MOONSPELL To Release New Album 'Far From God' In July; Title Track To Arrive Later This Month
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Portuguese metallers MOONSPELL have set "Far From God" as the title of their long-awaited new album, due on July 3 via Napalm Records. The LP's first single, the "Far From God" title track, will be made available, alongside an accompanying music video, on March 25.
On Saturday (March 7),MOONSPELL vocalist Fernando Ribeiro took part in a live question-and-answer session on the band's Instagram, in which he said about the musical direction of MOONSPELL's upcoming follow-up to 2021's "Hermitage" (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Let's say the people that have listened to it now so far call it the 'Irreligious' [MOONSPELL's second album, which came out in 1996] of the 21st century. And why? Because we had many places to go, so we are going to a place that is more familiar to us. So, it's a gothic metal album. It's an album that doesn't have the social or quite the philosophical tones of other albums. It's a very simple album. It's very melodic. It's very atmospheric. It's very delicate and it's very emotional for us too. It was recorded in Porto [Portugal] during these past few months with Jaime Gomez Arellano, the one that worked with us on 'Hermitage'. There's going to be a lot of clean vocals, yeah. But it's also MOONSPELL. The fortunate people that have listened to it so far, people that work with us, the producer, close friends, they say it's MOONSPELL. And for us it's the best compliment."
Fernando continued: "It's very, very hard to speak about our own music, and why? Because it's an important part of our life and hopefully an important part of your life too. So the best things in life, I think, you fail to explain. It's just a question of feeling. But what we have tried to do on this album was to try to underline some characteristics of MOONSPELL, which are more bordering the romantic and more bordering the existential vibes of our band and of our music and of our life."
Regarding the songwriting process for "Far From God", Fernando said: "It was a difficult album to write. We had a lot of trial and error. I made, like, 50-something [sets of] lyrics. I had 10 album titles, and that's not very common in MOONSPELL."
Elaborating on the long gap between "Hermitage" and "Far From God", Fernando said: "In a nutshell, after 'Hermitage', you know what happened. There was the pandemic, there was a lot of stuff, picking up life, picking up the pieces, I would say, and finding out the direction. So the direction we did, it's what we do the best, I think. It's the gothic metal."
He added: "It has a bit of everything, I have to say, of the MOONSPELL nature. There are songs that are quite dark and a bit disturbing. There are songs that are very uplifting, but I think, really, it's the 'Irreligious' of the 21st century. It's an album that doesn't have anything else than gothic and metal."
October 26, 2024 saw MOONSPELL perform its first-ever symphonic show, dubbed "Opus Diabolicum", at the MEO Arena in Lisbon, Portugal's capital city. The band made history at this unforgettable live event, adding another magnificent chapter to both metal music made in Portugal and their very own legacy. A year later — on October 31, 2025 — this monumental event was made available to view anytime, available in DVD/Blu-ray, two-CD, black and colored vinyl and digital formats via Napalm Records.
On "Opus Diabolicum", MOONSPELL revisited its classics and its bombastic album "1755" at a one-off, exclusive show and its biggest production to date. The heavy metallic power of the dark metal pioneers met the classical magnitude of the 45-piece Orquestra Sinfonietta de Lisboa (Lisbon Sinfonietta Orchestra) — one of Portugal's finest orchestras — conducted by maestro Vasco Pearce de Azevedo.
In September 2022, MOONSPELL released a very special Blu-ray/DVD and album, a live performance of their latest studio album, "Hermitage", with "From Down Below - Live 80 Meters Deep" via Napalm Records.
"Hermitage" was released in February 2021 via Napalm Records. The LP was recorded, mixed and mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano (PARADISE LOST, PRIMORDIAL, GHOST, SÓLSTAFIR) at the Orgone Studios in the U.K.
In 2020, MOONSPELL parted ways with original drummer Miguel "Mike" Gaspar and replaced him with Hugo Ribeiro (no relation to Fernando Ribeiro).
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
