
MOONSPELL To Release Their First-Ever Symphonic Concert As A Live Album This October

On October 26, 2024, Moonspell etched their name deeper into the history of Portuguese metal with their first-ever symphonic concert, Opus Diabolicum, held at Lisbon’s MEO Arena. A landmark moment in their three-decade-long journey, the show was a monumental celebration of the band’s dark legacy, uniting the feral spirit of gothic metal with the grandeur of classical music.
Now, one year later, this once-in-a-lifetime performance will be available to experience anytime, as Opus Diabolicum arrives on DVD/Blu-ray, 2-CD, black and colored vinyl, and digital formats via Napalm Records on October 31, 2025.
The production, their most ambitious to date, saw Moonspell joined on stage by the 45-piece Lisbon Sinfonietta Orchestra, conducted by maestro Vasco Pearce de Azevedo. Together, they revisited career-spanning classics and brought their acclaimed 2017 album 1755 to symphonic heights, crafting a set that was as immersive as it was emotionally devastating.
To mark the announcement, a new live video for “Vampiria” premieres today, captured in all its gothic glory at the Opus Diabolicum concert. Originally released on Moonspell‘s 1995 debut Wolfheart, the song takes on a new life in this orchestral form, rising with dark majesty, sweeping arrangements, and vampiric splendor. “‘Vampiria’ is a Moonspell classic, as old as time itself,” said Moonspell frontman Fernando Ribeiro.
“It was a first choice for us because it’s actually one of the most remarkable arrangements of the whole show, which granted new blood and life (aren’t they the same?) to a timeless, eternal song. See it risen from the dead with your own eyes, after ‘travelling oceans of time’.”
Ribeiro continued: “I have never been the one to push Moonspell into an orchestral direction. Like any fan, I can recognise the impact Classical had over Heavy Metal—Quorthon from Bathory used to quote Wagner as his favourite ‘band’—and in my collection, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev and Ravel sit beside Bathory, Celtic Frost, Sarcófago or Maiden. But I wasn’t a fan of the metal-meets-orchestra efforts myself.
“When I approached Jaime (Gomez Arellano) to mix this beast, I told him: have you heard S&M and other ‘live with an orchestra’ albums? We want nothing like that! This is the work of passion: truly the work of the devil—opus diabolicum—imperfect, unprocessed, untamed. A release made by friends, to all the friends we have around this goth-forsaken world, who in an arena in Lisbon or in a sweaty club in Texas, keep the spell going, until we are no more.”
For longtime followers and new listeners alike, Opus Diabolicum is a testament to Moonspell‘s unmatched ability to balance darkness, drama, and devotion, immortalizing a historic night when their music rose higher than ever before. No fan should miss the chance to add this rare document of gothic grandeur to their collection. Pre-order Opus Diabolicum here, which runs as follows:
- Em Nome do Medo
- 1755
- In Tremor Die
- Desastre
- Ruinas
- Breathe (Until We Are No More)
- Extinct
- Proliferation
- Finisterra
- Everything Invaded
- Scorpion Flower
- Vampiria
- Alma Mater
- Fullmoon Madness
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