Moonspell's new album 1755 isn't quite like its previous efforts. The album will be entirely in the band's native tongue of Portuguese, and will chronicle the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The album was produced by Tue Madsen (Meshuggah, The Haunted, etc.) and will feature Portuguese singer Paulo Bragança acting as the voice of a Fado fallen angel, as well as singing on the song "In Tremor Dei."
Here's what vocalist Fernando Ribeiro had to say about the album.
"I have been fascinated with Portuguese history since I can remember.
"The year of 1755 marked the birth of a new Portugal. Much more than just the greatest natural disaster ever to occur on European soil, the great Lisbon Quake, shockwaves cannot be reduced to a dramatic death toll.
"From absolute tragedy, a new city was born, giving way to a new time where Portuguese relied more on themselves than on the crown or the cross, granting us much of the city, the lay country, the free will that we enjoy today.
"This is not just another album from us. It's a musical and lyrical history document, a homage we pay to our legacy and to the amazing skills and resilience of our fellow Portuguese back then, of all mankind when brought down to the knees by the violent forces of nature and reason. Whatever is, is right… yet the earth shakes."
The earthquake occurred on November 1, 1755, which is also All Saints' Day. Alongside fires and a tsunami, the earthquake nearly destroyed Lisbon and left between 10,000 and 100,000 dead. So when Moonspell makes this sound like the apocalypse, it pretty much was.
Check out the awesome artwork done by João Diogo below!
