Moonspell's Biography

At the sphere of the Horned Moon, in an era that time does not touch any longer, TETRAGRAMMATON, protected inside is circulum summoned LANGSUYAR, MANTUS and BAALBERITH to complete with him the satanic quartet able to produce melodies powerful enough to enchain the Moon and make her ninfs dance surrounded by the brightest stars.

The creation took place in 1989 at Brandoa (Portugal) and was completed and witnessed by immense hordes of the most beautiful beings, half demons, half females, this unpure gathering was baptised as MORBID GOD.

After welcoming in their circle the Nordic FENRIR they record in 22/8/92 their first effort to produce the sound they always wished to, alias mystic and bizarre Black Metal in its purest form!

This effort was their promo track 92 entitled "SERPENT ANGEL" that was welcomed by some circles of true people even if it didn't please its creators needs, afterwards they expel their previous drummer BAALBERITH for his huge lack of talent and spirit and MORBID GOD reborns under the name of MOONSPELL (Feiti�o da Lua in Portuguese) and their metamorphosis is once again witnessed by the goddess Moon who welcomes a new son: NISRICH a truly master of thy hellish drummer that came from another Portuguese black metal band: Decayed. The promo track is included on the first Portuguese heavy metal compilation LP called "The Birth Of A Tragedy".

FENRIR returns to the ritual as MALAH and with the perfect five pointed congregation they enter studio in the Winter, January the 24th, to record, under the most strong satanic inspiration, their debut demo called "ANNO SATANAE" that announces the rising of the Satanic age by its 3 tracks of unpure Black Metal: "GOAT ON FIRE","ANCIENTE WINTER GODD" & "WOLVES FROM THE FOG" that are clear mirrors of the link between Nature and the pure Darkness! The track "Goat on Fire" is included on another Portuguese compilation called "Mortuary Vol.1", and at the same time, the Greek record company Molon Lave publishes a very special 7" vinyl with 2 themes, "Goat on Fire" and "Wolves from Fog".

In the meanwhile in their mystic cauldron MOONSPELL members forged a mini-CD entitled "UNDER THE MOONSPELL" through Adipocere Records in January 1994. Theatrical live appearances gave a new dimension to their live apparatus, and "Under The Moonspell" was an enormous success in Europe being the record with more sales from Adipocere Records (more than 5000).

The band had now a keyboard player, Neophytus (now Passionis) and a new guitar player, Tanngrisnir, instead of Malah. Response to the mini-CD was so overwhelming that Century Media was prompted to sign them to a long-term agreement (six CD's). So, in the beginning of 1995, the band entered Woodhouse Studios in Dortmund with Waldemar Sorychta (who has worked with bands like Tiamat or Samael and his own band Grip Inc.). Recorded in about ten days, Wolfheart is the culmination of their combined talents and it covers a surprising amount of musical ground whitin the span of its eight songs. The band is still very young, but their skills are developing at a rapid rate, something evident considering the progression made from their mini-CD to Wolfheart.

At this stage, Moonspell toured across Europe, with a dozen solo concerts and 39 with Morbid Angel and it has been said that during this tour, guitarist Tanngrisnir was kicked out and replaced by a former element of Paranormal Waltz, whose name is Ricardo Amorim.
Released on 24.04.95, WOLFHEART had a tremendous good response from the press, it sold something like 40 thousand copies. On the 15 of July, their second album was released in Portugal, their homeland with a magnificent launch party at the Convento do Beato, and in the rest of Europe on the 29th of the same month. America sheltered this master piece on the 15th of August.

Meanwhile, Moonspell recorded their first video to support Irreligious. The video for "Opium" was shot in Lisbon, on the 15th of June at a coffee-house/library ambience. The topic of the music video explores the effects of Opium as a literary inspiration (and not an explicit support to drug consumption - yes this is for ITC), and includes traces of the excellent Portuguese author FERNANDO PESSOA.

This new step for this Portuguese musicians placed them in a strange position, the new Irreligious CD gave them a new dimension, and their new Gothic-dark attitude places the band in a difficult stage... They are definitely not a Black Metal band anymore, but they still combine the best in this stile with the gothic influences that Sisters of Mercy and Fields of Nephilim gave them in a early stage of their music evolution. The Moon Spell is spread, so come and fell the beauty and monstrous that Moonspell music gives to every listener! Come and join us Under the Moonspell.

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