Moonspell's 'Far from God' - Album Review

I always find it a bit strange when a live encounter with a band that you were not all that familiar with previously ends up being the peak of your enjoyment of them. It has happened to me quite a few times over the years. You see a band live, either as a support act or at a festival, which you had either never heard of before or were only familiar with in name only, really enjoy them - only to never enjoy any of their albums anywhere near as much. I never really understand why this happens. Some bands do come across better live than on record, but ultimately the same songs drew you in in the first place. There must have been something special about that 45 or so minutes on stage that elevated the band above their usual station - but it is often hard to figure out why. I mention this phenomenon, as the subject of today's review is one of those bands for me. Back in 2022, I went to see Paradise Lost live in Bristol. The show ended up being memorable for many reasons, largely as I got stranded in Taunton overnight on my way home due to Storm Eunice. Paradise Lost were great, though, but the support act, Portugal's Moonspell, were also excellent. I had heard of Moonspell prior to the show, and had perhaps even listened to a couple of their songs due a friend being into them, but I essentially knew nothing about them before seeing them live - save for the fact that they were a gothic metal act. They pretty much blew me away that night, largely due to the huge voice and presence of frontman Fernando Ribeiro, and I thought that I had discovered a new favourite band. That was not to be, however, as everything that I have listened to by Moonspell since that evening 2022 has never lived up to my initial excitement. 2015's Extinct is a fairly strong album, with its title track being a true anthem, but I really struggled with the scrappiness of 1995's much-lauded Wolfheart and 2021's Hermitage, their most recent album until last month, just seemed quite dull. I have a couple of their other albums, but given that I struggled with what I had already heard I have not bothered with them yet. Even Extinct, which I do quite like, somewhat fell flat compared to that 2022 show - and I had tickets to see the band locally later that same year, but their surprisingly lengthy UK tour ended up being cancelled, perhaps unsurprisingly, which rather put the lid on my efforts with Moonspell. When it was announced earlier this year, though, that the band were releasing their first album since 2021, I decided to was time to try again. Sometimes getting into a new album is a good way into a band - so I picked up Far from God, the band's thirteenth studio album, when it dropped last month. Reviews have called the album a real return to form and a return to sound of the band's heyday - quoting both 1996's Irreligious and 1998's Sin/Pecado as comparisons. I am not familiar with either, but I am aware of their status in the band's canon as fan favourites - and Far from God is quite different to their other albums that I have heard to date. This latest effort is a much more atmospheric and overtly gothic release - with less of a full-blown metallic approach, despite the use of harsh vocals here and there. This is the band's second album with their current line-up, with long-time bassist Aires Pereira and fairly new drummer Hugo Ribeiro once again joining core three since 1995: Fernando, guitarist Ricardo Amorim, and keyboard player Pedro Paixão. I cannot say that this album has blown me away, but I have certainly found things to enjoy - so there may yet be hope for me and Moonspell.

There are moments here that remind me of The 69 Eyes, if the sleaze influences of the Finnish band were stripped away. Vocally there are comparisons, which I would not have made when considering the other Moonspell albums I have heard, and there are also clear links back to bands like Type O Negative thanks to that somewhat 'romantic' feeling that gothic music can sometimes conjure up. Kicking off with Cross Your Heart, a creeping, mid-paced number that does not exactly start the album with a bang - instead allowing an atmosphere to settle in nicely. Hugo's rolling drumming settles into a nice groove early on, over which some swirling guitar melodies from Amorim create an early hook. There is no big riffing here as chiming guitar melodies and aching leads form the basis of the song's main musical hooks - whilst a prominent bassline and some subtle synths create a dense soundscape. Atmosphere is a big part of this album, and the opening song has it in spades - with the hypnotic guitar melodies worming their way in, whilst Fernando sings clean, his deep, crooning vocals having something of a sultry quality. The dark verses see him really pushing the lower end of his range - whilst the chorus feels a little lighter, with brighter guitar tones and more of an overtly sing-song approach vocally. There is something quite infectious about the song, despite it never feeling like an anthem and without the presence of any real metal. This is old-school gothic rock from the 1980s with a bit of a modern, metallic twist - with the atmosphere doing a lot of the heavy lifting as the album settles in. The title track follows, with dense synths creating a bed for Fernando's opening, semi-whispered spoken word delivery - before a mid-paced, harder rock, drum beat kicks in, over which some more clean guitar melodies, albeit with a little more bite, are laid. Structurally, the song is similar to the opening number insofar as it largely uses atmosphere to make its point - although the bass playing of Pereira does a lot of work here, especially during the verses. There is something very Sisters of Mercy-esque about the attack and tone of the bass playing during the verses, over which Fernando adopts a similar spoken word approach to how the song opened - whilst the chorus is much more diverse musically, thanks to a memorable guitar hook and shimmering synths. As the song progresses, too, the first crunchy guitar rhythm takes over - with a tougher sounding bridge section adding a little bit of a metallic edge, before a bit of an effects-heavy guitar solo. There is nothing here that is truly heavy, but there is certainly more bite as the song progresses - edging towards metal as the gothic textures remain steadfast. Biblical opens with some more prominent bass playing, with Pereira creating an early groove above some bass drum hits as Amorim's guitar fades into view. Effects-heavy chords and some little chugging motifs recall Pink Floyd at times - whilst the first verse, with its stark, percussive backing actually reminds me of the approach Fish took on his last couple of solo albums. The song is a grower, then, with the bass doing lots of work early on - whilst Fernando feels restrained, his voice almost mumbled, whilst Amorim adds occasional flair. Things become cinematic as the song progresses, with walls of synths later sitting behind an expansive guitar pattern before everything is once again pulled back for another sparse verse. When the chorus kicks in later, though, the song explodes with a more metallic feel - with tougher riffing, the first use of harsh vocals on the album, and a pretty busy guitar solo that follows. The transition feels natural, though, and the heaviness is welcome.

