cranes. It was to have more than 30 cameras, and that’s why there’s so much detail on our DVD; from the faces in the crowd, to the hands, to my old, ugly face.

“I think that that was a very good idea, but I think that his best work is definitely the rockumentary. He already experimented with us on a small documentary about Extinct, and the making of it. I loved it, but I wanted something a little bit more expansive this time. I told him ‘I also want people to see the human side of the band,’ because sometimes we just arrive onstage, and have a show. It’s very sad that people see the show, and then they forget about you. They forget that you had to travel from Portugal since the early dawn, and had to go through all this. When people see the shows and try to be musicians, they are completely shocked because they’re not being spoiled.

“It’s a hard job, and I wanted people to know that as well; that it’s a hard job for bands like Moonspell, which is a middle of the road band. It’s not like Metallica or Ozzy Osbourne, or even other bands band like Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy. We don’t have that kind of following and we don’t have those kinds of conditions, so we have to rely a lot on people like Victor, or our own imagination as well. There’s not room for such a big budget to record all of these that we’ve presented to the people. The DVD, the Blu-Ray, the rockumentary, they all look great, but it was cheaply done. With the money that we had, we did a show that fit, but we didn’t want to stop at that. Money was never a problem for us, because in our minds we think sharp, and I think Victor’s mind and emotions think even sharper. I think it’s great.

“Normally, he does Portuguese advertisements and DVD artwork. I think he definitely brought everything. I really wanted to give this DVD a different live show; a big live show that has effects, but also something that allows the fans to know how it’s done. How it’s really done; how we have to rehearse and then spend a measly few hours with your kids before going again on the road, and all for what, really? I don’t know, but right now, I think the DVD is definitely a document that Victor Castro put together, and in a brilliant way. I really love working with him.”

As part of the Campo Pequeno performance which Victor Castro shot, a number of live rehearsals took place. “A lot of rehearsals, especially in the day,” Fernando cites. “There was a lot of commotion, because for the last seven years we’ve worked more closely with a Portuguese crew (laughs). They kind of fight sometimes (laughs). I remember being in the middle of a lot of fights about the audio, because there was a show we had to play. We had a sound check, but we also had to make the DVD stuff. Sometimes people don’t see the big picture, because they don’t see the end game, so there was some commotion going on, and a lot of tiredness. I think that when people see the DVD though, they will definitely laugh and forget about it, and say ‘Well, maybe next time I will be more patient.’


Fernando Ribeiro and Ricardo Amorim

“As far as rehearsals went, when it comes to rehearsals, Moonspell has never left apart the old repertoire. We do the live experience for the fans; even though sometimes we play a lot from the new albums, we always have room in our setlists for stuff like ‘Opium’, ‘Alma Mater’, ‘Vampiria’, etctera. I think that’s always been very important and it has always been like this, so we didn’t quite feel the need to re-learn these songs. Some of the songs, the more obscure songs, were definitely very pleasurable to rehearse, like ‘A Poisoned Gift’ from Irreligious, ‘An Erotic Alchemy’ from Wolfheart. The bottom line is that we have to find a way, and I think that’s also my job in the band – to do this stuff not as an obligation, but with pleasure. I thought I could get the band, the crew and the director in the right mood to do such a comprehensive DVD.

“With such a workload, I think we were rehearsing at least in-between shows for two months for this big DVD, and also the last few months were very intensive because we had to rehearse with all of the guests. Victor was also there for the ‘making of,’ and also to discuss some visual ideas. So yeah, I think that except for the rehearsals which we do often in Moonspell anyway… I think when you don’t play or stop, it’s good to practice – we have a studio for that. I think the workload was much more than just the rehearsals, though. It was a bit of everything. Even though sometimes people were nervous about it, I think everybody worked so well. I just got my copies, and that’s the thing I most look forward to; personally giving a copy to every guy in the band and also in the crew, so they can go home and watch their own work as well, and how it’s represented – which I think is very finely represented.”

One facet which Victor Castro was tasked with capturing for the Lisboa Under The Spell DVD was the visual aspects of the performance. “I think that’s very important in Moonspell,” the performer submits. “I really like to think that we tell stories throughout our songs, and that we are visual with our lyrics and hopefully with our music. I think we always approach the live stage as the perfect opportunity to make these words and the ideology behind the band – the visual aspects – count. Typically, what we do is to look through the lyrics and see what they talk about, like fire, love, extinction, etcetera, and then to try to find an effect or a mood onstage. Something that in a way leads people into that direction of the lyrics, like a script.

