Irreligious (2 CDs)

This is a favorite of mine. Irreligious is a great album for many reasons. The music is incredible and the guitar riffs KICK A** on every song. The drums and all other instruments are played at a very high level. Every song sounds different and this album never gets repetitious. Fernando is one of the great vocalists in Metal music today, with ranges from Black to Death Metal. Yes, the mood is a little dramatic at times but that's what makes this album so good and a little cheesy. The problem is that people try to categorize every group into genre and over analyze. Some idiots say that Moonspell sound like generic Black Metal. That's beyond wrong; these guys are just a great metal group. Moonspell are a kick a** band with influences ranging from Black Metal all the way to Power metal and everything in between! I like really like 4 of their albums but this is my favorite. The Butterfly Effect and Sin/Pecado are the 2 albums I don't care for.

This album represents a powerful follow-up to Wolfheart. Although less raw and heavy than its predecessor, Irreligious is sure to please most of those who love Wolfheart. "Opium" is one of my all-time favorite Moonspell songs. It is moody and powerful at the same time. This is one of those albums that takes a few listens before you start picking up its nuances, but it is well worth the effort. One of my favorite things about metal is that there are cool bands from all over the world just waiting to be discovered by listeners in the U.S. Portugal's Moonspell is one of those bands that is relatively big in Europe, but remains underappreciated here in the States. What a shame.

"Irreligious" was the follow up to the highly successful "Wolfheart". While Moonspell's debut album had a very folk-inspired gothic sound to it, their sophomore effort does away with most of that, and brings in a much harder sound. They have done away with most of the Portuguese lyrics, and Fernando Ribiero seems to have improved his pronunciation of the English language. Though most of the songs aren't as captivating as what was present on "Wolfheart", this album still maintains a very dark and atmospheric feel throughout. Once again, the focus is more on the arrangement of the songs, rather than highlighting any one instrument. This works in their favour, as there is no song on the album that can be described as bad.The album starts off with the very vile sounding "Perverse... Almost Religious", with a male choir and keyboards that serves simply as an intro for the album and leads into "Opium", one of Moonspell's best known songs. It's a very intense song with mesmerizing riffs and trademark vocals by Fernando Ribiero. This was also the first song they made a video for.The songs that follow show a lot of variety between them. "Awake", starting off with a clean intro and a vocal sample (probably from a movie), before it gets into its strangely heavy tone with a very atmospheric tempo. Up next, "A Taste Of Eternity" has a very death-metal feel to it when it starts, with its furious double-bass drumming and screeching growls. It has some very interestingly structured melodies in it, but doesnt really leave a lasting impression.The Moonspell path is followed perfectly in the songs to come, with a very gothic feel to them. "Ruin And Misery" starts out sounding like a hymn, but definitely not one recommended for your local choir. "Poisoned Gift" seems like the background score for a c-grade horror flick and has Fernando sounding as if he is narrating a story. They manage to retain their heaviness, though all the while encompassing the melodic beauty of Moonspell. The song "Subversive" is almost an instrumental that sounds like something you would best play at a gothic discotheque."Raven Claws" is the only song on the album that sounds purely gothic. Coming in after "Subversive", it almost seems out of place, but upon a second listen it feels as if you are listening to "WolfHeart". Featuring Birgit Zacher once again on female vocals, this is definitely one of the best songs on the album."Mephisto" was the first song from the album that the band played live. It is a slower song than most of the others on the album, but it still has a very heavy chorus. The song goes out with some wicked laughter. The strangely titled "Herr Spiegelmann" starts off with some carnival music, and wanders around without a purpose. It is a very interesting song, with quotes from Patrick S?skind's The Perfume ("Story Of An Assassin"). Probably one of Fernando's favourite book or poem.The end is brought up by "Full Moon Madness", which was to be the title for the album, before they went in with "Irreligious". One of the two songs on the album done partly in Portuguese (the other being "Opium"), it has a very royal sound to it, with the guitars sounding more prominent and powerful. Not the perfect track to end with, but nevertheless, it is a very well composed song.This album suffers only because it is a follow up to the incredible "Wolfheart", and comparisons are bound to happen. Living up to the standards set by that album would have been a hard task for just about any band. However Moonspell still do a commendable job with this album.A good buy for Moonspell fans, and for anyone who like the genre.

Damn, these guys sound like the Damned (with elements of the Doors, Sabbath, Joy Division & Danzig)!Were Moonspell's Fernando & Dave Vanian seperated at birth? Fernando does sing in that errie baratone that makes the Damned so effective! (Hell, Fernando & Vanian even LOOK alike!) "Subversion" sounds like something off "Machine Gun Etiquite" (1979). Other Damned albums Moonspell fans should sniff out include "Black Album" (80), "Strawberries" (82), "Phantasmagoria" (85), "Not of This Earth" (95) and "Grave Disorder" (2001).

