WOLFHEART

Wolfheart is the debut album by Portugese goth rock/ dark metal legends Moonspell. I was introduced to Moonspell via this album and I remember that it was considered a very groundbreaking album in the metal community at the time of its release in 1995. There are 8 songs on the album while there is a bonus track called Ataegina ( one of a few songs on the album with Portugese lyrics. The other being Trebaruna) on the limited digi-pack version. The album was released on Century Media records and produced by prolific metal producer Waldemar Sorychta ( Tiamat, Grip Inc....etc.)

The music is a mix of death/ black metal and goth rock with a few hints to folk metal. A style of music that has since become very popular. Back then it wasn´t as normal though and as such this album is pretty original. The music is not very brutal and while Fernando Ribeiro semi-growls on the album he actually has more in common with Andrew Eldritch ( The sisters of Mercy) than he has with the brutal growls of a contemporary like Nick Holmes ( early Paradise Lost. They have a lot in common if you compare how Nick Holmes sounds on later releases from Paradise Lost). The music is very melodic and even when the death/ black metal elements are dominant the music is still melodic. I would put this album in the same catagory as the music played in the same period by bands like Paradise Lost, Cemetary, Tiamat and Amorphis ( there are differences of course, but it´s meant to create a picture of the kind of music style I´m talking about). At times the goth atmosphere reminds me of a band like Type O Negative too. All songs are well composed and this is quite dynamic music. Fernando Ribeiro theatrical vocal style suits the music very well. I always enjoyed the Vampiria song greatly but all songs are good. Female vocals and keyboards are included to help create the dark mood in the music.

The musicianship is good without being really impressive. This is not complex music.

The production by Waldemar Sorychta is professional and well sounding.

Wolfheart was a groundbreaking album in the goth rock/ dark metal genre, but while I always found it a good album I never really found it excellent. Fans of the genre will probably disagree and praise the album much more than I do though. To my ears this is a 3 star album.

Moonspell's debut album is an interesting blend of disparate forms of metal, taking a gothic metal base and jazzing it up by sprinkling on black metal and symphonic metal influences and lashing all these bits together in a progressive framework, and then cramming on the odd gentle folky moment here and there for good measure.

Although I'm really not into the vocals (with the notable exception of Birgit Zacher's female vocals), on the whole the album is an entertaining listen which shows an excellent command of various approaches to metal, and the band do an excellent job of integrating these various styles without making their compositions sound disjointed or incoherent.

WOLFHEART is the debut album by MOONSPELL which incorporates a nice mix of metal styles. Following the approach of their earlier EP "Under The Moonspell," we get a more refined blend of black and Gothic metal mixed with Celtic folk and symphonic touches. The transition from black metal to Gothic metal is taking place on WOLFHEART as the blackened touches are softened and the Gothic elements are increased. The intro with eerie synths and soft guitar sets the tone and atmosphere of a darkened land where blood thirsty wolves and Pagan rituals dominate with lunar madness.

This album really goes all over the place. It starts out in a symphonic black metal fashion but has tracks such as "Lua D'Inverno" that sound more like Pagan Celtic rituals. The vocals are heavily in the Goth department and Fernando Ribeiro's vocals play the perfect part of a blood sucking romeo and bring other Gothic metal bands of the day to mind such as Type O Negative, Tiamat and early Paradise Lost. The song structures are well laid out with aggressive and the lush sensual symphonic parts working well together. The female backing vocals by Birgit Zacher are particularly haunting.

WOLFHEART is a very consistent album and it's a testament to an era when various styles of metal were mixing with various forms of folk music and symphonic touches. MOONSPELL displays a strong command of this hybridity and becomes one of the most successful metal exports from Portugal. While some Gothic metal barely falls into the metal category focusing more on the romantic and sensual rather than the head banging aspects, WOLFHEART displays everything that makes a great Gothic metal album while retaining some excellent black metal aggressive fury as well without going as far as adding blastbeats or turning up the fury to up to extreme levels.