Once upon a time, goth rock meant a bunch of vampire-looking people playing new wave-y music. However, the times they are a changin', as goth metal has arguably become the most common and popular goth-related music circa the early 21st century. And the proof is in the emergence of such acts as
Moonspell. A certified sensation back home in Portugal (where their albums reach the top of the charts, and they even won an MTV Europe award for Best Portuguese Act), the quintet has certainly carved a niche for themselves, and continue to riff and growl away on their 2008 release,
Night Eternal. If you were to erase the goth keyboards from the proceedings,
Moonspell would sound like your average extreme metal band. But with the keys added,
Moonspell are one of the few bands of the genre that is not entirely one-dimensional. Case in point, the track "Shadow Sun," which begins as one of the group's more tranquil numbers, before simply erupting in time for the chorus. And there's the first single, "Scorpion Flower," which is a male-female duet, and an obvious attempt at balancing metal with melody in hope of crossover success. ~ Greg Prato