Wolfheart

Moonspell are essentially the leading face of Portugal metal, but their status in the larger gothic metal scene feels harder to pinpoint. They aren’t commonly regarded in the echelon of groups like My Dying Bride or Paradise Lost, but they’ve also evaded the generic copycat tag given to subsequent generations. One could also trace bits of Type O Negative-esque camp in the comically vampiric vocals and over the top aesthetics on display.

Fortunately, the band backs up the goofiness with some stellar musicianship where each instrument has its own personality. The rhythm section actually does much of the heavy lifting as the drums have a hard-hitting presence while the bass puts in as many sturdy lines as the jagged guitars with abundant fills abound. The keyboards also go all-out in dispensing ethereal swells and theatrical flourishes, fleshing things out without feeling overstuffed.

That theatrical style is also demonstrated with the song order presented, cycling through a variety of influences in an almost conceptual fashion. “Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade)” makes for an impactful start on this front as its tranquil intro eventually gives way to heavy fanfare guitars and verses whose double bass patterns and raspy barks hint at the group’s blackened roots. “Love Crimes” pushes that influence to uptempo ends with some driving goth rock verses thrown into the mix.

The next couple songs lean even more into that hard rock spirit. “Of Dream and Drama (Midnight Ride)” feels like a chimera of “Black No. 1” and Danzig’s “Mother,” revving upbeat verses and a soaring chorus rounded out by spirited piano. It’s also nice to see the band’s nationality highlighted as “Lua D’Inverno” provide a brief flute-led interlude before “Trebaluna” dishes up a particularly jovial folk metal jig sung in Portuguese.

It all culminates with Wolfheart’s last three songs reaching their most bombastic point. The echoing Dracula purrs and Mickey Mousing synths no doubt make “Vampira” sound cheesy as hell, but the fluctuating twists in the structure provide a lot of extra character. “An Erotic Alchemy” bolsters the sort of orchestral strings and beauty-and-the-beast vocals that bands like After Forever and Lacuna Coil would take even further, and “Alma Mater” features a celebratory rhythm reminiscent of Viking era Bathory and mead hall choral vocals that end the album as triumphantly as it began.

If Wolfheart isn’t among the best gothic metal albums ever released, then it’s at least a candidate for being one of the most fun. While Moonspell has some other stellar full-lengths under their belt, they’ve never topped their debut’s combination of standout musicianship and full commitment to camp horror theatre. It’s no doubt an acquired taste but it provides some great spoopy vibes.

Moonspell have become an iconic name in metal and are still today one of the most well-known Southern European bands in the scene. A most remarkable aspect about the Portuguese band is that their first full-length album, 1995’s Wolfheart, was already a strikingly accomplished debut, leaving very little doubt that they were a very special band indeed. Wolfheart is not perfect and it sometimes bears the signs of the young age and inexperience of its creators, who were all twenty-somethings at the time. But it also clearly shows how inventive and talented Moonspell were from their very inception, mixing black metal, gothic rock, folk, and heavy metal with a distinctively progressive and experimental approach, to create a fresh and original own style.

The album was written and recorded by Moonspell’s “original” line-up, with Fernando Ribeiro (aka Langsuyar) on vocals, Duarte Picoto (Mantus) on guitars, Pedro Paixão (Passionis) on keyboards, João Pedro (Ares) on bass, and Miguel Gaspar on drums. João Fonseca (J.M. Tanngrisnir) also played guitar on Wolfheart, although his name is not included in the album credits of the 1995 album re-issue, given that he was ejected from the band in not very amicable terms soon after the record’s release. Also left out from the album credits was the fact that Wolfheart was actually recorded at Woodhouse Studios under the supervision of Waldemar Sorychta, who at the time was the producer of choice for Century Media’s more progressively oriented bands (in those years he worked with Tiamat, Samael, The Gathering). In fact, Sorychta played a key role in shaping the album, as it is told in great detail in the splendid Moonspell’s biography “Wolves Who Were Men” by Ricardo S. Amorim. Sorychta provided the necessary discipline that helped the relatively inexperienced musicians to record the album at the highest professional standards, and also helped the band to hone down their complex, multi-part song ideas into the more focused compositions that we can hear on the album ( Vampiria”, for instance, was notably reduced from its initial 12/13 minutes to just over 5 minutes).

