MOONSPELL

Night Is Eternal

I do not have any doubts about the fact that the latest MOONSPELL's work will strengthen the already cult status which the Portuguese have in many countries. "Night Eternal" is an album, which can provide listening pleasure almost equal to the one that you've felt when you've listened for the first time to "Irreligious." This record has the all that you love. Powerful metal riffs, gothic melancholy and magic of beautiful melodies. How did the Portuguese masters of dark and atmospheric sounds manage to capture those elements in sonic formula?. Extremely talkative Fernando Ribeiro explains everything that you would like to know about „Night Eternal”, but were afraid to ask.

-Hello Fernando. First of all let me congratulate you the quality of your work on „Night Eternal”. It' s really extraordinary piece of art. In the beginning I'd like to ask you to unveil some details of the creating process of that album. You've posted a statement in your blog in which you declare that this time you've wanted to catch the elements that were missing on „Memorial”. How would you describe them and in the same way describe the difference between „Night Eternal” and previous album?
I have to start by saying that „Memorial” was very important album for MOONSPELL. This album had an enthusiastic feeling that appealed to many people. Including those who weren't listening to MOONSPELL for a long time, and they came back to us with „Memorial”. But we always question ourselves, and it's always very important for the band to realize that we're not perfect. And there's always a path to go to. There's always a direction and energy that can be improved from album to album. Tha’s why we're making so many albums. We did good albums, but in retrospect there's always something missing. I think to feel that void is what keeps us doing music. And the void of „Memorial” was the different void then void of „Antidote” or the void of „Darkness and Hope”. And I think that the thing that I've personally missed for „Memorial” was more songs, more beauty. So that's what I wanted to bring out to „Night Eternal” - singing vocals, more atmosphere and at the same time not to lose that enthusiasm which is present in songs like „Shadow Sun”, „At Tragic Heights” and „Night Eternal”. But also to bring back this MOONSPELL that I felt – and many fans felt too – which was not present with full force on our previous album. During our touring, especially at our headlining shows I've seen that people really like to sing our old songs. People want to feel different kind of vibes with MOONSPELL. „NE” definitely cathhes those different vibes. I was very, very much in dispute with band members. Because „Memorial” was a big challenge for musicians. It was very fast and at the same time very good to play live. Pedro and Ricardo definitely wanted to go that way. They wanted to push the pedal even more and go into the more extreme direction. There was a bit of division in the band. But we are friends, and we worked so many times together, so we wanted t avoid any dominant vision on that album. We wanted to have them both. We decided just to let the things flow and see what would come up. In effect „Night Eternal” has a furious moments, but there's also a beauty of art.

-I must totally agree with you. I really like „Memorial”. This stuff shows the darker, more aggressive side of your band. But now it seems like after paying a tribute to your roots – also on „Under Satanae” - you wanted to bring back more romanticism and more of that atmosphere which is also very important part of your music. For me „NE” is a new „Irreligious”. I'm sure that you hear that comparison after the release of each of your last few albums. But in my opinion this time it’s really justified.
I have to say I'm always afraid when it comes to compare our new albums with the old. MOONSPELL has a great past. Very valuable and very influential in the way. We never fucked it. We are very proud of it. It's great to play songs from „Irreligious” or „Wolfheart”. But sometimes people focus to much on it. And sometimes they miss what's going with MOONSPELL. And it goes for many other bands also, that are doing a great music, but they are self obessed about their past trying to make a bridge to a recent times. It's always a blessing and a curse. I feel exactly the same as you do. This album for me is a new „Irreligious”. But I want people not to use my opinion when listening to „NE”, because it can lead them to the wrong place. The new album has a different sound. But if there's an recent album that we can compare „NE” to in whole MOONSPELL's career it's definitely„Irreligious”. It contains those moments that are totally original and fresh and it has great, great songs. All the songs on „Irreligious” are great. And all the songs on „Night EternaL” are really great , too. I find some comparisons that are coming to the mind like the beginning of „Spring of Rage” who reminds me of beginning of „For Taste of Eternity”. Those comparisons are dangerous. But in some way it is good to be compared with ourselves. And I'm really happy when people say hey that those song doesn’t sound like this or that band, it sounds like MOONSPELL. For us it's the best complement. That's exactly what we wanted to achieve when we started the band. We wanted someone to come to us and say you have an original sound., and I can recognize you. It's not for every band, and it's always a big struggle to be ourselves.

