Night Eternal is a great combination of gothic and black/death metal. Moonspell amps up the intensity on this CD along with the heaviness and darkness. Atmospheric keyboards and choirs are pierced by ominous guitars and death metal vocals, creating a compelling balance between beauty and brutality. The guitars really stand out on this CD, with some very clever solos and memorable riffs.
Fernando Ribeiro's vocals are mostly death metal growls on this CD, although he also does low pitched spoken word vocals and melodic singing. There's a guest appearance from former The Gathering vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen on the song "Scorpion Flower," which is very gothic sounding and a nice duo between Ribeiro's baritone and Anneke's soprano. Even after being around for nearly 20 years, Moonspell keeps growing, evolving and improving, and Night Eternal is one of their best albums in quite a while.
(released June 10, 2008 on SPV Records)