The Great Wolf in the Sky opens sounding immediately more ominous, with cold synths, pulsing electronics, and, soon, a more urgent-sounding guitar melody that creates a discordant feeling. The song remains largely mid-paced, though, but there is something more spooky about the overall arrangement. The synths often take on horror movie-esque textures, sometimes soaring above the rest of the band, whilst the snappiness of the bass underneath everything gives the song a feel of it being faster than it actually is. The guitars come and go, adding that discordant melody as and when - whilst Fernando sticks to his lower register. As is often the case in rock and metal, the chorus feels slower overall than the rest of the song - with slightly warmer synth textures and a bit more of a theatrical vocal approach. Like the last song, though, there are heavier moments later on - with some chanted harsh vocals tapping into that early sense of urgency, even if a later guitar solo feels much more beautiful overall thanks to some violin added by Alicia Nurho underneath. Your Promise of Light returns to a slower opening, with something of a slow, shuffling drum groove opening things up - with Hugo really accenting each hit of the snare. Subtle synths and dark guitar melodies soon join in - whilst the bass is surprisingly low key this time. Fernando, leaning into the slower vibe here, returns to that semi-whispered approach used elsewhere - but this is a song that sees him move through the gears vocally. The song never really shifts from its shuffling groove, but the overall grandness of the song expands - with the guitars, bass, and keyboards all becoming just a bit more intense as the song moves forward, with Fernando both crooning and utilising his harsh vocals. Despite the song growing, though, it also never feels ashamed to go back to its simplistic beginnings. The opening drum groove really becomes the focus again during some quieter moments - with the tone of the song constantly shifting. It is quite a hard song to latch onto as a result, particularly given the constant underpinning groove, but the amount of variety that plays around a core theme is quite impressive. For the Love of Mortals immediately feels a bit lighter in tone thanks to some chiming guitar melodies and a percussive drum underpinning. Nothing on this album feels genuinely upbeat, but there is something a bit airy and floatier about this song - especially during the early verses which see the guitars drop away, and Fernando crooning against some simple keyboard textures and the aforementioned drum groove. The song is quite easy on the ear, then, with that classic gothic romanticism shining through - particularly in Fernando's simple vocal melodies. Anathema-esque guitar hooks made up of repeated notes and classic gothic melodies become more prominent later on, but the song's overall core approach largely remains untouched - whilst a lot of focus is later given over to a guitar solo which does actually soar quite a bit, setting up a slightly more upbeat instrumental section to follow. This part of the song is about as bouncy as the album gets, and it includes some of Amorim's best guitar playing on the album in my opinion.

Our Freedom to Fall opens with something resembling a strident, hard rock riff. Genuine moments of metal have so far been quite rare on this album, largely relegated to bursts of harsh vocals, but this song overall feels much more crunchy. The album's core approach remains, but the opening guitar riff feels a  bit more power chord-driven than has been typical elsewhere - whilst the verses are backed by a slow-moving, somewhat doomy crunch. The song really chugs along, then, with Fernando's gothic croon during the verses a nice contrast to the tougher guitar rhythms backing him. Given the overall heaviness, though, harsh vocals are utilised much more liberally here. There are extended more metallic sections with barked vocals and a heavier guitar backing - whilst Hugo even includes some quite fast double bass drumming at times. This is not an extreme metal song, and there are breaks between each bout of heaviness, but, nevertheless, given the album's relative lack of heaviness, these double bass drum-driven moment do feel surprisingly powerful. Melodic guitar soloing and snappy riffing is switched back and forth throughout, too, but the song never really feels fast despite the bursts of double bass drumming - ensuring the album's core sound remains. The album then comes to a close with Reconquista, a song that opens with some slow-moving guitar patterns, quite hard-hitting drumming, and some all-enveloping keyboard playing. There is quite a big sound established from the off, then, but the album's core sound remains - even if some of the heaviness from the previous song creeps in here again. It is as if, after quite a few more melancholic songs, the band wanted to end things with a bit more of a bang. Fernando makes even more liberal use of his harsh delivery - essentially sticking to it throughout the verses. The hard-hitting drumming helps, whilst the slow-burning guitar riffing also retains some of the last song's toughness. The harsh vocals never really let up, even during a somewhat more expansive chorus, although there are occasional moments that utilise that semi-spoken word approach used elsewhere during the album. A much more typical rock guitar solo, with screaming, bluesy bends and some shredded motifs, is also included here - as if the band is just really pushing their true rock credentials throughout this number. Even so, the song is not exactly anything close to being extreme metal - it just feels more intense and makes more use of metallic overtones than anything else on the album, building from the vibe of the previous number. Overall, then, there is a lot to like here - even for me who continues to struggle with Moonspell despite desperately wanting to recapture the spirit of that 2022 support slot. This album and Extinct I have now largely enjoyed, even if neither have blown me away, so I think I need to go back to the albums Far from God has been compared to in reviews. Still, being able to enjoy this album is a positive in itself - and the overall atmosphere that it creates it does so very successfully, showing the big-sounding, romantic gothic music will always be popular.

The album was released on 3rd July 2026 via Napalm Records. Below is the band's promotional video for Far from God.