The end result is an impressive blend of disparate influences that flow splendidly together and give the album an immediately recognizable and unique style. The black metal heritage of Moonspell’s beginnings is amalgamated with strong gothic overtones, testifying to the Lusitanians’ love for bands like The Sisters of Mercy, Field of the Nephilim and Type O Negative. Truth be told, Fernando Ribeiro’s harsh vocals, which the singer often alternates with baritone cleans and spoken vocals, are the only noticeable black metal influence left on Wolfheart. The music itself has very little in common with black metal and instead draws inspiration from gothic rock, folk, and traditional heavy metal. João Fonseca’s passion for folk rock/metal is most evident on “Trebaruna” (sung entirely in Portuguese) and “Alma Mater” (which also contains parts in Portuguese). Elsewhere, the band flirts with more classic heavy metal/rock influences, like on the punkish “… Of Dream and Drama”, while “Lua D’Inverno” provides a mellow acoustic interlude. Meanwhile, “Love Crimes” and “Vampiria” introduce female vocals (by Birgit Zacher, who also sang on Tiamat’s Wildhoney and A Deeper Kind of Slumber albums), fully embracing the band’s gothic aesthetics.

All these influences are meshed together in a style that truly stands out as unique, with lots of emphasis on the bass and the keyboards, giving a very warm and distinctively “Mediterranean” feel to the sound, which helps to instantly connect at a deeper emotional level with songs like “Alma Mater”, “Vampiria” or “Wolfshade”. The other striking aspect of Wolfheart is the progressive and experimental nature of its compositions. Tempo changes, bass solos, mellotron-like keyboards, and dramatic shifts in dynamics abound. Opening track “Wolfshade” is exemplary in this respect, with its multi-part structure and extended instrumental intermezzo, but the 7 minutes of “Love Crimes” and 8+ minutes of “An Erotic Alchemy” are no lesser, albeit they come across as slightly less accomplished. All this contributes to make Wolfheart an extremely fresh and exciting release, brimming with spontaneous yet elegant ideas that have truly stood the test of time. To these years, the album sounds as interesting and thrilling today as it did nearly 30 years ago. I cannot say this of many albums dating back to the mid 1990s.

Of course, it’s not all gold and glory, and Moonspell’s inexperience and limited budget manifest themselves through a few noticeable imperfections. While Sorychta worked hard to trim down the band’s material into more digestible compositions, a few tracks do still sound slightly clunky, making one wish they were leaner and more compact (“An Erotic Alchemy”). Elsewhere, the youthful exuberance of “… Of Dream And Drama” comes across as slightly too raw and immature, standing in stark contrast with the depth and sophistication of songs like “Wolfshade”, “Alma Mater” and “Vampiria”. In hindsight, this is a track that, if left out of the record, would have probably improved its flow and cohesion. There are then a couple of issues with the band’s sound and performance. As revealed in Ricardo S. Amorim’s book, producer Sorychta had to put quite a lot of pressure on Miguel Gaspar to obtain a satisfactory performance from the drummer, who at the time was the least experienced musician in the band. I think Miguel’s struggles can be heard on the album, as his playing does not sound completely fluid and natural, especially during the fills. There is then Pedro Paixão’s keyboard sound, which is definitely on the low-end when it comes to synthesizers quality. The budget was limited and it fully shows when one listens to the plasticky, fake-sounding keyboard passages on the album. Ribeiro’s vocals are also not at the level that he will come to achieve in later album. His clean singing in particular feels somewhat tentative and his strong accent can also be distracting.

All these imperfections do not detract however from the legendary status of this LP. Wolfheart is packed with great ideas and songs, showing a combination of audacity and skill that is hard to come by in debut albums. Each song is different from the other and yet, miraculously, the record possesses a strong sonic identity that strikes the listener as original and exciting. In a period where album releases started to grow exponentially, saturating the market with clones of clones, Wolfheart was a most remarkable exception and showed that Moonspell were a force to be reckoned with, with a unique voice and something to say. It was impossible not to pay attention back then and still is today, as one cannot but marvel at the sheer beauty of songs like “Alma Mater” and “Wolfshade”, which are probably the crowning achievements of Moonspell’s debut LP.