“Typically, we use things that many bands use like pyro, etcetera, but we have a very cool live guy from Belgium, and I hired him because he’s more original than the other guys. It was recorded at a theatre, because it was acute and it holds everything, and it’s very, very emotional during the night. That’s how the DVD went. We divided it visually into three parts. There was Wolfheart, where we had this big moon backdrop and everything was a bit medieval to get more into the pagan mood of Wolfheart. Then we had Irreligious, where the stage was much more goth with all of the torches and everything. Then we had Extinct, which was more of a post-apocalyptic thing. Accordingly, it was tied to the mood of the words. I think that’s where we drew all of the visual ideas from.

“I think that’s the easiest process, because if I say ‘Fire’ in the lyrics, then it’s cool to have fire onstage (laughs). It’s not cool to be so predictable, but to have something like that that can represent the words of the song. That’s where we take the visuality from, and that’s why we have all of the guests and all of the actors as well as all of the extras. I thought it was a good opportunity to make these things come to life, and I think that that’s great. I always loved these gimmicks; I love when Eddie comes onstage with Iron Maiden. Now, it’s more serious and more evil-looking, but it’s just a materialisation of what you see in your own space – with the album covers, with everything – and I love that kind of stuff.”

‘Herr Spiegelmann’, to select one such example of the Campo Pequeno performance, sees lights emanating from the hands of Fernando. “I think that’s really the Moonspell factor,” he believes. “Let’s call it that. Also, for economical reason (laughs), we normally try to have the effect that we rely on us. I think that’s really cool when you have something that a band member can work out as part of a show, and I think that that was the idea with ‘Herr Spiegelmann’, with the mirror suit and the lasers. That song is about reflecting our darkest wishes, and I think that all of the lights coming up at the end reflecting, that was the meaning of the song – as I was speaking about.

“The lyrics made something real, and it’s much more than using the lasers or having fun. I already have seen some interesting comments. For instance, in the US we are not able to bring the lasers on tour, because everything there is considered like a threat (laughs). So, we just use them where we can use them, but I think that the visuals – with all of the ideas like the lasers, and all of the interactions – are pretty good. And obviously, I work with laser professionals, so those lasers are not the kind of lasers I can point in your face and burn your eyes out with. No, they are different lasers.

“I don’t spend much time replying to people. It’s just an interpretation of things. When you go to a theatre, sometimes you get shit coming off stage, or whatever. You have to understand that it’s just a part of the show, and that you were part of the show as well. I think visually though, it worked really cool. I think ‘Herr Spiegelmann’ is a great song; it’s a song that we cover in our live repertoire, and we were quite happy that we could come up with something and a performance that people at least talk about – instead of me just being there and headbanging for another song.”

Cover artwork responsibilities for Lisboa Under The Spell were handled by Néstor Ávalos. “The cover artwork was made by a Mexican artist, which was very cool for us,” the co-founder muses. “We always wanted to work with a Mexican artist, because we love Mexico. It’s one of our favourite countries to play, and culturally it’s unbelievable – visually, as well. As the title was Lisboa Under The Spell, I wanted a figure that was watching over Lisbon – a kind of religious figure. I did it like I do all the time; I searched online, and look at some galleries from some artists etcetera. I found Néstor Ávalos from Mexico and got in touch with him, explaining the concept. Then it was up to him, though.

“The way I work with the artists, I never… It’s not like ordering pizza, is it? There has to be some room for their own imagination. I didn’t want anything very complicated. I just wanted a big figure, and I think Néstor just nailed it. I think it’s one of the most beautiful covers that we’ve ever had for Moonspell. Also, we re-introduced our old logo, because it works so amazing with this figure. Also, there’s all of the details, etcetera. It’s like the figure is almost putting Lisboa under the spell, under a kind of protective spell. The protective spell is for the city, which is on fire with our show. That’s basically the concept around this cover.”

Lisboa Under The Spell is a visual document which celebrates Moonspell’s 25th anniversary, which transpired in 2017. “When we reached our 20th anniversary, we were in Moscow playing,” Fernando begins. “Mike our drummer told me ‘Hey, 20 years we’ve been together as a band. Let’s have a beer,’ so he bought me a very expensive beer in Moscow airport, where everything is expensive. I realised back then that ‘Wow, we have a story.’ I don’t know if it’s a good story or a bad story, or if it will have a happy ending or a sad ending, but it’s a story, which I never believed Moonspell would have. It’s a story that’s already out in books, out online, out through albums, and out now with the DVD, so definitely I have mixed feelings about this quarter of a century with the band.

