Customer Reviews

Antidote

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's always pleasing when a promising band makes good on their promises, and Potugal's Moonspell does exactly this with this bloody-throated, bleeding-eyes album. Having largely abandoned the synths and progamming that were persistent in Butterfly Effect, the boys offer up a more "classical" fare with Antidote -- that is, "classical" in the metal sense, complete with crushing guitars and adrenaline-fueled tempo. Lyrically speaking, I believe that this is some of Ribiero's finest work; the tone is uniformly hollow, cynical, and brooding, and is wholly in keeping with the epigraph in the liner -- "the horror of beauty, the beauty of horror." Hell, the title track alone is enough to put lesser (read shiny-bright-happy-false) souls off their spiritual food for the next two incarnations or so, and "As We Eternally Sleep on It" could probably turn Mother Teresa into a nihilist. If you haven't already considered this album, I'd strongly advise you to -- it's the kind of purchase you feel good about yourself for making.

Excellent! Thats all I have to say about this dark masterpeice. Let me start the review by saying that if you already like Moonspell, you are going to love this dark masterpeice. Antidote comes as a revenge of sorts for this Portugese Geniuses. Fernando et al have packed a magical punch into this album.

The album begins with incredible In & Above Men 5/5 rocker with a deep grunt chanting of the tittle from Fernando. From Lowering Skies has a great drum intro and takes into the vortex of chanted, whispering singing & heavy guitars, a 4/5. Everything Invaded is perhaps the best track on the CD along with The Southern Deathstyle, both 5/5. Very heavy and very very quintessential Moonspell. The tittle song starts accoustically and it a beautifull cascade gets into heavy ass ripping metal, a great number 5/5. Capricorn At Her Feet is again essential Moonspell, with a riff warming you up before the melodic onslaught begins, a slow burner, I just love this track, 5/5. LunarStill (a synonym to Moonspell??) is perhaps a weak track and should have been avoided, but it doesn harm anyway, 2/5. A Walk On The Darkside is once again, dark Moonspell takking into their depths of darkness, 5/5. Crystal Gazing is heavy and Pantera like, 5/5, no complaints. However, the last track As We Sleep..is kindof a letdown, with too much dialogue and little thrashing, 2/5.

Nevermind the two slow ones, this album is a masterpeice, I heard its 4-5 already and I just cannot stop playing it. While I personally like Sin/Picado as Moonspells best and I love Darkness & Hope/Wolfheart, Antidote is equally pleasing. Much care has been taken to maintain the dark elements that are typical to Moonspells music. The atmosphere of the album is great, switch off the lights, increase the volume and play ANTIDOTE, the price is too little to pay for the pleasure we get...Keep up the darkness Moonspell, I love you!!!

I have been playing this one over and over again and it just keeps getting better with every listen. The crux and pivotal point of the album is the first instrumental break in Capricorn At Her Feet. That is Moonspell at their finest. The final track shames almost all goth metal bands of our time. This band keeps improving and after listening to music for almost fifty years now (yes, old guys can still rock out too) I can honestly say that in the sea of musical muck, Moonspell stands out head and shoulders above most. They resonate universally...this music should be aboard the next interplanetary spacecraft.

This is the real s--t RIGHT HERE! As far as this being a concept album, I am oblivious to that, but there is more of a pagan-ish darkness to this which can give an inexperienced listener at first listen nightmares of the occult or vampires. Indeed, this album is not for all tastes. If you dig any underground goth / doom metal / or black metal. Stuff like Type O Negative, Paradise Lost, Cradle of Filth, Darkthrone, Dark Funeral, Burzum, just to name a few, than you should love every last drop of sinful, brutal energy this album has to offer to the very end, as it gradually calms down. Here is a track breakdown:

1. In and Above Men - 10/10
2. From Lowering Skies - 10/10
3. Everything Invaded - 10/10
4. The Southern Deathstyle - 8/10
5. Antidote - 10/10
6. Capricorn At Her Feet - 10/10
7. Lunar Still - 7/10
8. A Walk On The Darkside - 10/10
9. Crystal Gazing - 7/10
10. As We Eternally Sleep On It - 10/10

I have been a huge fan of this band since the beginning. While their first album/demo (Anno Satanae) was not so impressive, they took an incredibly giant leap with the UNDER THE MOONSPELL EP, still one of my all-time favorites. Their first real album was a great blend of gothic, vampiric, and metal, with a unique touch. IRRELIGIOUS was my other favorite album, possessing more atmosphere, creativity, and sinister genious than any of their other abums. They became a little more user-friendly with the next couple albums (Sin/Pecado and Darkness & Hope), but still maintained a unique and great sound. As an aside, there was a little-known side project called DAEMONARCH, which was a searing, sinister, and atmospheric endeavor into some unholy union of death and black metal. This centered around judeo-christian and earlier taboo religious themes (like the fallen angels and war in heaven), and was incredible! Much like a blasphemous, unrelenting version of Irreligious.

