MOONSPELL

Hermitage

NAPALM

Portugal’s gothic metal standard bearers turn up the progressive dial

album in 25 years, these Portuguese goth metal trailblazers still find new permutations on their rich, elegant, eclectic signature sound, stressing different sonic priorities from album to album – sometimes, as on , from song to song. It’s an approach that guards against stagnation and formula, yet whenever a new advance cut drops, there’s always a tier of listeners apparently reintegrates the softer textures and clean vocals largely absent from 2017’s – a narrative concept album about the titular year’s Lisbon earthquake, with obvious artistic demands for more extreme, dramatic atmospherics. Right away is a more opaque, enigmatic, reflective experience – “this album is all about how we feel”, comments frontman Fernando Ribeiro – sensitive and profound but with a brutal sting in its tail, where wistful melodies and placid quietude give way to infectious, frosty metallic riffing and vein-popping growls.