Written by:	Ivor
Published:	November 23, 2015
Event:	Moonspell - Road To Extinction Tour 2015 (Part II)
Location:	Rockclub Tapper, Tallinn, Estonia
Galleries:	Moonspell - Tapper, Tallinn, Estonia, 03.11.2015 by Ivor (40)

This is a concert I've been waiting for a long time to happen. The last time Moonspell were here was a bit over nine years ago. That's a very, very long while for an active band and three albums have happened in the meantime. For various reasons it's also over six years since I last saw the band, so naturally the interest was piqued.




At first glance, the current tour with Jaded Star and Dagoba is a curious combination that doesn't seem to fit together - Jaded Star are a female fronted melodic metal band, Dagoba are thrash, and Moonspell anywhere between gothic and black. Looks like it's all neither here nor there. However, at a second glance, it probably draws a better crowd like this.

Greek Jaded Star were the only one I didn't know at all but given that I'm somewhat partial to female vocals, I figured it might be something for me. However, try as I might to enjoy their show, I couldn't get into it at all. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with it but nothing seemed enticing about it either. It started, it ended. That's it. Sure, there were bits showing potential, and it might be worthwhile to check out their début album, but then and there it went by as uneventfully as possible.




Basing my opinion on the two times I've seen Dagoba at Hellfests a while ago, I expected this to be the most boring part of the evening. While packing a huge amount of energy on stage, the band just isn't for me. However, coming off the two mellow evenings of prog over the weekend, I was probably in for something that really cooks, and the French groovy thrash of Dagoba appeared to hit the spot. It's not that I tremendously liked the stuff but there's technical variety to their music, catchy riffs, pounding rhythms, and passion that pull you along. Pity about the circle pit that just didn't happen.

Over the almost quarter of a century, Moonspell's musical direction has been swinging about like a pendulum between heavier and darker black metal, and more mellow and melodic gothic rock. To each his own; some like it one way, some the other. And for a band that long in the business, Moonspell appear on the top of the game live, partly because of the experience these years carry, but also because they genuinely appear to enjoy it despite all these years.

It's not surprising when bands focus on newer material when on tour. The album sales need to be promoted, after all. What's curious in this case, though, is that the second to last album, Alpha Noir / Omega White, appeared to be out of the picture entirely. That, and there was a heavy focus on Wolfheart and Irreligious, which are slowly emphasizing the longevity of their career. However, it does kind of look like the set list was carefully chosen to support the balanced atmosphere of Extinct, never really going too heavy nor too melodic.




Set list:
1. Breathe (Until We Are No More) (Extinct)
2. Extinct (Extinct)
3. Night Eternal (Night Eternal)
4. Opium (Irreligious)
5. Awake! (Irreligious)
6. Domina (Extinct)
7. The Last Of Us (Extinct)
8. Medusalem (Extinct)
9. Nocturna (Darkness And Hope)
10. Scorpion Flower (Night Eternal)
11. Malignia (Extinct)
12. Vampiria (Wolfheart)
13. Ataegina (Wolfheart)
14. Alma Mater (Wolfheart)
Encore:
15. Everything Invaded (The Antidote)
16. The Future Is Dark (Extinct)
17. Full Moon Madness (Irreligious)

I often tend to stack the quality of the gig against the awareness of the time passing by. If it's not good enough, even a forty minute set can drag a lifetime. The problem with this particular Moonspell gig is that it went by too fast. It's one of those cases when I wish I could really see another gig in a row. To give you an analogy: you know how when you're really thirsty on a hot day, the mouth is dry and totally parched, and then you happen to swing down a bottle of good, cold beer. The emotion? That of extreme satisfaction. The taste? Uh... Let me get another beer and I'll try to pay attention more.

That Moonspell are doing good gigs is a fact. That I haven't seen the band in a long while, ruined some of it for me. I can't help but feel like it went by in a fast-forwarding state, images flashing by and not having enough time to absorb and savour it all properly. To me this gig was like the flash of a falling star.