MOONSPELL

After decades of being reduced to a contractual afterthought, the live album has struggled to stay relevant. There are plenty of exceptions to the rule, but in general terms, live albums are rarely regarded as exciting or vital, and it takes something special, or preferably spectacular, to change that. MOONSPELL have never been a band prone to doing the obvious, and even though plenty of bands have teamed up with orchestras in the past, "Opus Diabolicum" is one live album that genuinely feels momentous and important. Recorded in October 2024, at Lisbon's MEO Arena, in partnership with the esteemed Orquestra Sifonietta De Lisboa, this extravagant live document captures a moment that MOONSPELL's career has always demanded: a grand collaboration with the world of classical music, and a bewildering spectacle for fans of gothic malevolence everywhere. The first such crossover in the Portuguese legends' history, it was an acclaimed and widely praised event and fully deserves to be released in all of its pompous glory. Mixed by the increasingly legendary Jaime Gomez Arellano (Paradise Lost / Insomnium),with the specific goal of not being a flaccid disappointment like METALLICA's wildly overrated "S & M", "Opus Diabolicum" is rare proof that metal and orchestra can co-exist to the ultimate benefit of both. Not for the first time, MOONSPELL prove themselves to be a cut above the rest. Classy motherfuckers to the last.

Where other bands have clumsily glued an orchestral arrangement onto their material with little care for harmony, Ribeiro and his morbid crew really put some thought into this show, and the set list in particular. Based around their 2017 masterpiece "1755" but also featuring some of the band's most cherished anthems, their performance was both historic and audacious, and the recorded results are as grandiose and monumental as the occasion demanded. Songs from "1755" form the bulk of the set, their in-built bombast chiming perfectly with the orchestra's shrewd augmentations. "Em Nome De Medo", "1755" and "In Tremor Dei" come across as smartly enhanced improvements on their studio forebears, brass and strings woven impeccably through the band's arrangements, very much in service of the songs themselves. "Desastre" is a florid rush of adrenalin. "Ruinas" is ornately devastating. Everything sounds as it should: finessed, intelligent and exciting.

As the set progresses, MOONSPELL pull out many of their most appropriate songs for such an endeavor. "Breathe (Until We Are No More)" is a heart-stopper from 2015's "Extinct" that could not be more perfect for this lavish treatment. Likewise, "Finisterra" (from 2006's "Memorial") seems to grow and gain strength in real time: a classic MOONSPELL tune, but with fresh momentum driving it skyward. Most impressive of all, enhanced renditions of "Vampiria", "Alma Mater" and "Fullmoon Madness" leap from the speakers like rejuvenated ghosts from spotlit corners of some unnamed shadow world. Aside from hammering home what great songs they are, this trilogy sums up the power that MOONSPELL wield, both as a live band, and as revered guardians of the grim, gothic metal underworld. For the full effect, the DVD/Blu-Ray edition would seem to be an essential purchase, but even as an audio experience, "Opus Diabolicum" is spectacular enough to achieve the kind of landmark status that live albums often achieved back in simpler times. As a document of a magnificent band on magnificent form, it is just about unbeatable.