MOONSPELL Frontman Talks About Label Switch, 'Memorial' Album

Jeffrey Easton of The Metal Exiles recently interviewed MOONSPELL frontman Fernando Riberio. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

The Metal Exiles: You guys have created a great CD in "Memorial". First off, why did MOONSPELL move to SPV?

Fernando Riberio: For quite a lot of reasons that do not necessarily mean that we are angry or were dissatisfied with Century Media because we were and that grew because of Century believing in us. The case here was that we were with them so long that it felt like we were stuck in one place. There was nothing new and exciting there for us anymore and if you look at what is happening at Century now you will see most of their classic bands are not doing anything, leaving or are already gone. Another thing is that there were certain things that we had to fight for that younger bands were taking for granted. With just the fact that we switched labels there is a lot of interest in "Memorial". After many things we decided to switch labels and I cannot say that it will be for the better but so far we are very happy. The label is very interested in what the band has to say and they really love our new record so I have to say it might have been the right move.

The Metal Exiles: SPV do have some great bands on their roster and you guys will fit in very well.

Fernando: I know that they are not completely established in the U.S. so they have a chance to start from scratch with us and I believe they will do their best wit us and we handed them a great album to start with.

The Metal Exiles: MOONSPELL are a established name here opening great tours for big names, so you should have no troubles with this record.

Fernando: We still have to work a little bit harder considering we have toured so many times in America but it is a different scene than it is in Europe where we are bigger. I do know after the two tours opening for OPETH and CRADLE we have shown the existence of MOONSPELL to a lot new people and we have created a growing fan base. Those new fans are on our website and myspace quite a lot. The next time we come to America things will be stronger for us.

The Metal Exiles: "Memorial" is a great piece of work, what went into creating it?

Fernando: We took our time writing "Memorial".

The Metal Exiles: Yes, it has been a long time since "The Antidote".

Fernando: Well, we had a lot of shows to play for "The Antidote". Quite seriously we started writing this record on November 2nd and our last show was on October 31st 2005. This will let you know that we do not have a lot of time off. We really wanted to take our time with "Memorial", we wanted it to be brilliant in a way as we worked very hard on the songs, the way the lyrics intertwine with the music. We picked up Waldemar Sorychta as a producer because he understood what we wanted for this record. He is the biggest producer of our generation because bands like TIAMAT or SAMAEL went to him to produce them. It was an album that was written with what was in our minds which was a very clear picture. We wanted an album that picked up where "The Antidote" left off, it was very overwhelming and we wanted to transport that into our new album. When we played tracks from "The Antidote" live people reacted to it and it was very overwhelming. I think that with this record we have achieved it. With everything about this album, the artwork, the music, the production and the video clip we wanted to pass along our enthusiasm to the fans.

The Metal Exiles: Do you go out of your way to make an album complex or does it just happen in the writing?

Fernando: I think it comes very natural. With MOONSPELL our biggest challenge was to translate our epic and multileveled ideas into music. With our first album we had a great imagination but we did not have the technical skills, the maturity nor the time to do it but with "Memorial" all of the things we were missing have arrived. The producer was with us three times before we started recording to help with arrangements so he could help make this record interesting and something that you wanted to discover. There is a lot of talent on this record but there was also a lot of hard work to go with that. Once we knew what we wanted to do we dedicated our heart and soul to making the record work. We only had three weeks to record and mix the record as well as master it so we had to work fast.

Read the entire interview at www.metal-exiles.com.