Now for this album:
I love this album. It is a return to a heavier sound that was reduced in the last couple albums. While not the same as the earlier albums, it possesses their raw agression and energy, channeled into a newer form. My standout tracks: In and Above Men, The Southern Deathstyle, Capricorn at Her Feet, and As We Eternally Sleep (a great song, despite other comments). As We Eternally Sleep was not my favorite at first, but has grown on me much more than the others, and may be my favorite now: a brooding, dark, moody, and contemplational song reminiscent of Elizium-era Fields of the Nephilim.

Ok metal fans, and music fans alike, this is Moonspell's latest spell, called "The Antidote". It's a really good album, and i'm really impressed. First off, I'd like to say that i'd heard this album way before I actually bought it, and didn't think it was that great, but then I heard "Everything Invaded", and I was hooked.

There are so many great songs on here that it's even hard for me to believe I skipped this one a year ago when I could've had it sooner. The Antidote is a fantastic album filled with dark, brooding, and sometimes beautiful music. It begins with the classicaly heavy "In and Above Men", which of course is a fan favorite. This song is heavy as hell, and Fernando does nothing but grunts and screams on this one.... it's excellent. Next is the exotic "From Lowering Skies" which features Fernando's clean vocals and a really cool drum beat. The chorus is a raging metal fest. Next is the melodic "Everything Invaded", with an amazing chorus (and when I say amazing, I mean amazing, it just fits so perfectly with the song). Up next is the mosher "The Southern Deathstyle", which really has some great sections where you can mosh to. Believe me, I know haha. Next is the title track, which really has some great guitar parts to it, and awesome lyrics. I love this song, however, something better awaits. "Capricorn at Her Feet" is an amazing 6 minute galactic metal song. Now when I say galactic don't expect some Star Wars metal song, but I mean this song has some REALLY trippy moments. Now I don't do drugs, but i'm sure those that do have a great time listening to this one. The Chorus is great, and Fernando's vocals shine on this one. However, the parts I am most talking about are the ending minutes, that also include the solo (which is one of my favorite solos that I have ever heard, and I can play it!) and some great synth work. Next up is the odd but still interesting "Lunar Still", which has this.... strangely enough, sinister moon feel. It sounds like something you would hear in the game Doom 3 (come to think of it, I should try playing that to this song!). It has a unique 3 minute intro of odd and intergalactic synth sounds, and then turns into a crushing intergalactic sinister doom metal song. "A walk on the Darkside" is a trip back to normality on this one, and is really just a hard rock doom metal song.... if that makes any sense. It's really fun to listen too. The end of this cd consists of "Crystal Gazing" and "As We Eternally Sleep on it", and strangely, I just consider these two as the same song, I don't know why, but I do. Anyway, "Crystal Gazing as we Eternally Sleep on it" is a really good ending to this cd, and sets the mood for the new Moonspell which I hear may be appearing sometime in 2005/2006?

Anyway, next time your in a cd store, and you see Moonspell, pick this one up... it's a great musical trip.

This is probably one of my favorite Moonspell albums. I would definately reccomend this one. The only thing that made me want to dock a point is there is an interactive story you can read on the disc, but why would I want to keep popping the cd/disc in to read the story? Seems silly right? I wish they would post the story online so I can read it while listening to the album. That is my only complaint, and actually that has nothing to do with the album itself but the multimedia included on it. If they made a downloadable version of the book, then I would be 100 percent happy. Very cool album, its beautiful, and haunting. This album is a piece of art, and I would highly reccomend it. Now, having said that, if you are new to Moonspell, I would not say this is their most accessable album, but much more accessable than The Butterfly Effect or Sin/Pecado.

This is their best album since irreligious. This is a very good gothic/atmospheric metal album that you will sure like. After some listenings you feel a stable gothic feeling with a serious atmospheric and nice vibe. A must for Moonspell fans

And then came the antidote of our sickness.
When I bought this record It came along with a book (with the same name)by Jose Luis Peixoto (special edition n 1839 of 2000). Both book and record were written together like a symbiotic collaboration. Perhapses the first time ever that this happened and in my opinion we can never understand the true meaning of one without the other. It totally wrong tho rate this song or that song, because this record is indeed a whole. This is truly beyond metal and literature... it's about the human soul.

Moonspell's 2003 release is another one of my favorites right next to "Wolfheart". This one is almost as good as their first but comes up short in some areas. It is their second best release, in my opinion, but doesnt have as much atmosphere as "Wolfheart" did. It's good all the way through which is important, because an album that weakens near the end is never good. My favorite tracks are probably "From Lowering Skies", "Antidote", "Capricorn at Her Feet", and "Walk on the Darkside". Here are my track ratings...

1. In and Above Men - 10/10
2. From Lowering Skies - 10/10
3. Everything Invaded - 8.5/10
4. Southern Deathstyle - 8/10
5. Antidote - 10/10
6. Capricorn at Her Feet - 10/10
7. Lunar Still - 10/10
8. Walk on the Darkside - 10/10
9. Crystal Gazing - 9.5/10
10. As We Eternally Sleep on It - 8.5/10

Overall: 94% A-

It's another solid release from Moonspell. Anyone into Doom Metal would enjoy this. It's also just the way I like it, sprinkled with growling vocals and regular vocals, because I'm not a fan of songs where the screaming/growling vocals take up the entire song. Anyway it's one of their best, in my opinion, so if you have not already checked it out, you probably should.