I knew nothing about Moonspell when I happened across Wolfheart back in the mid 90s. I saw the stunning cover art, the logo, and the album title then immediately decided to take a chance on it.

I was not disappointed.

Now, I am not generally a fan of the really melodic, gothic kind of metal and this album absolutely has elements of that sort of thing. What makes the difference here? I am not really sure, but I think some of it is how the band balances out these elements. There is some great interplay between the keyboards and the guitars, for instance. There are various sections that are dominated by what is going on with the keyboards, then some heavy guitar riff will kick in, giving the song a more aggressive push. It is actually similar to the vocal approach of Fernando (at this time going under the name Langsuyar). He will sing in a melodic, often melodramatic, tone then kick into a raw, raspy voice. It is all a wonderful balance of beautiful and raw sounds.

Another element that makes this album work for me is the song writing. Moonspell was simply putting together excellent songs at this time. Sure, that is a subjective thing, but I find it difficult to not get caught up in this album. So many metal albums just sort of go until they end and there is never any indication of where you are in the album, musically speaking. Wolfheart takes you on a journey and when you get to the end, it feels like you have reached the end. It doesn't just start in one place, continue on there, and finally end in the exact same place it started. One of the things this means is that the songs don't blur together. Each song stands on its own strengths. Even though the songs have their own things going on, there is still a sense of cohesion to the album. This is a band firing on all cylinders and exploring all areas of its sound and this album is all the better for it.

As much as I dig this album, I am not blind (or deaf, I suppose) to the elements that may put some listeners off. Back to the vocals, Langsuyar is sometimes really melodramatic, as I mentioned before, which may be a bit much for some. A good example of this is his vocals on "Vampiria". Personally, I think the song is great, but his performance leans toward something akin to voice acting to a certain extent on this one. To me, it fits. To some others, it may be over the top. Again, it comes back to the idea of taking the listener on a journey with the music, not just pounding on guitars and drums relentlessly for 40 minutes or so.

If you just want relentlessly pounding, look elsewhere. If you want something that can sweep you up in its path and hold you in its grasp until the glorious end, then maybe this album is something you check out.

It is quite uncommon and uncanny to encounter such a balanced, well-rounded hybrid of two separate and polar subgenres of metal, namely black and gothic, both with different concerns and criteria: one stressing the beauty and romance, the other thriving in filth and flirting with the Devil.When they are occasionally reconciled, the effect can be of great impact and consequence, and so it seems to be the case here, as Moonspell with their first album have most masterfully and aptly rendered the distinctions and tensions obsolete and have molded a perfectly profound and pristine experience.


Doused in synthesizers and dressed in somewhat abstruse, autochthonous vocalization, the album is itself a succession of motifs and material that is very inclined to explore and venture into the dark lore and more occult and outre dimension to the entire romantic fascination and history buffery.As expected, there is a plethora of keyboards, and the band members' panache for the orchestral and classical does not terminate here, as the vocals kick in, in every variation and seasoning, from the more harsh rasps midway through „Alma Mater“, through the slightly more present and prevailing baritone singing of Ribeiro, to some backing female falsettos that perkily pop up („Love Crimes“,"An Erotic Alchemy") every now and then, giving the music richer texture and tonality.The keyboards are actually not cheesy and overdone, serving only as a momentary respite, or, occasionally a well-placed interlude („Lua d'inverno“), that seams together otherwise unconnected, distinct musical segments, with streams of melancholy, majesty and moroseness .The riffs tend to hesitate between the more plodding, picturesque and illustrative of the murky and mystical atmosphere to the occasional outburst and effusion of a tremelo-picked stricture and spite.The drumming is mid-paced and often comprised of syncopated, more jaunty parts, individualistic and independent somewhat of the main flow of the guitars, but giving them enough breathing room or providing them with more material and components to waft over.The bass, considering this is still in theory a black metal release, contains a miraculously high degree of presence, and for this I compliment the musicians.


