| Reviews for Moonspell's Darkness and Hope |
| Crap - 28% |
| Written by Nhorf
on May 20th, 2008
|
| I was calmly and innocently surfing through the archives and opened Moonspell's page. I scrolled down and began seeing the album's average ratings and THEN, I looked to the average rating of Darkness and Hope. Oh my God, I thought. OH MY GOD. “Average rating: 93%”. I immediately logged in and began to write this review. And why, you ask? Because this album doesn't deserve that kind of punctuations. This album isn't even a good one. This album isn't even an average one. This album absolutely SUCKS, in every sense of the word, this probably is the worst Moonspell record I have ever heard and one of the worst metal pieces I've ever came across. Anyways, let's stop with this kind of stupid criticism and let's face the facts. This is boring gothic metal. This albums shows Moonspell trying to follow bands like Lacuna Coil and the result is a piece of generic, bland music. First of all, the songs sound incredibly similar to each other, following basic song structures. Also, you can forget the aggression and power that were present during the early times of the band. Fernando Ribeiro doesn't growl here (ok, he growls on TWO songs) and uses a lot more his clean voice – which, while good, just sounds too repetitive throughout the record, harming the whole listening experience. In fact, one of the biggest flaws of Darkness and Hope is its little variety, vocally and also instrumentally. Instrumentally because the performances of the musicians are very, very lackluster. Ricardo Amorim surely is a talented guitar player, but on this piece his riffs sound lifeless and without any kind of feeling. Feeling and life, that's two another things that Darkness and Hope lacks. Moonspell tried to put a melancholic sound into this record, but they didn't succeeded; the band sounds like a group of emotionless robots, trying to write gothic music to fit in the rising gothic metal/rock circles. But the worst thing is that they had a fabulous past, their demos were very interesting (check out Under Satanae) and Wolfheart, despite not being a masterpiece, was a very solid record, containing elements of many metal sub-genres, all of them fantastically blended into the band's somewhat original sound. So, why change your sound, Moonspell? Anyways, I partially understand their reasons, after all every band needs to move on and try new things, but this album (unfortunately) is just an experimentation gone wrong. But move on, let's get to the songs, shall we? One interesting fact is that the first three ones are actually listenable. The title track manages to retain a dark and doomy atmosphere, something that the band tried to repeat on Night Eternal's opener, At Tragic Heights. The whispering chorus is pretty good too. The second track, Firewalking, is, without doubts, the best song of the bunch, beginning quite well, with an angry-sounding riff (probably the only angry-sounding riff of the record), and featuring a catchy chorus and a good vocal performance. Nocturna is a perfect example of another gothic song done well, the drum patterns are very well composed and so is the main riff of the song, which manages to inject some feeling to it. After those three tunes... Well, forget it. Every song sounds extremely similar to each other. Well, there are some good moments here and there, but the record lacks consistency, musicianship, feeling and CREATIVITY. Really, it's painful to compare songs like Heartshaped Abyss (with that boring chorus and stupid HIM-influenced lyrics) with, say, Wolfshade. At least with Night Eternal and Memorial they seem to have recovered some of the aggression that made their early albums what they are (unfortunately, the new records can be, at times, pretty raw, but still aren't that good). I think that the lyrics of Made of Storm can pretty much show you how bad this album is, lyrically... Just take a look: “when I´m inside her feels like she is made of Storm I am the flood who likes the dirt and sleeps with it she is the soil with whom I flirt she rots within I am the flood who purifies She does not know she´s fucking with the Lord of Lies when I´m inside her feels like she is made of Storm” And imagine those lines being sung by a monotonous singer with a deep, low voice... Blherc. Horrible. No variety, no creativity, no quality, no good lyrics... As you can see I recommend you to NOT get this album. Even Memorial sounds like a masterpiece compared to this crappy piece. Better avoid, lads. PS: Ironically, the best songs of the album are the three covers, which I recommend you to get. One is a cover of the Portuguese fado champions, Madredeus, called Os Senhores da Guerra and it absolutely rules. The same thing with Ozzy's Mr. Crowley (oh the solos...) and Joy Division's Love Will Tear us Apart (one bazillion times better than the original, I must say). And one more thing, the artwork and the booklet suck too. Meh. Best Moments of the CD: -Just one, the transition between Darkness and Hope and Firewalking, which is very well done. 28 points – If you're into gothic music get it, if you aren't just stay away from it. |