This is probably Moonspell's best album so far, and in the direction they're heading, probabaly the best they'll ever do. If you are a Type-O-Negative fan, I would highly recommend this album. It's dark, deep, fast at times, slow at times, lots of atmosphere, definately worth getting. "Ruin and Misery" is my favorite song. I guess the only reason I gave it 4 stars is because I wore myself out on Type-O-Negative a couple years ago so I got kinda bored with this album rather quickly. But it is pretty good. Much better than that new crap they're coming out with.

On the whole, this album is not a bad piece of work, and it does at times manage to evoke a sort of somber-yet-sneering malice with its highly polished production and heavy atmospherics. Plus, "Ruin and Misery" is almost guaranteed to get you a speeding ticket, so it's definitely a keeper. However, there are moments in which the high-gloss factor of this album renders an otherwise masterful work little more than glammish or goth-poppy. Take for example "Raven Claws," a track that I -still- can't listen to without cringing in sympathetic embarassment. As a follow-up album to Wolfheart (which is also marred by occasional over-the-top swoon-goth moments,) Irreligious is worth checking out, as it offers a fine example of the evolution of this band. Yet if you aren't a serious series collector or just want a token Moonspell disc in your archive, I'd be tempted to point you toward 2003's The Antidote (oh so nice and chilling)... but, hey, it's your nickel.

One of the best Goth metal album!!!

Je ne m'attarde pas sur l'album, qui est un des meilleurs disques de cette période, une avancée énorme pour Moonspell qui offre là un album d'une hétérogénéité qui pourra même en dérouter certains. Le son est superbe, et l'album (une fois l'intro passée) envoie avec "Opium" un tube incontestable.Je m'arrête là pour parler de l'édition vinyle.Déjà elle permet de pouvoir enfin l'avoir en vinyle car les originaux sont trop chers. L'édition est très soignée, comprend un insert de 4 pages avec annotations de Fernando, un poster, et le cd (super pour la voiture par ex). L'album est remasterisé, je n'ai pas comparé avec l'original que j'ai encore en cd, mais je le ferai dès que possible (et éditerai mon commentaire).Je ne puis qu'espérer que le groupe poursuivra ses rééditions vu la flambée de son back catalogue. Si l'initiative est faîtes avec le même soin bien sûr.

Moonspell es y sera una gran banda de culto, desde sus inicios con under the moonspell, se veia que tenia muchas cosas que dar en el aspecto musical. Su potente gothic metal te erizara la piel al escucharlo, recomendable al 1000%

Remasterizado y ediciòn original de Century Media disco doble con arte nuevo en el booklet, Hasta la impresiòn en los discos esta tan chingona como se ve, en color negro mate con letras rojas brillantes, y el sonido se oye mas alto que la primera ediciòn de los 90.

Allen Moonspell-Späteinsteigern, die Antidote (mein Moonspell-Zweitlieblingsalbum)gut finden, sei auch Irreligious ans Herz gelegt. Für mich sind die beiden Album Zwillinge, ähnlich (ausgezeichnetes) Songmaterial, eingängiger als auf dem Debüt Wolfheart, aber weniger kommerziell als die Alben zwischen Irreligious und Antidote.Der Gesang pendelt wieder zwischen tiefem klaren Gesang und Gegröhle, wobei hier der klare Gesang klar die Überhand hat. Die Songs düster, wie es sich gehört. Hammer Eröffnung mit Intro und Opium. Es folgt aber kein Ausfall. Also mein Lieblings Moonspell-Album.

Es un album lleno de vida, la musica es sencilla, profunda, gotica, desde este disco, moonspell ya sabia que estaba aqui para quedarse.

ムーンスペルの2nd。1996/2008作。リマスターにライブCDが付いての再発盤。前作からデス色が薄まり、ヴォーカルは朗々としたノーマルヴォイスを聴かせるようになった。ギターのフレーズも単純され、結果的にサウンドにはゴシックロック色が強まった。この路線は次作3rdでいったんの完成を見て、バンドはまたヘヴィさを取り戻してゆくが、倦怠系ゴシックメタルとしてのスタートは本作から始まったと考えてよいだろう。Disc2のライブ音源は、1996、1997年のヨーロッパツアーから。ライブでもしっかりとデス声/ノーマル声を使い分けるヴォーカルの実力も見事だ。

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