Speaking of the more esoteric and enigmatic offerings in the metal history, aside from the few more recent bands bringing avant-jazz, math rock and post-hardcore insights and illuminations into the black metal, I can hardly remember a more peculiar and pivotal attempting of populating the medium with more diversity and substance. This is not a classic, it is a canon, a non-circumnavigable release that must reach the ear of any serious and seasoned metal fan, even if they decide it is not to their preference. Abstruse and arcane, bemusing and bewildering, and scintillating with subterranean beauty and celestial grandeur and glamor, it is only rare that one is introduced to such magnificence. 93/100

It's funny how, at such an early stage of their career, a band, from a country with a relatively unknown metal presence, can change their sound, and not only succeed, but make one of metal's most unique records. This is a vast departure from the morbid, occult black metal with arabic influences showcased in their earlier Under the Moonspell, instead delving deeper into the newly-born gothic metal sound and its aesthetics.

The black metal is still present, though, but in a more melodic form, not unlike the one of the greeks Rotting Christ (which, casually would start their turn towards the gothic side of the metal spectrum one year after this was released), in the form of tremolo-picked riffs and harsh vocals, and the folk elements are not quite the ethnic and arabic influences of the EP, instead using flutes and cleanly sung vocals, thus having a more native (at times, bordering on celtic) feel. Those influences are in perpetual clash with the goth rock influences, like the emotional, bordering on melodramatic baritone vocal performance (with spoken parts) and the abundance of ethereal synths which are the main contributors to the eerie, dark, gothic-horror themed atmosphere of the music. There are some female vocals too, but, they are used not in the obnoxious Beauty-and-the-Beast way, but as background vocals, for most of the time.

Fernando Ribeiro, the frontman of the band, takes the spotlight throughout the album, his harsh vocals were top-notch in here, sounding like screamed growls rather than shrieks (but still unlike the deeper growls of their recent works), and, while he'd perfect his baritone vocals in later records, his performance is still notable, managing to sound evil, sinister and, why not, vampiric. (Though some bits, like the spoken ones, feel a little over-the-top, maybe due to his strong portuguese accent). Besides this, he can write pretty fucking great lyrics too, dealing with erotic and horror themes but in a more elaborated, classy, dare I to say, elegant way.

The keyboards, despite being one of the main elements of the music, are quite subtle for the style, not going with full-on bombastic orchestrated parts, and give many modern gothic metal bands a lesson on how the instrument should be used. In fact, this is one of those metal albums where melody and atmosphere matters the most, and technical proficiency is on a second plane, so there's no point in describing every single aspect about the guitars, bass or drums.

The songs are extremely varied, from the more folk-influenced 'Trebaruna' or the bonus track 'Ataegina', to the blacker ones, like the solemn opener 'Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade)', 'Love Crimes' with the best riff of the album around the 2:35 mark, or the epic closer 'Alma Mater', to the more gothic ones like 'An Erotic Alchemy' with surprisingly not annoying soprano vocals, (unlike the ones on the other 99.9999% of shitty, fairy metal bands, which are tagged as gothic but are about as dark as the fucking sun, sorry for the rambling, but I fucking hate that style), the sinister 'Vampiria' which gradually builds up, from a quiet part to a blackened climax, or '...of Dream and Drama (Midnight Ride)', the rockiest song in the album, with even a duel of solos between the guitar and the piano!

Recommended for people who has an interest in ACTUAL goth metal which can keep a sinister vibe, not the aforementioned fluffy Beauty-and-the-Beast crap which is most usually associated with the genre. A wild (midnight) ride.

Wolfheart is easily one of my favourite records of all time. It has anything I would expect from a great metal album. It has a lot of diversity. It has an intense and coherent atmosphere. It has interesting lyrics that fit to the concept of the music and artwork. It has many catchy moments but also some more progressive and epic tracks. It has aged well and grows on you every time you try it out once again. It has its own unique charm and doesn't sound too much like anyone else.