| One of Moonspell's finest - 85% |
| Written by Sanguine_Censure
on April 24th, 2005
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| Moonspell's transition to goth metal finally finds its legs on Darkness and Hope, which helps to counterbalance the real-world diatribes of Sin/Pecado and the aimless mishmash of The Butterfly Effect, showing fans and critics alike just what Moonspell can do when everything actually clicks. While tracks such as "Firewalking" and "Devilred" satisfy fans of older Moonspell with a faster pace and a chubbier tone, it's many of the other songs on the album that makes Darkness and Hope a popular release among the band's fans. The title track is a bit predictable in its obvious salute to goth metal's cliche`s, but it done with a sad, wistful air that permeates the entire album. Guitarist Ricardo Amorim's solos on "Nocturna," "Than the Serpents in My Hands," and the brilliant cover of Ozzy Osbourne's hit "Mr. Crowley" should help dispel notions that he plays poorly, and he also turns in a tasteful non-traditional lead on the beautiful "Ghostsong," a true standout. Even though romantic cuts such as "Heartshaped Abyss" and "How We Became Fire" may make some listeners wince, Fernando Ribeiro's distinctive vocals help add a sense of melancholy to otherwise happy (for Moonspell) songs. Pedro Paixao's keyboards and synth add to the gloomy, yet somehow hopeful, atmosphere without dominating the sound, as was one of the problems with Sin/Pecado. Featuring more solos than other Moonspell releases (a total of seven or eight, depending on who's counting) and with a truly consistent sound, Darkness and Hope is probably the best place to start for fans new to Moonspell's style. |
| A differant breed compared to Wolfheart. - 99% |
| Written by PseudoGoatKill
on March 13th, 2005
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| My original title for this was going to be "Not as good as Wolfheart." I changed the title because although "Darkness and Hope" isn't the same as "Wolfheart" it's still a damn fine gothic metal album, and I dare say it's better than Type O Negative's "World Coming Down" which I had given an impressive score of a 97%. Moonspell is, or should I say was one of Century Media's favorate children (figuratively speaking) along side Tiamat and Samael. This was before Century Media decided that they too wanted to ride the magical train to the land of cashgrab along with their plethora of metalcore bands. Before I dwelve into the music of "Darkness and Hope" I feel the need to point out something. Has anyone noticed that Moonspell, Tiamat, and Samael share alot of simularities? All three bands started off as unsigned raw blackmetal. After all three were signed to Century Media they quickly changed musical styles. Moonspell became a gothic folk metal band, and then to a gothic metal band. There also seems to be some creeping simularities between "Darkness and Hope" and Tiamat's "Prey" which I'll get to in a while. Now onto the music! For those of you who were huge "Wolfheart" fans it might take you a moment to get used to the simpler interface and structure of "Darkness and Hope". This is Moonspell stripped of it's black metal and folk metal elements, and for some that's going to be disappointing. Gone are the distinguishing guitar riffs that were laden with blackmetal, and folkmetal overtones. Gone is the majestic atmosphere and the chilling distorted vocals, and gone are the intense instrumental solos that just screamed "Holyshit!" (I'm still enjoying the piano and guitar solo on the song "Midnight Ride" from "Wolfheart.) What Moonspell lacks in the lack of brilliant ergo differenciating instrumentals they make up with sheer emotion prowness. Naturally gothic music is supposed to be dark and ... yeah that's about it, dark. Moonspell do a great job of this. The album is incredibly dark yet it isn't depressing. Someone once asked why Moonspell wasn't popular with the goth kiddies, and I believe the answer lies in the fact that this music isn't depressing enough for the clan of pseudo gothiques. The instrumentation is done very well for a gothic metal album. It's only a few tempos quicker than