"Moonspell might still be goth metal's best kept secret, but for one night, they feel like the kings of lusty, dark allure." Portugal's biggest metal band make history with a sold-out gig on a royal estate

In another, better, universe, Moonspell would be absolutely massive. Granted, they've not done badly for themselves - five number one records and a Gold Certification in their home country of Portugal for 2006's Memorial - but as a band who've been namechecked by HIM as an influence and were part of the 90s goth metal boom, they certainly deserve better than the smattering of support slots that's consistuted their UK tours this decade thus far.

So, we've sacked the UK off and come to Portugal to see them on home turf. Ish. Playing up the road from their homebase of Lisbon in the mountainous region of Sintra, Moonspell are playing the first gig of its kind in the grounds of a stately home. There's a couple thousand fans milling around, only its all gone tits up.

Partway through opener Cross Your Heart, everything cuts out and everything is plunged into darkness. It takes a good 35 minutes before Moonspell return to the stage - we're later told one of the production hires for the gig had inadvertently plugged a light into an amp, causing a blowout - but thankfully the crowd is an eager (if somewhat captive) audience and grumbling is kept to a bare minimum. When they do return, Moonspell show what they're made of.

Portugal's biggest metal band, they take to the occasion with a sense of pomp and theatricality that is begging for TikTok take off. Hey, if it can happen for Crowbar, it can happen for anyone. Not that there's any novelty production: the papier-mâché bats have been left in the belfry and Moonspell are letting their songs do the talking, reaching an appropriately vampiric, otherworldly peak on the likes of Mephisto and Vampiria. Playing new album Far From God in its entirety, they chuck in the vast majority of 1996's Irreligious (only intro Peverse... Almost Religious and dancey interlude Subversion skipped) as an added bonus.

Early on, new songs Cross Your Heart and Far From God prove fine additions to the Moonspell catalogue, easily as hooky and slick as fan-favourites like Opium or Alma Mater (which thankfully gets an inclusion in the set, even with the focus on other records). Elsewhere, there's the stomping heft of For A Taste Of Eternity that hints towards their extreme metal past, and even a headlong plunge into 80s synthpop territory on For The Love Of Mortals and Raven Claws, the latter seeing vocalist Mariangela Demurtas hop on for the most satisfying new romantics revival this side of Paradise Lost's Smalltown Boy cover.

Set against the dramatic backdrop of Quinta da Ribafria and with a light show that would do Jeff Wayne proud, the show has a genuine sense of occasion. Moonspell might still be goth metal's best kept secret, but for one night in Portugal, they feel like the kings of lusty, dark allure.

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Moonspell setlist @ Quinta da Ribafria, Sintra September 12 2026

1. Cross Your Heart
2. Far From God
3. Biblical
4. Opium
5. Awake!
6. For A Taste Of Eternity
7. The Great Wolf In The Sky
8. Your Promise Of Light
9. For The Love Of Mortals
10. Ruin & Mortals
11. A Poisoned Gift
12. Raven Claws
13. Mephisto
14. Herr Spiegelmann
15. Our Freedom To Fall
16. Reconquista
17. Vampiria
18. Alma Mater
19. Full Moon Madness