Wolfheart has also been a revolutionary album being one of the first extreme metal records coming from Southern Europe. The band is right to be proud to come from a country where metal music isn't as popular as in Central and Northern Europe and they don't hesitate to perform parts of several songs in Portuguese. They also use a few folk instruments which give an epic touch to this debut record without sounding too soft and sweet. On the other hand, there is a big gothic influence in this record concerning the bleak atmosphere and the dark lyrics. Many people consider this album as a black metal record but this style is only one of several subtle elements and influences among others. The band mixes energy and majesty in a unique way without forgetting about originality.

Every song is worth to be listened to and there is no single filler on here. The harmonic and epic introduction to the great opening epic "Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade)" immediately drowns us into a mysterious atmosphere and digs us deeper into a bleak majesty when the dark lyrics kick off. The keyboards and choirs may sound a little bit artificial as the band lacked of budget but this gives an undeniable charm to the record and makes it sound more underground and mysterious. In the first track the band already proves all of their talent. The singer switches from dark shrieks to low melodic clean vocals. The track has some chilling moments that focus on decent keyboard melodies, harmonic guitar passages and a surprisingly audible bass guitar line. On the other side, there are also more rhythm orientated mid tempo passages and a floating progressive bridge. Everything underlines the focus on a dark and addicting atmosphere and sounds very coherent. That's only what I say about the first track but I could continue like this for every other song on the record.

There are many magic moments on this album. "Trebaruna" is an amazingly hypnotizing folk track and pleases me at least ten times more than anything most of the so-called modern folk bands from Northern Europe use to play. I mean those guys here come from Portugal and perform dark folk beats as if they have grown up with Viking history and Scandinavian folk tales. The great bonus track "Ataegina" has some great Lusitanian folk elements and is able to mix happy and positive chants with mysterious folk sounds and dark riffs. Who needs Eluveitie now? The female shrieks in the end of "Vampiria" give me goose bumps every time I listen to them once again and are an unforgettable moment in metal history. The Portuguese chorus of the addicting "Alma Mater" is not only catchy as hell but also a true statement by the band.

There are so many whining people that claim that the eighties were such a great decade while the nineties were the downfall of metal music. Every time I listen to Moonspell's "Wolfheart", Amorphis' "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" or Therion's "Theli" I realize that this is not true and that the nineties even seem to have the greater gems. This is one of them and a definite must have for any metal fan of any genre.

Probably the crowning achievement of Moonspell, Wolfheart was preceded by a couple of demos that already showed the true potential of this portuguese act. By this time, the band was still a creative force to be reckoned with, and that's comproved by the vast list of influences this record contains. Take the opener, Wolfshade, for example. Ok, there are black and doom metal elements there, but if you pay attention to the tempo changes and the breakdowns, you will find the truth. Yes, progressive metal influences! That crescendo just screams progressive metal! On other hand, An Erotic Alchemy, the longest song of the album, is very atmospheric, Midnight Ride screams hard rock influence (wow, who would say, hard rock on a Moonspell record), Lua D'Inverno is a chilling acoustic piece and Vampiria is, probably, the only pure black metal song of the record. Ah, and Trebaruna and Ataegina are both folk tunes, with a good use of keyboards.

Fortunately, Moonspell were wise and, on the songwriting level, they've really suceeded with this piece. I mean, it's hard to mix so many different influences because all those different components generally don't blend that well. Usually, albums with so many different components sound disjointed, but Wolfheart is a worthy exception. On other hand, speaking now about some flaws, Fernando Ribeiro is undoubtely the weakest member of the band here. He's a great vocalist, his growls are, nowadays, very powerful, but by this time he was still a kind of weak musician, delivering an average performance. On other hand, Pedro Paixão (the keyboard player) does a great work: the keyboard sound isn't too loud nor low in the mix, and that benefits his playing. Listen to the beautiful textures created by his instrument, during the acoustic part of Wolfshade: wonderful! Another good performance is delivered by Ricardo Amorim, the guitar player. He is allowed to solo (now, unfortunately, the band doesn't let him solo too much – UPDATE: he now is allowed to solo a bit more, in Night Eternal) and that is definitely a plus.

