Pros: Musically much smarter than last album, melancholy and gothic.
Cons: I still wanna hear a return to Wolfheart's sound.
The Bottom Line: I REALLY wish they'd do a heavier album like Wolfheart again... but I recommend this and see it as a step forward from Butterfly Effect.
supraliminal's Full Review: Darkness and Hope by Moonspell
Alas, though I love all Moonspell's album, Wolfheart is easily their crown jewel, and their new album is in no danger of inheriting the throne. That being said, although like most Moonspell albums I'm going to need a lot of listens to compare properly to previous efforts, after owning the cd for about a month they've might just have matched Irreligious. At the very least they have certainly corrected the biggest complaint I had about The Butterfly Effect, which was the guitars seemed technically dumbed down. In any case, to describe the sound of this album as compared to their other efforts (because any fan of Moonspell knows they change a lot from album to album)... I'd say the production and a little of the gothic elements of Irreligious crashes into the at times rock element and melancholy attitude of Sin/Pecado, though musically this doesn't sound much like the latter album. Or for those of you who have heard Moonspell's cover of Sacred (Depeche Mode) from the 2econd skin ep, this is the album that song sounds like it should belong on. The latest incarnation of Moonspell has pretty well left all industrial elements behind. Musically the only album it really compares to very well is Irreligious. Once again, Langsuyar's vocals are the ever familiar element, although he's got more clean vocals than ever before.... when he does have his growl, it's kinda low in the mix, although I didn't even notice it until I had already listened to the album and realized after the fact, in other words it woulda been nice to have more bloodcurling growls from him but the songs aren't exactly hurting for them.
The album Darkness And Hope starts out with the title track, which sets the tone for most of the album.... rather melancholic and introspective, as if written after a sad event that has almost faded away. The song switches back and forth from very mellow clean guitars and vocals only to a slow crunching hopeful section... the title fits like a glove. Constant sampled atmosphere's and subtle choruses run throughout, not as noticeable as Irreligious, but certainly ever present, again evoking more of a melancholic mood than a gothic mood.
Firewalking is served up next, a rocking tune that makes me think of a track from Sin/Pecado if it were just allowed to play out minus the spacey distortion effects. At this point it is certainly apparent that the songs actually have two guitar parts, certainly better than the dumbed down riffage (as good as it was) from Butterfly Effect.
Nocturna kicks in very mellowly, again reminiscent of a mood between Irreligious and Sin.... Langsuyar sticks to straight singing or rasping/whispering on this one. Nocturna further supports a mood more meloncholic and less erotic than most Moonspell offerings. It seems to me that this song is 90% chorus and drags a bit.... not my favorite track, but not bad at all.
Heart Shaped Abyss opens with a foot tapping drum beat and some jangly clean tone chords, and alternates between that and a soupy heavier section including a very nice sounding lead guitar piece that is nearly buried in the mix.... but I get the feeling that was done on purpose, most things about this album are fairly subtle.
Devilred is the next tune, and is my favorite on the album. This song is also probably the heaviest and one of the few that are erotic as well as melancholic, an opus about a temptress wearing red. I heard this song before purchasing the album and was hoping the rest of the album was along the same lines, unfortunately not.... in any case, this was certainly the standout track for me. Almost upbeat speed, but not quite, gothic and erotic sounding evoking thoughts of a less plodding Irreligious.
Song six is titled Ghostsong, and starts off with an interesting guitar melody that continues to tantalize to the point I haven't even decided if I like it or not! In any case, this is almost frustratingly mellow, only the MOOD it evokes makes up for most of the lacking heaviness... I suppose that's a fairly accurate statement for much of the album. Constant background atmosphere once again, though there's an almost hidden slide flute like thing that I don't like going on in the mix.
Repaces is one of the strongest tracks on the album, a song with a vampiric theme, featuring a strange, droning, simple keyboard piece that plays again and again but succeeds in haunting rather than annoying. This song again contrasts from almost nothing, softly sung parts to crunchy screamed choruses... despite the vampiric theme however, Repaces still has a mood all its own rather than going back to the gothic days of Irreligous.
Made of Storm follows... a relatively up tempo and rocking song about moments with a lover ("she feels like she's made of storm"), somehow still managing to sound more melancholic than gothic. Some short, tantalizing, but sweet sounding lead parts continue to pop out of the mix enough to please but make me wish for a full on solo at the same time.
How We Became Fire is another slow ever somber track, noteable for the lead guitar parts almost fully coming out into the open... at this point I've another metaphor to describe the sound has occurred to me... as if the souls who wrote Irreligious were trying to write a modern day Katatonia album.
Then The Serpents In My Arm is pretty up tempo for this album, with a strange high pitched droning atmosphere in the verses that is so teasing I'm not even sure what the instrument is.
I have the European version of this album, therefore mine closes with a Portugese folk inspired song titled Os Senhores Da Guerra.... not at all like previous Portugese traditional inspired songs of theirs.... more, well, melancholic. Anyway, the American version closes with a cover of Ozzy Osbourne's Mr. Crowley.... unfortunately I can't tell you how they did because I have not yet heard the track myself.
If you like Moonspell in all their incarnations, then I'm sure this album will please you. If your interest waned a bit after Irreligious, you should probably tune in again for Of Darkness, ditto if you love Moonspell but you didn't like the industrial turn of Butterfly Effect. If you are a fan of gothic or melodic/melancholic metal or rock, you would do well to give this a spin too (though most people into such music probably already knew that)... and if you like Katatonia or similar bands but haven't much liked previous Moonspell releases..... again, tune in for this one.
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