𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
July 29, 1996 — Moonspell released their second full-length studio album, Irreligious via Century Media Records. (Apple Music or Spotify)
Personal Note:
This was the first release by Moonspell that I ever purchased, which was shortly after it’s release. A local neighborhood acquaintance of mine used to go to record stores every month and make bulk purchases of CD’s, mostly of bands that he was unfamiliar with, just to expose himself to new music. Whenever he bought something that he did not like, he would call me up on the phone and tell me to come pick out what I wanted. I must have purchased over 50 to 60 albums from him due to these bulk purchases. Needless to say, his loss was my gain. As for Irreligious; Boy, am I glad I picked up the phone on that day! I have been a die-hard fan of Moonspell ever since I blindly purchased this album! — E.N. Wells
Background:
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 (Watch video) became the first Moonspell single. It quoted one of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa's heteronyms, Álvaro de Campos, on his poem Opiário. The album was promoted by the music video for Opium (the first Moonspell video), which contained imagery of a 19th-century-looking opium den. The music video featured the character of the poet writing in the “𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚞𝚖 𝚍𝚎𝚗” 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.
Irreligious features some of the best-known songs of the band, such as Opium, Ruin & Misery, Awake! and Full Moon Madness. The latter is usually the closing song during almost every Moonspell concert, which over time has become a characteristic of their concerts. Before the song begins, Fernando Ribeiro often makes the sign of the circle (symbolizing Moon) over the crowd. The third track, Awake!, features a recording of Aleister Crowley reading his poem The Poet.
Moonspell commented on their social media on July 19, 2022 in regards the day being the anniversary of the release of Irreligious. Here is what they had to say…
“𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍𝚠𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚋 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢 (July 19, 2022) 𝚘𝚏 𝙸𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜' 𝟸𝟼𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚎.
𝙰 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎. 𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘-𝚜𝚘, 𝚢𝚎𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚊 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚒𝚗 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟼 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝙶𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚌 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕. — MOONSPELL
Fun facts from Moonspell about this album:
• It was supposed to be called Fullmoon Madness and not Irreligious.
• It was Ricardo's first studio album with us.
• It was Ares last album with us.
• We got to support the mighty Type O Negative for their October Rust tour in Europe.
• Raven Claws is not inspired by Harry Potter but by Jim Morrison‘s (The Doors) poetry "𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚖𝚘𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚜 𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚠𝚜".
• Opium was a German Radio DJ's favorite and made it even into karaoke lists in pubs.
• We always hated the cover artwork but got used to it throughout the years.
(𝚁𝚎𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚛𝚝)
Critical Reception:
AllMusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine had this to say about Irreligious;
“𝙼𝚘𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚕𝚕‘𝚜 𝙸𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚖𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚙 𝚘𝚗 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚖𝚢, 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚋𝚒𝚍 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚜 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚌, 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚜. 𝙷𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚜. 𝙹𝚞𝚍𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚙𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍, 𝙸𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚗𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚒𝚎-𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚍𝚍𝚢, 𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚜.”
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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