Highlights? Almost every thing. The opener is a winner, a true blend of progressive music with black metal. It features an interesting acoustic intro, a nice build-up and a gorgeous breakdown, where all of Amorim's guitar talents are shown. It is, probably, one of the best songs Moonspell ever compose - it's right there, struggling with Everything Invaded for the prize. Trebaruna has portuguese lyrics and talks about a goddess of the Lusitanian Mythology. A fine folk tune. An Erotic Alchemy was the first Moonspell song I ever heard, and is very atmospheric, with a lot of sections and some good keyboard riffs here and there. Alma Mater is another highlight, but hell, it sounds much better live!

Heavy riffage, competent drum work, folk-ish keyboard lines, acoustic guitars and audible bass, that's what you can expect from this record. If you think that the extremely unidimensional Memorial is good, check out this record! You WILL change your mind, I assure you! This is the zenith, the magnum opus of the band, really. One last word to the amazing production and to the excellent artwork (well, in fact BOTH artworks kick ass, but I definitely prefer the original one, with the wolves watching the sky, it perfectly fits the mood of the record, in my opinion). Oh, and another thing... Don't pay too much attention to the bonus track, Ataegina, as it sounds like a bad imitation of Trebaruna!

Best Moments of the CD:
-the middle part of the opener.

Orgulhosamente sós...

Although you never know when a band’s next album might just be their gem of gems, it is still very rare that a band surpasses their own greatest work. When I got this album, I had no clue who Moonspell were, what kind of music they played, and whether or not they were good. I got it among 9 other albums, 2 of them compilations, the others being a mix of Sentenced, To/Die/For, Nevermore, Amorphis and Christian Death (among others).

However, since that day that I had purchased this particular album, I have never heard any single album that even comes close to the atmospheric aural assault that I experience every time I listen to this album.

As soon as Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade) kicks in after its sweet melodic introduction, I am literally lost in the music. I can’t even write this review without pausing it because I find myself head banging instead of typing. The doom-laden powerful riffs mixed with double bass drum patterns and an intense atmosphere laid down courtesy of the keyboards while the bass guitar accentuates the beat gives the feeling of wolves running through the woods. And then there is the melodic break in the middle, with the bass and keyboards keeping the song flowing as it merges with a heavier and faster guitar solo that clocks in at over a minute in length!

Love Crimes continues on with more of a melodic, yet catchy tune. The song itself is wonderful, but the ending is the icing on the cake! It is so simple, yet complex, and atmospheric and simply beautiful as it merges with a more ominous sound as a percussion pattern ends the song and blends it with the next song.

…Of Dream and Drama (Midnight Ride) is a short and sweet song, capitalizing on fast rhythms and thrashy riffs accentuated with Fernando Ribeiro’s powerful vocals. Lua D’Inverno is an acoustic atmospheric interlude that simply gives the listener a break before continuing with the rest of the album. It’s sweet and extremely short, so it doesn’t drag on forever. Trebraruna is an unforgettable folk-metal tune, combining Portuguese lyrics (Almost sounds like an Irish drinking song) with gothic metal from the masters.

Vampiria is the sixth classic of this album, starting off with the unforgettable raspy whispers of Fernando Ribeiro. It continues to move along slowly with a pause for an “Ahhh” and then another for “You’re a beast, evil one!” – the most unforgettable line of the entire album. It starts to pick up the pace until the guitars kick in to start the head banging fest.

An Erotic Alchemy is another epic in the vein of Wolfshade and Love Crimes. My favorite part is where Fernando Ribeiro starts off singing a tune before a female vocalist finishes it off. The song ends with a repetition of quite a catchy riff before Ribeiro utters “Will you die for this?”.

Alma Mater is the final song of the CD that I got. Apparently I had obtained the original pressing of Wolfheart, and not any re-release. This an excellent song to end an excellent album.

Nevertheless, despite taking a year to find out that there was in fact a bonus track called Ataegina, I set out to find it. I didn’t feel like buying Wolfheart again so I used Bit Torrent and found a torrent for Moonspell’s discography and unchecked all the files except for Ataegina – since by then I had their discography except for Memorial.

The trouble was worth it. It’s a folk-metal tune with a slight similarity to Trebraruna, but in my humble opinion it is even better. It is catchier, and sweeter, not to mention more energetic despite lacking the double bass patterns.

