Vital Spirit finally announces its debut album.
After a first EP in 2020, the canadian band composed of Kyle Tavares (guitar/bass/vocals, Wormwitch, Seer) and Israel Langlais (drums, Wormwitch, Unbeheld), unleash Still as the Night, Cold as the Wind.
The album begins with the raw melodies of Blood and Smoke, a weighing and dark track which lets ghostly howlings join the fast rhythmic. Old School and airy harmonics also appear, like those haunting elements before Bad Hands come to shroud us with its aggressive dissonance. The hooking sound offers more cheerful influences, then Dawn of Liberty darkens the ambience again with more warlike hits. Ice-cold Folk influences strengthen straightforward and sharp riffs, then a very soaring break comes to appease us before making rage spawn again, driving us to The Long Walk and its heady introduction, then the band offers more experimental patterns, creating an original rhythm before Withering Fire comes to flood us with blast. Epic melodies meet more Old School patterns, then the quietness of Saccharine Sky slowly invades us, accompanied by cold Folk roots. The sound intensifies on the final, right before White Eyes makes the burning and melodic saturation come back. Sharp leads meet unchained screams and the unstoppable wave of blast, then Lord of the Plains come to close the album with haunting riffs, creating a heady vortex of weighing blackness, which will explode while wearing rage. The soaring break allows this impressive final part to have an insane impact.
Vital Spirit’s ice-cold universe expands with seizing and melodic compositions. Still as the Night, Cold as the Wind knows how to be majestic and raw, creating a seizing veil to walk with ghostly howlings.
90/100