Moonspell
Hermitage

Listening notes

Moonspell's *Hermitage*, released in 2021 on Napalm Records, arrives on vinyl under catalog number NPR998VINYL. The Portuguese act, working across gothic metal, progressive metal, and rock, presents an eleven-track record spread across four sides, a configuration that gives the album considerable physical presence as a double LP.

The tracklist opens on the A side with "The Greater Good," followed by "Common Prayers" and "All Or Nothing," before the title track closes out the first half of the record. The B side picks up with "Entitlement," "Solitarian," and "The Hermit Saints." Flipping to the C side, listeners encounter "Apophthegmata," "Without Rule," and "City Quitter (Outro)," while the D side holds a single closing track, "Darkness In Paradise."

The four-sided layout is worth noting for collectors considering this edition. With eleven tracks distributed across two discs, the sequencing places the outro function of "City Quitter" near the end of the third side rather than at the album's absolute close, with "Darkness In Paradise" occupying the final side alone. That structural choice, whether intentional sequencing or a practical result of runtime, gives the D side a degree of isolation that distinguishes this vinyl edition's architecture from what a standard two-sided or digital presentation might suggest.

The album's genre tags — gothic metal, progressive metal, and rock — reflect a range broad enough to indicate Moonspell working across tonal and structural registers. The title itself, *Hermitage*, along with track titles such as "Solitarian," "Without Rule," and "Apophthegmata," points toward thematic concerns around withdrawal, solitude, and possibly contemplative or religious tradition, though the content of the lyrics is not addressed here.

This draft has been prepared for fact-checker review. No claims regarding sound quality, pressing details, personnel, or reception have been included.