FERNANDO RIBEIRO On MOONSPELL's Next Studio Album: 'We Need More Time; We Need More Inspiration'

In a new interview with IMPACT Metal Channel, vocalist Fernando Ribeiro of Portuguese goth overlords MOONSPELL spoke about a possible follow-up to the band's 2021 album "Hermitage". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, ['Hermitage'] was a complicated album because it got swallowed by the pandemic. It had beautiful reviews. It sold quite a lot because people were at home, so they found that was the way of supporting the band. We were met with mixed feelings, which is not new for MOONSPELL. I have mixed feelings about our albums, too. But this album, it was [conceived] before the pandemic, but then it was really affected by the zeitgeist of the pandemic. Everybody thought it was a pandemic album, and that wasn't good for the album. And it wasn't good that we haven't almost toured anything about that album. So it's kind of in the back of our minds. I'm always discussing this with Pedro [Paixão, MOONSPELL keyboardist], my colleague, and he says, 'Well, it's an album that will grow on people.'

"Yeah, so the next album, it's not going to be out before 2026 because we feel that we need more time, we need more inspiration," Fernando explained. "We can obviously live for a couple of years on our legacy. 'Wolfheart' is going to be 30 years next year, 'Irreligious' is going to be 30 years in 2026, so we can make celebrations around it. But let's say the big issue here, it's the pertinence of the album, of making new music, that is not made to fulfill a cycle of an album, two years of touring, another album. I think that kind of kills the creativity, at least for MOONSPELL. And also we have to answer, with music, to the why of making a new album. 'Cause we have so many albums, so many musical avenues we've pursued that it's, for us, hard to pick which MOONSPELL is coming next. But I want an album that doesn't need to grow on people. I want an album that speaks volumes to the fans and that they probably will say, 'Well, that's it.' So, I think it's a very important album. That's why we are stalling it so much."

Asked to name the MOONSPELL album that he considers to be the band's "most underrated" effort, Fernando said: "It's hard to say because it sounds like I'm being ungrateful to people. I understand that sometimes metal is a straight line and not our musical career, because we always tried to tap into the zeitgeist. Like when we did 'The Butterfly Effect', which was very misunderstood — or whatever, or people simply didn't like it. 'Misunderstood', it can be just my statement. Some people, you like music or you don't like music, or music fulfills what you're searching for in that period or it doesn't. So it's simpler than all the justifications we made. But we did have a great start with 'Wolfheart' and 'Irreligious'. 'Irreligious' is an album loved by everybody. It was the right time for the right album. So, after seeing not only us, but bands like MY DYING BRIDE, TIAMAT, PARADISE LOST, we kind of tried to experiment more, and some people really loved it, but also the metal community retracted a bit from these experiments. And then it kind of stamped you as a band that sold out or that went somewhere else with the music and people didn't like it. And that's something that sticks to you, like a big fucking tag. So we had our albums that were — I wouldn't say misunderstood, but received a little bit coldly. But then again, after we reprinted, for instance, 'Butterfly Effect', it was sold out and people love it. They were dying to listen to some songs live. So I stopped trying to understand the people's mind because I don't understand my own mind. But I think, all in all, an album that's kick-ass and it was met a bit coldly was 'The Antidote'. I think that's a beautiful album… And then 'The Antidote' was 20 years, I think, in 2023, and we did a reprint and started to play some songs of 'The Antidote' live, and people fucking went crazy about it. So it's not a question, even though with all the information I have, it's very hard to answer because people are always changing their minds about everything, let alone music."

In the spring of 2023, MOONSPELL completed the "American Full Moon" 30th-anniversary trek.

More than two years ago, MOONSPELL canceled its summer 2022 North American tour due to "unsolvable logistic and transportation problems".

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.

MOONSPELL's 13th studio album, "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).

Three and a half years ago, Fernando told Consequence about recording "Hermitage" during the pandemic: "Social distancing wasn't decreed by law, and it's strange because all of Portugal is 10 million people so it was bizarre just seeing structures without people in the cities. We started demoing in 2017, and it wasn't at all about a pandemic. It was more an album about the polarization and atomization of the world — we're all fragments and cannot agree on anything. Especially with social networks, it felt like the authenticity was going away. It was about connectivity, but there were not enough connections.

"For MOONSPELL, we do have a process and it relies on us sitting down, when we could sit down, and talk together. It's about sitting down with the songwriters Ricardo [Amorim] and Pedro [Paixão]. For MOONSPELL, it's not about jamming in a room and then writing about it. When I sit down with the people who are going to write the music and tell them what it's going to be about, that's the start of MOONSPELL painting the canvas. Giving them this information, the music became more melancholic, less layers and more texture.

"When the COVID pandemic came, we were scheduled to record the album in the U.K. We were in anguish sometimes, because we would have our suitcases ready and went to the airport and Portugal was blacklisted, so we had to just be smart and take a window of opportunity to go to the U.K. We couldn't have the whole band together because of COVID restrictions. Everyone lived through the struggle of cancelations and postponements, but I have to say recording was enjoyable. I felt very privileged to be able to even go to the U.K. and record an album. The studio was in the countryside and it was so isolated and it was perfect to record 'Hermitage'."

Photo credit: Rui Vasco