UNDER THE MOONSPELL

Under the Moonspell is an EP that Portugese experimental metal act Moonspell released between their demo Anno Satanae (1993) and their debut album Wolfheart (1995). The EP has five tracks but the first and the last track are an intro and an outro. The playing time is 21:26 minutes.

The music is a giant leap forward compared to the music on the rather shaky demo tape. Gothic black/ death metal with both clean goth rock vocals and death/ black metal growls/ screams. Some middle eastern influences are also heard and a few female vocals also grace the songs. The most important part for me personally is that the music has power and the band is untamed at this early point in their career. There are just so many great ideas in these songs. Not always successfully completed but the ideas are there.

The musicianship is pretty good, but we´re not dealing with the best musicians ever and you shouldn´t expect airtight musicianship on Under the Moonspell. Here it´s the mood in the songs that are in focus.

The production is allright but not really good. you can hear everything that´s going on though.

Under the Moonspell is a good surprise for me and a prime example of how innovative and original Moonspell were in those days. A 3 star rating is deserved.