Five years. That’s how long it took Moonspell to get here. Five years of staring at blank pages, doubting themselves, nearly walking away. And then they didn’t, and the result is something that sounds genuinely furious and romantic in equal measure.
“Far From God” drops on July 3 via Napalm Records, positioned by the band itself as the 21st century “Irreligious“. That’s a bold claim from a band who made the original, but frontman Fernando Ribeiro doesn’t do modesty, and honestly, why should he.
The title track and first single arrives with a clear target in its crosshairs. Ribeiro has said the song was sparked by Robert Eggers’ 2024 film “Nosferatu“, which reignited his belief in the tragic, romantic vampire figure that Bram Stoker made immortal. What he’s really doing is declaring war on an entire decade of diluted gothic metal, raging against operatic female vocalists singing over simpleton riffs, and lyrics so toothless they’d make Dracula stake himself. Harsh? Absolutely. Accurate? You can decide.
Thematically, the album moves through Baudelairian love, existential guilt, Christ-like resurrections, and the quiet nobility of creatures of the night. Vampires and werewolves aren’t escapism here, they’re emotional vehicles. This is gothic metal that earns the name, not borrows it.
The album was produced by Jaime Gomez Arellano, the man behind recent records from Paradise Lost, Sólstafir, and Ghost, with artwork painted by Eliran Kantor. A producer who knows how to make darkness breathe, and an artist who paints flesh and mythology with equal conviction. The combination feels right.
The tracklist for “Far From God”:
- “Cross Your Heart”
- “Far From God”
- “Biblical”
- “The Great Wolf In The Sky” (feat. Alicia Nuhr, Strings)
- “Your Promise Of Light”
- “For The Love Of Mortals”
- “Our Freedom To Fall”
- “Reconquista”
Eight tracks. No filler by design. Ribeiro frames the whole record as a crusade against the decline of gothic metal, a claim of throne, dark and crafted without compromise. Whether “Far From God” lives up to its own mythology we’ll know in July. But the opening salvo already has bite, and there’s something genuinely energising about a band this far into their career still being this angry about mediocrity.
