Moonspell

Featuring all new recordings of early Moonspell material, Under Satanae sounds like just that — the riffs, structure and atmosphere conjure a primeval pre-Wolfheart sound but it’s conveyed with all the force and ferocity Moonspell are capable of now. One of the album’s more striking elements is the pervasive influence of black metal, in its symphonic form, especially throughout the first half. As the track list takes us further back in time, a more stripped down version of evil emerges that still maintains the record’s power and momentum. What may be most surprising (perhaps offering a comment on the contemporary metal scene) is that none of the material, even the 15-year-old "Serpent Angel” from pre-Moonspell band Morbid God, sounds outdated. Under Satanae also revisions the 1993 Anno Satanae demo and the entire Under the Moonspell EP, the latter with particularly epic results. Taken together, the record’s ten tracks provide a perfect soundtrack for long, dark autumn nights.