As everybody knows, the opinion that anyone says or writes down is subjective. Each one of us has an opinion for everything; music, a book, a band, a person of the opposite sex. And there have been numerous times that you disagree with someone else. Well, this time there isn't going to be any passage of arms. MOONSPELL just gave us their best album...'till the next one.

Most of the times we are gathering information about the band and we write down their bio and blab bla bla... Well, I don't think that I have to do something like that for those guys from Portugal. MOONSPELL are one of the most well known Metal/Gothic bands. If there is anyone who declares that he/she is listening to dark-atmospheric-gothic Metal and doesn't know them, well he/she is living in another planet. So, let's see what their last album, Night Eternal, has to offer to us.

Just a few months ago, MOONSPELL made a journey back in time and they dig out their first releases and re-recorded them. I believe that this movement made them write their best, so far, album! Continuing from their last album, Memorial, they went a step forward with this one. This album is even darker but more metal-ish than the previous one. The riffs are as heavy than ever, since the album is orientated in more Black/Death Metal forms. The gothic elements that MOONSPELL always had in their music are here, but the album, as a whole, is based more on heavy riffs. The opening track of the album, At Tragic Heights, starts with a nice oriental theme. And after the calm comes the storm. Thunder drums and heavy riffing follow, with Langsuyar's voice being at its best! In most of the tracks his voice is closer to Black/Death than in any other album and I love that! Just check the second song of the album and you will see. Here you will listen to riffs that bring in mind bands like ROTTING CHRIST.

Shadow Sun - even though it stars with a mixture of gothic atmosphere with an oriental tune - has a heavy as Hell riff to make you bang your head all the time! Scorpion Flower is a beautiful song that reminds of the previous releases of the band. Anneke Van Giersbergen (AQUA DE ANNIQUE, ex-THE GATHERING) makes a guest appearance here, with her velvet voice accompanying Langsuyar, even though in the mixing her voice is pushed to the background a bit. This one is going to be one of the hits of this album. But I would prefer for Moon in Mercury to be in that place. A powerful all-the-way Metal song, where you can feel that MOONSPELL are back in more Metal forms again. The growls of Rebeiro are coming from Hell and the solo of Ricardo is one of his most inspiring ones ever.

Every album has its ups and downs, but this one doesn't. Here is the Twighlight starts with a sick riff and bombastic drumming that evolve into a dark mid tempo song, with a nice Death Metal chorus. The next song, Dreamless (Lucifer and Lilith), leans to more gothic forms. The melody sticks in your mind and the keyboards in the background make a dark atmosphere. A classic MOONSPELL track. The structure of the next composition is balancing between lighter sound and Metal explosions. The instrumentation in Spring Of Rage is working great and it keeps you moving your head up and down. A great song overall. First Light, the last track of the album, starts with acoustic guitars and - after some spoken part - a mid tempo heavy riffing takes the baton in the chorus, with female backing vocals and the growling voice of Langsuyar makes its appearance once again. Furthermore, the guitar solo makes you thing that the band gave everything in this album. I believe it's the best epilogue for this CD.

This album haunted my soul. One of the best releases for this year, that, in my humble opinion, will be a landmark in the history of dark Metal in general. Tremendous work on the orchestration of each track, the production of the album is crystal clear where all the instruments have space to breathe and the voice of Rebeiro is at his best. In simple words, this album kicks ass. Can't wait to see them performing live - in a few weeks - their new songs. As for the artwork, made by Seth, it is one of his best so far and it binds perfectly with the album's atmosphere.

 Scorpion Flower