After a quarter of a century, what is there left for a band to do? If you are Moonspell, you put out a live three disk cd with accompanying three-hour long video that includes a documentary and three albums played in their entirety live. Vocalist Fernando Ribeiro, drummer Mike Gaspar, Pedro Paixao on keyboards, guitarist Ricardo Amorim, and bassist Aires Pereira present the epic Lisboa Under the Spell (Napalm Records).
Lisboa Under the Spell is a three-hour band documentary directed by Victor Castro. It’s in Portuguese and subtitled in English. The documentary part is very random. Sometimes it’s the band working in the studio. Sometimes it’s a conversation about dog poop on a shoe. The documentary culminates with Moonspell getting ready backstage. This segues into Wolfheart live.
Wolfheart was Moonspell’s debut album back in the mythical time of 1995. It’s a dark and brooding tome that actually holds up to a modern-day playing. At the time of the taping, they were celebrating two decades of Irreligious’ release. Wolfheart is act I of a three-act live extravaganza where Moonspell play Wolfheart, Irreligious, and Extinct on stage all in one night. As with most live albums, the crowd noise is removed from actual songs and is only heard fading in and out between songs. This makes the sound of the live albums crisp and clear.
After about an hour, there is an intermission before Act II: Irreligious. Cornalusa, a traditional folk band that play authentic traditional Portuguese instruments, is heard playing over the band while they were in the dressing room changing clothes and talking about the sound of the show. The all too brief moments of Cornalusa is a welcome addition to the video as it introduces Moonspell’s international audience to a band and musical genre they may not have heard before. The stage set changes to reflect the Irreligious album cover.
Act II is forty-five minutes of Irreligious played from beginning to end. For those of you who aren’t aware, Irreligious is their 1996 release. The great thing about Moonspell playing Wolfheart and Irreligious in their entirety is that fans that missed out on these two tours get to hear and see the songs live. As with happens with time, musicians get better, tighter, and more technically proficient. This is true with Moonspell. Irreligious sounds amazing on Lisboa Under the Spell. It’s more soulful. It has a smoothness to the production. Many of the songs have fallen by the wayside in the Moonspell live set list. So it’s a treat to hear some old favourites and some songs played live for the first time.
I thought it was cheeky when introducing ‘Fullmoon Madness’ that Fernando Ribeiro said that the audience couldn’t leave until “extinction.” Foreshadowing as act III is Extinct played in its entirety. Extinct debuted in 2015 and is a bit over fifty minutes long.
Cornalusa did the segue into Extinct. I would have liked to see more of this intermission folk band. This intermission is edited much shorter this time around. The band entered the stage wearing black makeup across their eyes. The candelabras stayed and the back drop changed. Barrels of fire were added to the stage set.
With the video clocking in over three hours long, I honestly can’t see a time where anyone would be sat down and watch it all the way through. The LP and CD editions have each act of the show on a separate disk/album. I believe more use would be had in this format as the listener can pick and choose which act to listen to and when. Sure, on a long road trip you can pop it in and listen to all three in succession or if you are having a party and want Moonspell as the background music.
I liked how Diogo Lima and Victor Castro edited this video. Equal time was given to all the band members as they performed. The choice of shots kept it visually engaging. You could tell that the crowd was enthralled by the performance. If you haven’t been fortunate enough to see Moonspell live, then definitely get this DVD and CD combination. If you’ve seen Moonspell live and don’t like to wait years between each show, then this DVD is a must have. As for the CDs, they are a perfect ten out of ten. But then I’m a rabid Moonspell fan.
The video portion ends with a very mundane slice of life snippet set to calliope music. Then Fernando waxes nostalgic about the night’s live event. I won’t spoil what he says, but it’s a great reflection and insight of what it is to be a working musician. Purchasing Lisboa Under the Spell is definitely worth it as you get so much for your money: over three hours of video and Wolfheart, Irreligious, and Extinct played live in their entirety.
9.0/10
VICTORIA ANDERSON