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Moonspell - Extinct Review

by Matt Hensch

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Moonspell lost me on "Night Eternal," enough to kill my boner for the band so much so that I never bothered checking out "Alpha Noir." It was sort of strange familiarizing myself again with "Wolfheart," "Under Satanae," and other Moonspell efforts I hadn't touched in ages. They are an esoteric bunch in the slyest of ways, and that is what makes "Extinct" a foreseeable surprise. I don't recall this much of a goth rock foundation used on any of the band's prior offerings. More metallic elements of Moonspell's pastimes pop out in various forms, but the song structures are the most accessible compositional themes this interesting group has applied yet. The calculable nature of "Extinct" makes its tracks inconsistent-some are decent, some wishy-washy.

This transition is a natural shift for Moonspell; gothic elements in the musical backbone shouldn't surprise anyone at this point. To have an accessible, radio-friendly style leading the charge is something I'm not sure I'm fond of, however. I love the black metal bits of "Wolfheart," and don't mind the gothic elements, but to have the manageable themes completely usurp Moonspell's other musical components, to me, is a bit of a letdown. Doing so pigeonholes what the group can and cannot do; this is evident on "Extinct" through its lack of variety and the few tricks up its sleeve. Not to imply its small number of gags are inherently bad, per se, but there is a large gap of quality here that shows the band hitting all sorts of spectrums without being consistently decent or nut-crushingly atrocious.

"Breathe (Until We are No More)" kicks things off effectively-a stern, emotional rocker exploring a collective instrumental front that, while predictable and aiming for accessibility, manages to become greater than the sum of its parts. "Medusalem" and "Funeral Bloom" are potent and notable, again showing the group's metal elements (crispy guitar tone, harsh vocals, etc.) emerging through a base of gothic rock. Fernando Ribeiro sounds made for this setting, using mainly his baritone croon to match the dirge of the musical front and growls when applicable. There isn't much imagination in the straightforward movements of the circular rock-aligned guitar work. More than once, however, Moonspell presents tunes that flow well and end up sounding not too shabby.

But as I mentioned, some of these tracks completely fall short and sound like pieces of poop on a stick. "The Future is Dark," in particular, is a wreck-its chorus and that annoying intro with Fernando warbling over synths makes me want to use black magic to have it brought to life just so I could beat it to death with a baseball bat. "A Dying Breed" and a few others show just how caged Moonspell is to the gothic rock formula upon which "Extinct" is based. Despite its awful moments, though, I can't pinpoint another group that could have done this musical transition this steadily. I'm still not going to run around and call this adequate, because in some ways, it isn't. "Extinct" is music to cross-dress to while you prance around your room with your wang tucked in when your copy of Q Lazzarus' "Goodbye Horses" begins to skip. Like the poetry of a teenager who insists he is dark at heart, mostly harmless stuff.

Moonspell - Extinct

Rating:6.0

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