Overall, this album is definitely worth looking for. This is Moonspell’s best effort next to Irreligious and Memorial. If you like folk-black mixed with gothic metal and dislike repetition and songs that are 7 minutes long that drag on instead of keep your attention for the whole song, this album is for you.

Many people say that you cannot buy a CD based on one single you've heard from the band or the CD. Most of the time these people are correct; however in this case they were wrong.

Case in point; around August I purchased the Century Media X Box Set. One of the many songs that I fell for was Moonspell's Ataegina. I took a glance to see which CD it was off of and after finding out it was from the Wolfheart CD I decided to look for it.

Lo and behold the local music store had it. I had planned on buying it later that week, but someone else had bought it. I was finally able to purchase the album last week.

You know those CD's that you have extremely high expectations for and it delivers on those expectations sometimes bettering them? Moonspell's "Wolfheart" is one of those rare albums. To put it simply this album is perfection through and through. It's not just the amazing guitar riffs, bass lines, drum lines, and vocals that make this album so great. What makes this album so outstanding is the experiementation and the differant elements of metal woven into Moonspell's main outlay of Gothic Metal and Folk Metal. The entire album has a dark, sometimes erotic feel to it. Except for Ataegina which had a somewhat happy feel to it.

The album starts off with Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade) which is a pleasant start for the rest of this album. The song is mid tempoed, not as fast as it's successor "Love Crimes" but not as slow as the truer gothic metal song "Vampiria". The song shows a lot of progressive metal elements woven into gothic metal.

"Love Crimes" is the faster song on this album. I am going to however say that this song and many of the other songs have melodic black metal elements to them, but not pure black metal elements. The vocals can be at times very raspy, but not all the time. I feel also that the timing and tempo of the riffs are too slow for anyone to believe that this album has any blackmetal elements on this album. Still the albums remains perfect, but of course it's because there's no blasterbation.

That was only a small taste of what this album is like. If you like your music to be dark but differant; if you like your music to be influenced by melodic blackmetal without tons of blastbeats; if you like lots of guitar riffs, and guitar solos; if you like drumming that changes tempo and rhythym on the fly; if you like a bass that you can actually hear; if you like the sound of various other instruments; and if you like the idea of a vocalist that can actually sing and do distorted vocals then you have no choice but to pick up this album.

The power of Goat compels you!

Highlights: The entire CD.

No, really, highlights: Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade) Love Crimes; ...Of Dream and Drama (Midnight Ride); Treburana; Vampiria; An Erotic Alchemy; Alma Mater; and Ataegina (if available)

This album plain and simply blew me away upon first hearing of it. Every time since, it has gotten even darker and sweeter.

Opener Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade) is one of the strongest points on the album. The mellow opening really sets the mood before kicking into overdrive and creating the sound of melancholy and horror. The vocals on this album are immediately noticeable, being a semi-blackened growl or full blown Dracula singing.

The next two tracks are two of the fastest on the album, that being Love Crimes and Midnight Ride. Love Crimes switches paces often, and is one of the best songs on the album. The ending cool down period is longer than it should be, but it helps to flow right into Midnight Ride, maybe the fastest song on the album. Next up is Lua D'Inverno, which is just a very short acoustic track. Serves it's purpose though, flowing into Trebreruna, which is sung in the band's native language of Portuguese. It has a very folky feel to it, not exactly something you'd expect from a band like Moonspell.

Vampiria comes next. This song is 100% gothic through and through, and while enjoyable, is my least favorite track on the CD. After this comes An Erotic Alchemy, which is a story based song using female vocals and an assload of keyboards.

The final track on the album is Alma Mater, and it is my favorite by far. This song is more or less black metal, with the vocals much harsher than before, and the guitars faster and heavier. The song is sung in both English and Portuguese, adding to the feel greatly. The haunting melodies of the Final ‘Alma Mater’ chants are haunting and one of the highest points on the album.

On the import version, there is a bonus track called Aetigna, which is a lot like Trebreruna in it’s folk sound. It’s worth getting the import version for this song if you’re not paying too much more.

