Moonspell

Moonspell
Moonspell Live in Klub Studio, Kraków, Poland 2007
Background information
Origin	Amadora, Lisbon, Portugal
Genres	Gothic metal, black metal, doom metal, progressive metal,melodic death metal (later)
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Adipocere Records (1992-1995) Century Media (1995–2005) SPV GmbH (2005–2008) Napalm Records (since 2011)
Associated acts	Morbid God, Dæmonarch, Orfeu Rebelde
Website	www.moonspell.com
Members	Fernando Ribeiro Miguel Gaspar Pedro Paixão Ricardo Amorim Aires Pereira
Past members	João Pedro Duarte Picoto Luís Lamelas Jorge Fonseca Sérgio Crestana Niclas Etelävuori Waldemar Sorychta

Moonspell is a Portuguese gothic metal band. Formed in 1992, the group released their first EP Under the Moonspell in 1994, a year before the release of their first album Wolfheart. The band quickly gained status and became one of the most recognizable metal bands from Portugal.

Moonspell reached the Portuguese top first with their album Sin/Pecado, and were, along with Metallica and Iron Maiden, the only metal band to reach the first place of the Portuguese charts after the release of their album, Memorial, in 2006. With Memorial, Moonspell also became the first Portuguese heavy metal band to have a record certified gold status. They are also popular in Germany, where their albums consistently enter the Top 100 Chart.

Although they had been playing since 1989 under the name of "Morbid God", the band became Moonspell in 1992, the same year they released the promo track "Serpent Angel".

After the release of mini-album Under the Moonspell, Moonspell signed with Century Media for six CDs. Wolfheart was recorded in Germany with producer Waldemar Sorychta and was released in 1995 and was followed by a European tour. Although the album had little or no recognition at the beginning. During the tour, guitarist Mantus quit the band and was replaced by Ricardo Amorim.

For 1996's Irreligious, the band again recorded with producer Waldemar Sorychta. While the previous album was considered black metal, this one fell into the genre of gothic metal. The song "Opium" became the first Moonspell single. It quoted one of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa's heteronyms, Álvaro de Campos, on his poem "Opiário", and its music video featured the character of the poet writing in a bar with the band playing. Along with the release of the album in a convent, the Convento do Beato, there were factors that helped the band sell 10,000 copies of the album in their homeland.