MOONSPELL Frontman Talks About Upcoming Album

In a recent interview with the German online magazine Walls of Fire, MOONSPELL vocalist Fernando Ribeiro revealed some details about the group's next album. The band have already written eight new songs and will continue working on the material as soon as their current European tour with CRADLE OF FILTH is finished. In contrast to the last MOONSPELL CD, "The Antidote", the new album will not feature a lyrical concept.

Here are some excerpts from the interview:

Walls of Fire: What can you tell me about the new material?

Fernando Ribeiro: "It's a very good material. It is a bit more epic. We have once again combined again fast, powerful rhythms but not as on 'The Antidote'. It's not about tribal rhythms. It is more about heavy guitars, but also with a lot of keyboards. It is very different from the kind of metal you get today which is either symphonic or with a lot of female vocals. It is metal that belongs to the albums of the '90s, like 'Wolfheart' or 'Wildhoney' from TIAMAT. It is an album that has this feeling, obviously in a totally different age. This was my favorite time in metal and we tried to recreate its sound. So far we have [done a good] job [of achieving that]."

Walls of Fire: Are going back to your roots?

Fernando Ribeiro: "In a way. The band tends to do this nowadays for lots of different reasons. All the media and all the label people are against novelties. They say: 'It's a back-to-the-roots vibe.' I must say it is not like the old stuff. 'Wolfheart' was done in 1994/95 and 'Irreligios' was in done in 1996. Since then the world has changed, music has changed, we have changed. We keep our roots in our music but also try out a lot of stuff. It is an album that has a vintage feeling although we did not try to recreate 'Wolfheart' or 'Irreligious'. We are now 30. We are older and wiser. But at the same time, we kept this naive feeling we had in the beginning. The songs are fast and powerful but not aggressive. MOONSPELL has never been an aggressive band. We also had melodies and that's why people liked us. We had something involving in our sound what we call 'the lunar atmosphere'. That's what we want to get on the new album as well. That's what we are aiming for. The demo songs are in our eyes and ears very impressive. Hopefully, the album will be released before the end of the year of 2005."

Walls of Fire: Will the record be released via Century Media?

Fernando Ribeiro: "I don't know. Most likely it will be released on Century Media. We did six albums so far to them and we like them. But we are waiting for a good offer. Our contract is done but the band isn't done. If Century Media offers us a fair deal considering all the years we have been with them, all the things we have done for them and vice versa, I think there is a possibility. But we want to keep our options open. Although we are outsiders in this business, we still have something to say in this scene and something to offer."

Read Fernando Ribeiro's entire interview with Walls of Fire (in German) at this location.

(Thanks: Jens Mueller)