-One of your trademarks is vocal work. The way you combine clean parts with aggressive voice was always a strong point of your songs. On the last two album that dark side dominated, but this time you've decided to bring back more melodic parts. Didn't you feel a little jitters, was it a challenge once again to sing more with your deep, seductive voice?
Yeah it was a big challenge. But I must say that I worked very hard for that album. Because when we started i wasn't happy – nobody wasn't happy – with the vocals. Obviously I can do shouting vocals without any problems. They come very natural. Most of that stuff s recorded at first take. But it’s different with singing vocals. I'm more limited when it comes to this. I have to work harder and I have to concentrate with this. But there was something inside ma that told me: I have to sing more. I have to bring beauty to the album. And I have to start work with the vocals. MOONSPELL has always being a mixture. And always will be. There's no way to have only one vocal approach. When I started to work on new songs I came out with more adventurous lines. I have had much more imagination to the vocal lines. But obviously it doesn't go without a hard work. For example „Scorpion Flower” a song with Anneke – who is one of the best singers in the world - I couldn’t do here something that wouldn’t at least reach a decent level. That was a very hard song to record. I knew that it couldn't be good. It had to be very good. So.. yeah I'm happy because I know that lot of fans share my opinion.
I was a little tired of going to the stage or studio – like with „Under Satanae” - and just shout, shout and shout. Feelings that I wanted to transport with the words and fragility of the music forced me to use the clean voice. Hopefully the result is good, of course with a big help of our producer Tue Madsen. Recording vocals is not like a recording the drums or guitar. It's not the instrument you can tune or program. But in the end everything came out great, Now it's time to work hard to do it live.

-Without any doubts your duet with Anneke is one of the most amazing moments on your last album. But I'd like to ask you about the male vocalists. If you had the chance to choose a singer to sing a song with who would it be and why?
Well. There are many people that we'd like to work with. We had an idea to introduce a special guest for „NE” - he's not a vocalist, but he has a great voice – Martic Eric Ain from CELTIC FROST. This time it wasn't possible. But we definitely want to do it on one of our next albums. Also Warrell Dane - he worked with BEHEMOTH on their album – he's a great singer, too but this time we didn't have really a song for him. And our friend Jonas from KATATONIA could be perfect. I think that we'll do something. For me he's one of the most emotional singers on the metal scene. Of course outside the metal scene the list is quite endless. But I must add that Anneke is not the only guest that we've had this time. There's also a choir named Crystal Mountain Singers. Those are three friends of us from Portugal. They have their bands, too. Carmen is from AVA INFERI – the band in which plays Blasphemer from MAYHEM. She already did some parts on „Under Satanae”. Sophia from CINEMUERTE – another Portuguese band. She always sings with us live in Portugal, and she also did a couple of shows abroad. The third member of the choir is Patricia from THE VANITY CHAIR. She also sang with some other bands, including THE CURE tribute band. I think that vocals guest are really interesting. The most important is of course Anneke. We decided to choose originality. She's responsible for many bands to show up.

-Let's concentrate for a few moments on the production. I know that this time it took a long time to achieve the final result. You worked really hard – the recordings in Antfarm – followed the pre-production session with Waldemar Sorychta. You've worked with him in the past. Why did you decide not to invite him again to produce the whole album this time?
Not for any particular reason. This time we had a chance to work with both of them. Waldemar and Tue. What Waldemar did on the pre-production is very important for MOONSPELL. Definitely he has a great responsibility for the way the album sounds. Waldemar is very important when it comes to arranging. He came on the early stage here in Portugal to work with us, sometimes he changed our ideas. The work on „Under Satanae” was so good, so relaxed, is sounded so amazing and so modern that we were really divided. Waldemar did the great job on „Memorial”. Tue was fantastic on „Under Satanae”. In the end we decided to use them both. We thought that it will be great. And so it was. „Night Eternal” is probably the best sounding MOONSPELL album ever. Tue knows what we're doing. The atmosphere in the studio was great. We were real partners. We were determined to put on tape the best interpretations of our songs and our feelings. It was a hard work, but definitely worth the price. All the hours, and all time spent on hard work. Waldemar made our songs stronger. While Tue made sound stronger. So in the end we have stronger MOONSPELL.