Portuguese metal pioneers, Moonspell, will release their new album this year. The band is currently in pre-production with Jon Phipps at their home studios (Inferno) in Portugal.

The album will be titled 1755 and it's a quite surprising twist of events and direction for the band. Versing the Great Lisbon Earthquake (1755), the band has developed a lyrical concept that looks into the death and rebirth of Lisbon and how the disaster changed religion, politics and philosophy in the whole of Europe. The surprise is that the album will be fully sung in Portuguese!

What was supposed to be just a 4-song bonus for the Lisboa Under The Spell DVD/Blu-Ray (recorded last February in Lisbon with 4,000 wild fans attending, to be released in 2018) evolved into a full length album that will be produced by Tue Madsen (Antfarm Studios, Denmark) who worked with the band in a few previous releases (Under Satanae, Night Eternal, Alpha Noir/Omega White).

In the band's own words, Fernando (lead singer) explains: "We fell in love with the concept and made perfect sense to sing it in our national language, Portuguese. I guess we were just waiting for the right opportunity to work on such an album. Musically it will be heavier than Extinct. It will be earthshaking but also very detailed with orchestrations and percussion as we want people to relive the Lisbon of the 18th century. Singing it in Portuguese, allowed me to find a different expression as a vocalist and my job is to be the survivor of the Earthquake, roaming the ruins and telling you all about it."  

The band will tour Latin America soon and will play several festivals in the summer. Find all dates listed below:

April
29 - Stockholm, Sweden - Fryshuset

May
4 - Karmoy, Norway - Karmoygeddon Metal Festival
12 - Cagliari, Italy - Fabrik
13 - Borgo Priolo, Italy - Dagda Live
25 - Guadalajara, Mexico - C3
26 - Monterrey, Mexico - Cafe Iguana
31 - San Salvador, El Salvador - Cifco

June
2 - San Jose, Costa Rica - Peppers Club
3 - Bogota, Columbia - Revolution Bar
4 - Medellin, Columbia - Teatro Matacandelas
10 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Teatro Flores
13 - Mentevideo, Uruguay - Music Box
14 - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Clash Club
15 - Belo Horizonte, Brazil - Granfinos
16 - Curitiba, Brazil - Music Hall
17 - Recife, Brazil - Catamaran
18 - Fortasleza, Brazil - Armazem
20 - Belem, Brazil - Botequim
25 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Imperator

July
1 - Muehlheim an der Ruhr, Germany - Castle Rock
5-8 - Ballenstedt, Germany - Rockharz Open Air
11-16 - Dunaújváros, Hungary - Rockmaraton Fesztvál
16 - Vizovice, Czech Republic - Masters of Rock

August
16-19 - Dinkelsbuehl, Germany - Summer Breeze

September
2 - Markneuenkirchen, Germany - ReeveLand Festival