“I don’t know about the other musicians, but I always think ‘Was it worth it or was it not worth it?’ Something else might not be something else. For Moonspell, it’s never been a walk in the park. There was a lot of hardship involved in making our sound, and in making our main note. I always say that and people say that it’s bullshit, but it’s not. It really makes a difference if you are from England, from Sweden. People are always especially interested in your stuff; even if it’s bad, they’re going to at least check it out. I think that Moonspell is a struggle; I see this as an effort for me, personally. I don’t see this as a walk in the park, but as a struggle. As a musician, sometimes I’m happy about the decision to form the band, and sometimes I’m utterly sad about the decision to form the band.

“On the other hand, what I know for sure is that nobody in Moonspell had the option to choose when we became professional musicians. To say to not do anything else than to do the band, we had no time to make that decision. By touring all over the world, the decision was made already by the circumstances, which is a good position to be in in music. I never wanted to be a famous musician – I never wanted that kind of stuff – but while I’m here, yeah, I’m going to fight for my rights. So, I have a weird conception of time.

“Like I told you, 25 years have gone in a flash. It seems too fast, but nowadays, since I realised that we are already more than a quarter of a century old, sometimes it feels like time is passing so fucking slow. That’s what I think about with Moonspell’s career, though. There’s a friend of mine, who’s the drummer of Septicflesh – Kerim (Lechner). He has a nice expression, which is ‘Wait and rush’ (laughs). I think that that is definitely Moonspell’s career, as well. Waiting and rushing, yeah.”

Previous to 1992, Moonspell had operated under the moniker Morbid God in an earlier incarnation. “That was long ago,” the vocalist remembers. “We were just kids. We had a band called Morbid God, which wasn’t such a spectacular band. We were trying to get something done, with Morbid God. We sent a rehearsal tape to a Portuguese label, who were just putting out a compilation album with the most promising bands. We were on there, and it turned out people were very, very surprised about the fact that there was a black metal band from Portugal. There was not a lot of people, almost no-one, making black metal back then in Portugal. We proceeded to change the name, and try to make better kinds of black metal.

“Once you are in the position of having your high school dream and drawing your logo on the table, you have a kind of response from your peers. You have to go out and think ‘Maybe we can do something a little bit more,’ and that’s what we did. The first step was to change the name from Morbid God – Morbid Death, Morbid Angel, Morbid whatever – to a name that represented us a little bit more, and it definitely stuck. So, it’s been Moonspell since 1992, yeah.”

Various bands proved to be influences for Moonspell during the early 1990s. “I think the biggest inspiration was the underground scene, to be honest,” Fernando credits. “Musically, I already mentioned Bathory and Celtic Frost. Those were the bands we really followed and had all of the records, especially Bathory. We had the chance to meet Quorthon from Bathory once, when he came to Portugal, to Lisbon, to sign some autographs. He used to make these kind of promotional appearances; he used to make these kind of promotional tours all around Europe. We met him, and we were totally fascinated with him as a figure, as an idol. The conversation that he had with us was very, very inspirational, and it has really stuck with us to this day – all of the messages. We had a fanzine back then, so we were interviewing him. Meeting Quorthon was a factor in bringing Morbid God and then Moonspell into life.


Fernando Ribeiro

“I think what we intended to do was provide Portugal with a darker band, because everyone was copying Sepultura, Pantera, Metallica, thrash metal, speed metal, and we were losing all of the underground styles like black metal, death metal. I think in Portugal, we did it because we also wanted to listen to a band like us. That was weirdly the first motivation for the band, which was also to have something we could send on tape. As we couldn’t find it anywhere – it was all speed metal and Sepultura clones and Metallica clones – we invented our own band, Morbid God. Our first achievement was definitely when we recorded our first tape and sent them out. In the return mail, they said ‘Wow. This is amazing. Is this a band from Portugal?’ We would say ‘Our contact address is us,’ and they would be like ‘Wow. Congratulations’ (laughs). I think that that was really good.”

The Morbid God name only lasted a three-year period, the better known Moonspell name emerging in 1992. “The name is a combination of words, obviously,” the frontman shares. “We were not happy with Morbid God; using that wasn’t such a great name. Our own bass player came up with the name. We were very… What can I say?… Surprised that there was no-one called Moonspell, using the name. So, we decided to have it ourselves. I think it represents a mixture between darkness and probably the lighter moments that fit in our music with all of the melodies, etctera.”

