Moonspell
Metal Hammer Paradise - 2024
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
Even though it wasn’t even dark outside, five gentlemen from Portugal were about to spellbind the Maximum Metal Stage at Metal Hammer Paradise.
Stepping on as the second band of the day, they had some big shoes to fill after what Pyogenesis had delivered shortly before, but Moonspell have wowed us many times before, and we were ready for them.
Now, it’d been 5 years since the last time we saw Moonspell, and some changes had occurred. Most obviously of course, was the new man behind the drums. Yes, founding member Miguel ‘Mike’ Gaspar was not part of the band anymore, and in his place had stepped a man called Hugo Ribeiro - no relation to our vocalist, as far as I know.
Ricardo Amorim and Fernando Ribeiro had also changed a bit, but that was mostly in their styling so no difference to the band’s sound there, thankfully.
The show itself slithered its way into our ears with Perverse… Almost Religious being used as an intro - we were obviously heading in a more old school direction, as was cemented with the band following it up with a combined Opium and Awake!.
The band moved quickly between songs without much communication to pull the crowd in. We just had to try and follow along as best we could.
Even so, Aries Pereira was delivering a good performance, and Amorim was successfully combining a laidback and cool look. Fernando Ribeiro tried, but looked just a little tired and robotic, and Pedro Paixão only came to the front to play guitar on Finisterra, staying behind the keyboard for the rest of the songs.
The songs were good, and the delivery of them was fine, but while there were clearly some excited fans in the crowd, on the whole Moonspell had a hard time connecting with the Metal Hammer Paradise audience. It was mostly a calm crowd, nodding their heads a bit, and of course applauding between songs. Reaching Alma Mater and Full Moon Madness at the end, we also got some long awaited sing along going on.
All in all though, this was all a bit underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, Moonspell did good, and I enjoyed the show, but they only did good, not great like we were hoping. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what was lacking, but I think mainly it was some more energy and connection with the audience. Still, it was good enough to be one of the most enjoyable concerts of the festival. We’re just spoiled from fantastic shows in the past, that this didn’t quite live up to.
Setlist:
Perverse… Almost Religious
Opium
Awake!
Extinct
Night Eternal
Finisterra
From Lowering Skies
Everything Invaded
Breathe (Until We Are No More)
Alma Mater
Full Moon Madness
Stepping on as the second band of the day, they had some big shoes to fill after what Pyogenesis had delivered shortly before, but Moonspell have wowed us many times before, and we were ready for them.
Now, it’d been 5 years since the last time we saw Moonspell, and some changes had occurred. Most obviously of course, was the new man behind the drums. Yes, founding member Miguel ‘Mike’ Gaspar was not part of the band anymore, and in his place had stepped a man called Hugo Ribeiro - no relation to our vocalist, as far as I know.
Ricardo Amorim and Fernando Ribeiro had also changed a bit, but that was mostly in their styling so no difference to the band’s sound there, thankfully.
The show itself slithered its way into our ears with Perverse… Almost Religious being used as an intro - we were obviously heading in a more old school direction, as was cemented with the band following it up with a combined Opium and Awake!.
The band moved quickly between songs without much communication to pull the crowd in. We just had to try and follow along as best we could.
Even so, Aries Pereira was delivering a good performance, and Amorim was successfully combining a laidback and cool look. Fernando Ribeiro tried, but looked just a little tired and robotic, and Pedro Paixão only came to the front to play guitar on Finisterra, staying behind the keyboard for the rest of the songs.
The songs were good, and the delivery of them was fine, but while there were clearly some excited fans in the crowd, on the whole Moonspell had a hard time connecting with the Metal Hammer Paradise audience. It was mostly a calm crowd, nodding their heads a bit, and of course applauding between songs. Reaching Alma Mater and Full Moon Madness at the end, we also got some long awaited sing along going on.
All in all though, this was all a bit underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, Moonspell did good, and I enjoyed the show, but they only did good, not great like we were hoping. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what was lacking, but I think mainly it was some more energy and connection with the audience. Still, it was good enough to be one of the most enjoyable concerts of the festival. We’re just spoiled from fantastic shows in the past, that this didn’t quite live up to.
Setlist:
Perverse… Almost Religious
Opium
Awake!
Extinct
Night Eternal
Finisterra
From Lowering Skies
Everything Invaded
Breathe (Until We Are No More)
Alma Mater
Full Moon Madness