{"id":19961,"date":"2012-05-08T06:36:30","date_gmt":"2012-05-08T11:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=19961"},"modified":"2013-02-05T16:05:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:05:00","slug":"moonspell-alpha-noir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/moonspell-alpha-noir\/","title":{"rendered":"Moonspell | Alpha Noir<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Trevor Portz<\/span>
\nStaff Writer —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Everyone probably best remembers Moonspell from their \u201chit,\u201d \u201cOpium,\u201d from the Irreligious<\/em> album. It embodied the shift from their early black metal sound to one more rooted in Goth metal, and helped to substantially broaden their fan base. Many years have passed since \u201cOpium,\u201d and while the band has stayed active and quite successful in the metal scene, their newest album, Alpha Noir<\/em>, is ultimately very forgettable.<\/p>\n

The members of the band described Alpha Noir<\/em> as \u201can incendiary album,\u201d which is not only a pretty ridiculously abstract thing to say, but is also far from true. That is, of course, unless fires are often caused by overly pompous blandness.<\/p>\n

Ignoring the general lack of interesting riffs, perhaps the most painful part of the album is the lyrics. \u201cLickanthrope,\u201d assumingly designed to be some sort of darkly sexy werewolf song, loses all listen-ability with the repeated growl of \u201cLittle Red Riding Hood.\u201d Seriously? Even Stephanie Myers managed to avoid such a classic clich\u00e9. <\/p>\n

Other standout weirdness includes \u201cLove Is Blasphemy,\u201d which could easily be the name of a HIM song, though it doesn\u2019t carry the Gothy romance Ville Valo tends to deliver. \u201cOpera Carne,\u201d which essentially translates to \u201cMeat Opera,\u201d perhaps relates to the \u201cincendiary\u201d description of the album, and suggests a hidden theme of barbequing. <\/p>\n

Silliness aside, Alpha Noir<\/em> really just comes across as a generic album by a once better band. Compared to a lot of the cookie-cutter metal dominating airwaves, it\u2019s not terrible. But with so many great bands putting out far superior albums, it does little more than leave the listener unaffected, perhaps revealing the nothingness the title implies.<\/p>\n

Genre: \tGoth Metal, Black Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nFernando Ribeiro – vocals
\nRicardo Amorim – guitars
\nPedro Paix\u00e3o – keyboards, guitars
\nAires Pereira – bass
\nMiguel Gaspar – drums
\nTrack Listing:<\/p>\n

1. Axis Mundi
\n2. Lickanthrope
\n3. Versus
\n4. Alpha Noir
\n5. Em nome do medo
\n6. Opera Carne
\n7. Love Is Blasphemy
\n8. Grandstand
\n9. Sine Missione <\/p>\n

Label: Napalm Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.moonspell.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 4.3\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Trevor Portz Staff Writer — Everyone probably best remembers Moonspell from their \u201chit,\u201d \u201cOpium,\u201d from the Irreligious album. It embodied the shift from their early black metal sound to one more rooted in Goth […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[891],"class_list":{"0":"post-19961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-napalm-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19961\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}