During July 2018, it was disclosed that Fernando had launched Alma Mater Books & Records. “It’s just a small project,” he informs. “I wanted the old repertoire from Moonspell to be well taken care of. Sometimes I saw editions that I weren’t happy with and that the fans weren’t happy with as well. I definitely wanted to change that, so I founded Alma Mater Books & Records. The first thing we did was to get in touch with Century Media – and they’ve been an incredibly supportive partner – and re-release stuff that’s already sold out, like Irreligious on vinyl. Also, for the first time ever, our single ’Opium’ – probably our most famous song – is on vinyl as well. It was sold out. We decided to not put the money in our pockets, but to invest more in the label, and that’s what we did. Right now, we are re-releasing the old repertoire of Moonspell. They’re very collector oriented with amazing editions and releases, but also we extended it a little bit. There used to be big companies like Universal and Sony in Portugal but I wasn’t happy with them, so we decided to take it in our own hands.

“From that moment on, we started thinking of signing bands with just a click. We have a concept of signing only Portuguese bands, so far. I think many bands – whether they be English, French, Swiss – get signed, but the Portuguese bands don’t get signed, and I don’t know why. So, I decided to sign them myself with Alma Mater Books & Records, and also to try to make a good job with them – trying to use Moonspell’s contacts, etcetera. We signed a death metal band called Okkultist, and that’s going to be out next year. I worked on getting my own book translated into English; there’s a poetry book called Purgatorial, which you can buy from Alma Mater. Also, we’ve released the second poetry book by Till Lindemann (On Quiet Nights), the singer of Rammstein. For the first time though, there’s going to be a Portuguese version.

“All in all, it’s a lot like Moonspell. It came out of something I love, and now it’s becoming a little bit serious because we are doing stuff right. Also, I’ve been in business with Century Media, Napalm Records, Steamhammer, Nuclear Blast, etcetera, so we have a little bit of all that knowledge put together as well, and hopefully we can use it for our own bands. For now and up until we change this, we’ll just be signing Portuguese bands and not bands from any other country.”

Moonspell joining the Alma Mater roster is a remote possibility. “I think Moonspell is a different thing,” the singer reasons. “We work with the labels; it’s a different stance, and it’s also a different approach. This is more my project with my business partner Pedro Vindeirinho from Moonspell’s merchandise company. I don’t think eventually we will sign our own band and work with our own band. I think there are better labels interested, like Napalm Records, for instance, but I think that in a way, I never quite…

“My favourite time in metal was tape trading, so I never left that spirit. To found a label is to have that approach again, like helping the bands, and giving them tips. I think we are too small of a label right now to work with Moonspell though, except for Portugal. We took over for Portugal, and we had better results than the multi-nationals. Why? With the multi-nationals, you’re just a product. It doesn’t matter if you’re metal or hip hop, because you still have to sell, and I wasn’t happy with that situation. That was also one of the motivations for forming our own label. In the future, you never know. If Moonspell becomes a band that nobody wants to sign… Well, then we have a label, so I think that would be a problem solved (laughs).”

A twelfth full-length studio affair is in the works. “I’ve already written a lot of lyrics for what’s going to be the forthcoming album of Moonspell, and the other guys are working on some music that I know of,” Fernando updates. “I think that people can expect us to go into the studio in 2019, and probably release an album in 2019, 2020. We want to take our time. We want to make a big album, so absolutely. I think it’s a constant process. That’s what we love to do the most, is write new stuff and discover new stuff, and not to go to the old repertoire and put something together. I think it’s interesting if you like what I like, but our guitar player and our keyboard player may have a different opinion, so that’s why we write music. I think we’re going to write new music, definitely. We’re always doing it, sort of, and I think next year we will be able to release an album. If not next year, then maybe 2020. We’re not in any rush.”

Aside from taking cues from Extinct, the direction of the forthcoming platter is uncertain at this point. “I have no idea, honestly,” the mainman divulges. “As I told you, I listen to music every day and get fascinated every day by old or new artists. I think we have a style right now though, so I don’t think it will be outrageously different. I’d like to make an album that is melodic, progressive, and with great taste. Those are our guidelines, so that’s why we’re going to take time. We’re not too concerned with whether it’s going to be fast, or slow, or heavy, or a little bit more emotional and gothic. We have no idea. We just want it to be a bit different from what we’ve done, to keep it interesting.”

Lisboa Under The Spell was released on August 17th, 2018 via Napalm Records.

Interview published in August 2018.

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