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After
a nice and pleasant instrumental intro, you wonder if someone
stepped on Fernando’s toes. He’s more extreme than he’s ever
been as he bellows his way through the two tracks “Finisterra”
and “Memento Mori”. Then there’s the beautiful instrumental
“Sons of Earth” as a stark contrast.
“Blood
Tells” lets out more of Fernando’s rage and displays that
wonderfully melodic riffing that always made Moonspell so special.
“Upon the Blood of Men” sees more bellowing from Fernando and
has a grandiose keyboard choir. The keyboards, by the way, play a
dominant role on this album, but not at all to a disturbing degree.
It works out really excellent.
When
we reach “The Image of Pain”, Fernando moves away from the
bellow and uses that great, smooth baritone as well as a rather
weird voice for an interlude… “Sanguine” is a varied track
with quiet pieces, a female voice mixed with brutal sections.
“Proliferation”
is instrumental soundtrack music. Dramatic. Violent. Haunting. It
moves directly into the best track of the album: “Once It Was
Ours!” The haunting feeling of “Proliferation” is continued,
only with the addition of Fernando’s voice and double bass drums.
“Mare
Nostrum” is another lovely little instrumental, and after that
comes the ballad of the album; “Luna”. Fernando’s soft
baritone in duet with a female singer creates a memorable piece
that even the girlies might like.
The
album proper concludes paradoxically with a track called “Best
Forgotten”. A mid-tempo Moonspell dark rocker with a bit of
growl in there. No reason to forget anything on this album, guys,
it’s almost one hour of excellent music with a lot of power and
bombast.
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