Welcome Till the Dirt.
Created in 2020 in the USA by Kelly Shaefer (vocals, Atheist, Stones of Madness), the singer recruited Jerry Witunsky (guitar, Atheist, Ancient Death, ex-Garroted), Ian Waye (guitar, Soreption, ex-Thanatos), Yoav Ruiz Feingold (bass, Atheist, Overtoun, Graviton) and Dylan Marks (drums, Eukaryst, Fermentor) and signed to Nuclear Blast for the release of Outside the Spiral in 2023.
The album kicks into high gear with Starring Role and its sharp riffs, to which Kelly‘s recognizable voice adds a touch of screaming or mystery. The instrumental is at times adorned with hypnotic elements, before picking up the pace again to lead us into Outside the Spiral, which feeds its jerky rhythm with dissonant but heady elements, never forgetting the mystical Prog touches. Privilege follows with a relatively groovy, catchy approach, which also relies on some much more complex, even cybernetic and futuristic touches at times, before returning to more Old School influences for the leads. Peacefulness returns with As It Seems, a much more soothing composition at first glance, but chaos soon returns to the fore thanks to the blast and frantic rhythm, allowing clean vocals to appear on the choruses, before the groove returns to prove itself on Invitation and its oppressive yet hypnotic darkness. The sound seems to surge continuously, as it does on the impressive Forest Of Because, which regularly hits us with fat, heavy Stoner accents, but also sharp melodies thanks to leads that become more timid on the mysterious Who Awaits and its sudden accelerations. The track’s steady rhythm remains heady, as does the explosive Insist And Demand, which sets soaring tones in a tornado of double kick underneath the ominous vocal parts. Guitars also offer tortured solos, then return to pure efficiency with The Good The Bad The Other, which mixes ultra-fast explosive parts with more Post-Metal-oriented ones, as does Watch You Grow Old, which naturally incorporates soaring harmonics. Vocals also embrace a number of muffled, hoarse effects in keeping with the sound’s apocalyptic approach, which gradually fades away to let Bring On The Gods close the album with driving tones joining the more aggressive parts, once again feeding the obvious contrast between the different influences.
Till the Dirt mixes some Old School elements with a strange, sometimes even oppressive approach to its effective riffs, giving Outside the Spiral a truly tortured and intriguing personality.
80/100