doom metal which is good. Other than instruments that go way too fast I also hate instrumentation that goes way too slow. Although the guitar solos aren't as good as an earlier release they're still spread throughout the album. "Ghostsong" has an interesting solo that makes good use of the powerchords, and the distortion almost makes it sound like a whistling sound, much akin to a spirit singing. The songs Nocturna and Firewalking have quicker guitar riffs than alot of the other songs. The keyboards also add an interesting atmosphere. The beginning of "Rapaces" has a chilling keyboard intro that although is just a few simple notes hit in the 4/4 time pattern it adds a chilling atmosphere to a song that also houses another interesting guitar solo. The song "Made of Storm" has a very noticeable and kickass bass riff. When the song kicks on you can hear the bass riff pound in like a storm. In fact the bass appears to kick the guitar out of the spotlight for a minute or two. It's too bad that the bass doesn't show up like this in too many of the other songs because I love to hear bass solos and bass riffs! The vocals are of course the cream of the crop. This is a singer that has the rare ability to sing perfectly clean vocals along with the distorted vocals. The pitch of the singing sounds pretty tenor to bass, but the mood it gives off is that of sheer darkness. Although this album is a differant breed from "Wolfheart" it's still a damn good breed and should not be ignored. Moonspell have also managed to become the Century Media band that didn't entirely fuck themselves over trying to become mainstream. As for the creepy coincidence thing? The last song on this album is title "Mr Crowley". Tiamat's "Prey" album had the song "Pentagram" which was the last song on that album, and it was written by a Mr Crowley. |
| Darkness & Hope - 95% |
| Written by Nightshade
on June 4th, 2004
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| Where do i begin on Darkness & Hope, the title is somewhat depressing, the Roberto's voice is depressing which is exactually what goth metal is about... being depressed. The opening line sang by Roberto "All your darkness and hope" just brings the whole atmosphere of the album to you before the music hits. This albums also quiet differant from their previous Butterfly Effect album, Darkness & Hope brings a certain mood along with it as you listen to it, where i think the Butterfly Effect album brings not certain mood to it (but still a good album nether the less) I'm a really big fan of this album just because of the mood it carries with it, and you don't have to be in any sort of mood to listen to it. First track Darkness & Hope was a great opener to the album and had me edgy to listen to the following tracks. As the tracks progressed i was hit with 2 tracks that were unbelievable their single on the album Nocturna and Ghostsong. Noctruna was an excellent track all-round, really carried a vampirish theme to it maybe because of the way the vocals are done and the lyrics displayed in the song. Ghostsong was one of the saddest songs (mood wise) i'd heard in a long time, when the track opened i thought "well this song's not gonna be like the tracks i've listened to so far" and i was right it was very mellow, but with the mellowness of the track came a very hard hitting depressing feeling with it. Ghostsong aboslutelty blew me away it did have a somewhat serenade mood to it i thought and i just listened to Ghostsong on repeat for awhile after it. Now this album wouldn't be great for any of those spooky vampires out there that wanna suck the blood out of virgins necks especailly with the track Repaces with the growling vocals "Not all vampires suck blood! Not all of them die for love!", this just came out as a great piece of lyric writing not like those hollywood movies with the vampires turning into bats and shit like that displaying they are quiet aware of the 'Psy-Vamps' and they don't go sucking the blood out of other peoples necks turning them into vmpires... anyway enough of the research here back to the album. The album takes a differant style towards the last 2-3 tracks (not counting the Os Senhores Da Guerra & Mr. Crowley bonus tracks) but still manages to keep the depressing mood but in the lyrics (i still think its because of the vocals) is just alittle more lovey then the rest of the album and i thought was a great way to end the album. Stand-out tracks are deffinatly Nocturna, Ghostsong, Repaces & How We Became Fire, not too mention they do a gret cover of Ozzy's Mr. Crowley! My advice is to check this album out if you haven't already if you like your goth metal its a great listen.... |