All in all, this CD is a complete champ and should be owned by everyone.

Top Three Tracks:
Alma Mater
Love Crimes
Wolfshade

Never have I heard a goth metal cd quite like this one. Every song is an epic. Wolfshade opens the album with a strong instrumental work and then when you're all camn down and enjoying the music at about a minute mark a horrible scream introduces the vocalist Fernando Ribeiro in his best shape. The man doesn't have the vocal range of, say Bruce Dickinson, Hansi Kursch... He doesn't come even close. But, my god how his vocals soothe the music. He has one of the most evil voices in metal. Forget blackish screams, daeth growl, this guy is scary even when he does it clean.
So, back to the song. Wolfshade is arguably the best song on this cd. Fantastic combination of scrams and clean vocals, powerful lyrics, real gothic ones, great instrumenatal work on the begining, fantastic riffs, accoustic breaks and a great solo in the end. spectacular
Love Crimes picks up where Wolfshade left off. Fernando Ribeiro can only wright about two things - vampires or tragic love. Guess what this one is about. And again they get it spot on. great riffs. Awsome back vocals. Fantastic
...of dream and drama is significatly shorter song. fast, practicly galoping song. The song proves worth of it's name - Midnight Ride. You'll feel just like you're galoping into the night, never to come back
Lua d' inverno is just an accoustic instrumental, showing that the guitarist really knows his business.
trebaruna is the only song in portugease. another great one.
"vampiria, you are my destiny..." starts off the next song. Mystical, evil, perfect
An Erotic Alchemy is perhaps along with Wolfshade the best song here. Story of love, but characteristic moonspell way. Marquiz de Sade qoute in this one, very powerful moment. I said it before and I'll say it again - this guy has THE most evil vocal in the world
Alma Mater is somewhat different from the other songs. It is fast, almost black metalish. One of my favorites (hehe, well they're all my favorites). Very fast song with a powerful chorus sang in portugease

This is not for everybody. If you are a power/happy metal fanatic avoid this. But if you are at least a one small bit into the dark music (well then you've most probably heard and you already love this cd) then look no further, this is the thing for you. This is what goth METAL is all about

Wolfheart, the debut from Moonspell, is a classic disc in my opinion- in fact it’s probably one of the best debuts in the Gothic Metal genre. If you ever want a great indication as to what variation in a CD sounds like, just use Wolfheart as a prime example. No one song sounds the same, yet, a consistent feel is common throughout the CD; it is almost like a perfect mix.

Despite the Gothic Metal moniker, Moonspell incorporate a lot of other elements that give the CD a very strong breath of fresh air. There are progressive elements ( “Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade)” ), folk elements ( “Trebaruna” ), and Black Metal elements ( “Alma Mater” ) dappled throughout the CD, although they are not limited to the songs mentioned. All the elements mix very well with the Gothic overtones and symphonic keys, and speaking of the keys, they are very well used. Providing mostly atmosphere with heavy synth, they also contain piano and folk passages. The vocals are another highlight; Fernando Ribeiro provides us with the common two style vocal usage. The first style is more of a Black Metal screech than the often-used Death Metal growl, and his clean voice reminds me a lot of Peter Steele from Type O Negative. Much like Steele, Ribeiro has the ability to sing with a very deep voice as well as more toned down singing style, which also works suitably. Female vocals are also used, but not on a full time basis. The vocals, in conjunction with the keys and the guitars/bass deliver an excellent atmosphere that I think Moonspell have yet to recreate. The production is very well done, especially the bass drum sound. Those double kicks on “Vampira” (my favorite track) sound nice and powerful, just like they should! And as I mentioned, those progressive elements are really well implemented, making a lot of the songs long, epic, but not pointless. Instead they manage to control the listener’s attention throughout, and give the CD a lot of replay ability.

I would say there are no real low points on this CD; there is no filler, no fluff, and no bullshit. Moonspell put together an original and intelligent release with Wolfheart and any Gothic fans who haven’t picked this up yet, I suggest you to do so.

Song Highlights: Wolfshade, Love Crimes, Vampira, Of Dream And Drama, and Alma Matter