Band:	Moonspell
Album:	Lusitanian Metal
Style:	Gothic metal
Release date:	December 08, 2008
A review by:	Ivor

Disc I

01. PART 1: Live At The City Of Ravens [Katowice 2004]
    1 - Intro
    2 - In And Above Men
    3 - From Lowering Skies
    4 - Alma Mater
    5 - Vampiria
    6 - The Southern Deathstyle
    7 - Everything Invaded
    8 - Opium
    9 - Devilred
    10 - Abysmo
    11 - Ruin & Misery
    12 - Mephisto
    13 - Full Moon Madness

02. PART 2: Touch Me In The Eyes [video clips]
    1 - Opium
    2 - 2econd Skin
    3 - Magdalene
    4 - The Butterfly FX
    5 - Nocturna
    6 - Everything Invaded
    7 - The Making Of "Everything Invaded"

03. PART 3: Knowledge
    1 - Discograpy
    2 - Graveyard Impressions [interview]

Disc II

01. PART 4: Small Hours - The Early Days (1992-1994)]
[Live Rehearsals]
    1 - Intro
    2 - Serpent Angel
    3 - Wolves From The Fog
    4 - Ancient Winter Goddess

[Moonspell's First Show]
    5 - Intro
    6 - Goat On Fire
    7 - Wolves From The Fog
    8 - Hymn To Lucifer

[Supporting Cradle Of Filth]
    9 - Intro
    10 - Tenebrarum Oratorium Part 1
    11 - Goat On Fire
    12 - Vampiria

02. Part 5: Strange Are The Ways Of The Wolfhearted Tour (1995-1996)
[Supporting Napalm Death]
    1 - Erotic Alchemy
    2 - Ataegina
    3 - Trebaruna

03. PART 6: Perverse Almost Religious Tour (1996-1997)
[Krakow 1996]
    1 - A Poisoned Gift
    2 - ... Of Dream And Drama
    3 - An Erotic Alchemy
    4 - Love Crimes

[Dortmund 1996]
    5 - Intro
    6 - Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade)
    7 - Love Crimes
    8 - Vampiria
    9 - ... Of Dream And Drama
    10 - An Erotic Alchemy
    11 - For A Taste Of Eternity
    12 - Alma Mater

04. PART 7: It's A Sin Tour (1997-1999)
[Coliseu 1996]
    1 - EuroticA
    2 - Magdalene
    3 - Vampirira

[Ermal 1999]
    4 - Let The Children Cum To Me...
    5 - Dekadance
    6 - EuroticA

05. PART 8: The Butterfly Effect Tour (2000-2001)
[Coliseu 2000]
    1 - I Am The Eternal Spectator
    2 - Can't Bee
    3 - Lustmord

06. PART 9: Darkness And Hope Tour (2001-2003)
[Release Party For "Farkness And Hope"]
    1 - How We Became Fire
    2 - Ghostsong

[Ermal 2002]
    3 - Angelizer
    4 - Mephisto
    5 - Firewalking

07. PART 10: Spreading The Eclipse Tour (2003-2005)
[With Full Force 10th Anniversary]
    1 - In And Above Men
    2 - From Lowering Skies
    3 - Opium
    4 - A Walk On The Darkside
    5 - Nocturna
    6 - Southern Deathstyle

[Istanbul 2004]
    7 - Alma Mater / Vampiria

[Athens 2004]
    8 - The Antidote

[Hard Club 2004]
    9 - I Will See You In My Dreams
    10 - Tenebrarum Oratorium Part 1

[Tejo 2005]
    11 - Awake
    12 - For A Taste Of Eternity

I like pizazz. I like bonuses. I like my audio and video packages special. I like them limited if possible. I like them chic, to have inner substance and outward appearance. I like to have something physical for the money I spend on it. Third of a price more than the normal edition is what I think is sensible. I don't like them to be über-special and über-limited, an overpriced rip-off like the Dream Theater's collectors edition of "Black Clouds & Silver Linings." $130 is a rip-off no matter what you say. However, I think that your average DVD release feels like a rip-off as well. I mean, a really cheap plastic case and a disc... Not even a pathetic looking booklet included. That feels like a two buck movie you can buy at a discount store.

For meeting all the requirements mentioned above I like Moonspell's "Lusitanian Metal" special package. It's an elegant big book edition, 2 DVD-s and 1 CD, a nice annotated booklet with foreword, descriptions and photos. It feels like I really have something special in my hands, a recorded gig and a whole history of Moonspell through the eyes of the camera. Definitely, feels like I got something special.

However... Most important is that I like my audio balanced and excellent, and my video sharp and visually impressive. And here is the fish-bone that I have in my throat. There's something about the main course of this release that's bugging me. It's mostly the little things that you don't pay attention to but that keep itching and itching at the back of your consciousness until you notice them. Firstly, I'm annoyed by the little borders around the video frame that keep changing in size as the view changes from one camera to another, as if it was all poorly cut. Then there's the sound that, although being balanced still sounds somewhat wrong for Moonspell. Empty would be a good word to describe it – it sounds like you're alone in an aircraft hangar and not at a packed gig with a couple of thousand people.

Finally, I'm most annoyed that there are moments where audio and video seem to be out of sync. I use "seem to be" here because it's so subtle that you can't put your finger on it. When audio and video are in perfect marriage it all comes alive. You see it, you hear and you feel it. When it's this little bit out of sync you find that audio and video are divorced and lead separate lives on the opposing sides of the town. It feels detached, hard to follow and you can't get into the experience. It spoils the fun.

As I said before, I like bonuses. And "Lusitanian Metal" offers a whole 4 hours of bonuses – a visual history of the band's performances over the years. A bit from each era. Good, right? Well, yes and no. Admittedly, it's excellent to see and follow all that. However, the songs often repeat and the quality of some of the recordings is pretty appalling. "Some" is an understatement... "Appalling" is an understatement as well... It's often recorded with hand-held cameras and awful sound. Cell-phone recordings on YouTube today equal this quality. Although I understand the historical value, it still hurts to see it in this way. Now, to counter it, there are worthwhile moments captured. As the band says, the atmosphere and glimpse of the experience is what counts there. Plus, there are a few of the exceptionally good recordings as well. The best being "With Full Force 10th Anniversary" recording.

Actually, that "With Full Force 10th Anniversary" recording should have been the standard for the main gig of the DVD. Or, that should have been the main gig of the DVD. Probably the only problem is that it was a short or incomplete set. Anyway, the criticism above is not to say that "Lusitanian Metal" is a bad release. Far from it. It's a pretty decent experience and the main gig is quite enjoyable. It's just that it's that tiny bit unpolished (no pun intended here for Polish people). And bonuses is a gourmet stuff mostly anyway, in this particular case you have to be a Moonspell connoisseur to get the kick out if it. Oh, and they should have definitely released it 4 years earlier. Or at least added some of the recent stuff in the history voyage.