Aaaah, Moonspell, our dark brothers of metal from the south. Finally a visual documentation of their deeds - it’s been a long time coming which, I think, is a bit surprising when you consider the fact that the Portuguese very quickly adapted the possibilities of using CD-ROM material and the web for their dark purposes.

But here it is: material dating back to the earliest days of Moonspell in 1992 when they for a short while wore corpsepaint and supported Cradle of Filth.

The centre piece of the 2-disc release is, I suppose, the full recording from the band’s show in Katowice in Poland in 2004. It shows a focused, professional band with charisma and power.

As it often the case, these live recordings make you want to go and see the band in concert a.s.a.p. The Polish crowd certainly looks enthusiastic, and you can’t blame them. The setlist includes Alma Mater, In and Above Men, Vampiria, Opium, Full Moon Madness and a bunch of other classic Moonspell tracks.

Interesting also to see the different phases of video productions Moonspell has gone through, and to see that the romantic mysticism has been present in all of it no matter how experimental the audio output has been (the video for Magdalene is the exception as it is more like a live documentary). Too bad the newest videos are not included on the disc, but that’s just the ways of label agreements (this is the Century Media part of their career, mind you).

And then there’s the ultra-cool horror video for I’ll See You In My Dreams which for some reason is not credited anywhere on the cover, the booklet or in the DVD menu. What a blast of a video! I never saw that before – fuck, yeah!

The Grave Impressions interview bit that concludes disc 1 is slightly self-indulgent, but not over the top with its duration of only 16 minutes.

This is all very nice, but what I treasure mostly when it comes down to it is the material from the past on disc 2.

It is priceless to see Fernando and the boys (and I mean boys!) rehearsing in 1992, tearing away at it, with pitiful sound. Courageous move to include these tracks. Equally awful is Moonspell’s first live show. But great fun to see the band in corpsepaint and I’m sure that this material gives all budding, young bands hope: you can be this much shite and still turn into a world class metal act.

Already in 1994, though, things have become more professional. The band supports Cradle of Filth, they’re not necessarily a tight outfit as such, but things are shaping up. Vampiria, one of the über-classics of Moonspell is suddenly part of the repertoire.

Next is the stage in the band’s career when I learned of their music. These recordings are from when they supported Napalm Death, but during the same time Moonspell toured with Morbid Angel and Immortal. In retrospect the live material doesn’t sound fabulous, but, man, it was cool back then!

The rest, as they say, is just history. The clips from all the next tours just show a band from humble origins in constant progress, loving the dark foundations of their music, travelling the stages of Europe (and Turkey). The sound is crap on the recording from Istanbul, but it gives you the goose bumps to see the Turkish crowd go apeshit over Alma Mater. Metal is universal.

This DVD is a must for all fans of the Moonspell. No more, no less.