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August 29, 2008 |
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01. In Memoriam (Intro)
02. Finisterra
03. Memento Mori
04. Sons Of Earth
05. Blood Tells!
06. Upon The Blood Of Men
07. At The Image Of Pain
08. Sanguine
09. Proliferation
10. Once It Was Ours
11. Mare Nostrum
12. Luna
13. Best Forgotten
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I've never been quite sure what to make of Portugal's MOONSPELL, and frankly even after several spins of this - the band's ninth release - entitled "Memorial"...I still don't. Why exactly this problem persists I do not know, but suffice to say that in my humble opinion there has always been a certain..."anonymity" to much of this act's output that continues to dog and plague them not unlike the panting shadow of some great black hound along the roadside upon a dark and foggy moor. In other words...not a good thing.
In inexplicable existence now since somewhere around the 1995-'96 mark if memory serves, MOONSPELL (Fernando Ribeiro - vox, Mike Gaspar - drums, Pedro Paixao - guitars, keyboards, and Ricardo Amorim - also guitars, keyboards) have always seemed to have a problem deciding just which genre/subgenre they wish to be a part of. Is it to be the clove-smoking, black-lipstick-and-nail-polish, dog-eared-copy-of-"Interview-With-A-Vampire"-hanging-out-of-the-backpack world of Goth, or the more genuinely darkened and benighted (???) world of DIMMU/CRADLE OF FILTH-inspired symphonic, melodic Black Metal!?! I honestly don't know how to answer that question as even the band themselves - again - don't seem to know, ever sounding to my ears like a mishmash of not-always-complimentary elements of TYPE O NEGATIVE crossed with latter-years TIAMAT, SISTERS OF MERCY, and the aforementioned corpse-painted hordes of CRADLE OF FILTH and DIMMU BORGIR. Now I'm all for the combination of various eclectic influences to create Metal of an original and thought-provoking caliber to be sure...but there are times when such musical puzzle pieces don't match, and the forced square-peg-in-a-round-hole fitting thereof results in a final aural picture that is jumbled and incoherent (not to mention lacking in expressive quality) to say the least. This ultimately is the bane of MOONSPELL's career to date.
While far from horrible (there are actually more than a few passages here that work at least quite decently and competently, notably the bouncy, hooky "Luna" with the addition of female vocals which is frankly about the most memorable track on offer here), the end product of "Memorial" comes across as a half-hearted collection of frankly quite lackluster, unoriginal, and uninteresting compositions which do little to inspire much emotive response at a time when Metal is rife with acts who possess a much more canny grasp of emotive drive and power in their work. On a purely technical level, the players in MOONSPELL are all certainly more than competent enough at their craft, but what they seem to lack here is that intangible "spark" or "bite" that causes one to sit up and go "WOW!". Riffs here just chunder along over a steady, predictable beat while somber, Gothic keyboard passages pass in and out with little in the way of memorable hook or heft, not unlike an absinthe-addled, black-leather-pants-clad ne'er-do-well wandering absently from hotel room to trashed hotel room post-show, bothering band and groupies alike with mumbling incoherencies. In other words, this is basically filler; B-side-quality material taking up A-side-quality space on an album that needs some definite reworking in order to work at all. To put it very bluntly, these guys need to learn how to write A SONG.
On the positive side, the most I can offer is that it's nice to see bands at least opting to go in a somewhat heavier direction than their previous material as is at least the case here with MOONSPELL. After all, this band did at least start off as a fairly heavy, if symphonic Black Metal/Goth act, and after meandering off said course during the middle of their career in various weird, electronic, ambient directions, they have definitely returned somewhat to "form" with the core of most material offered here on "Memorial" which certainly pays an audible lip-service to recognizable "Metallicisms". But still, as already proffered, what results at best is merely vocalist Ribeiro opting to scream/growl more often than croon all Peter-Steele-like overtop of material which is still lacking in depth and substance at the end of the day. And this being the case...so what? Bricks and rocks are likewise somewhat heavy too, but they're still not exactly the most interesting things on God's green earth now are they?
In conclusion, given that the best material on offer on "Memorial" is crystallized within a single track or two that betray far more "Goth" than "Metal" it begs the question as to why MOONSPELL don't simply throw caution to the wind and opt to head both forcefully and focused in exactly THAT direction (although greater attention to song craft and the creation of memorable hook wouldn't exactly kill them either). Such a move into an obvious existing comfort zone would doubtless work wonders for them. A big part of what makes a band work is the ability to recognize where its collective strengths lay, and in the case of MOONSPELL it is not along their current path of choice. Enough said.
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