One of this year’s standout offerings is Behind – Beyond (Prosthetic Records), the debut from one-man Arizona outfit Spirit Adrift: a preponderance of power and emotion leaving its listener slack-jawed. Relatively hot on its heels comes first album Chained to Oblivion (Prosthetic Records), and from the outset there seems more emphasis on the Psychedelic and Stoner elements of the core sound.
Opener ‘Psychic Tide’ ebbs and flows: heavy, pummelling drums vying for headspace with a medium-paced, filthy and groove-laden bedrock; delicate lead chords rise and tickle the senses; while Nate Garrett’s powerful and occasionally mellifluous tones soar above the whole. It’s reminiscent of Pallbearer and Khemmis yet crucially misses the former’s ability to touch the heart. It’s a similar tale with the ensuing ‘Marzanna’: a resonant might heightened by an overbearing production which, as the album progresses, becomes ever-more invasive; lead elements dancing sporadically around the weightier ingredients whilst still seeming to fall short of the emotive intensity set by that earlier EP.
The harmonic chords are again the highlight of ‘Form and Force’, the melodies within Garrett’s delivery being robbed of their potential impact by the increasingly over-polished sound. Consequently, there’s a fear that the final two tracks, the longest of the album, will far out stay their welcome: yet the chiming intro to the title track is gloriously evocative, with Garrett’s voice soaring above the sad yet occasionally fulminating lament in tributary, exultant fashion. More of those delicately picked chords lead to the track’s denouement: a pounding outpouring of hurt which should have been here from the start of the album. Closer ‘Hum of Our Existence’, meanwhile, commences with a Cozy Powell-esque tribal rhythm before segueing into a sinister yet impassioned mantra which truly epitomises the track’s title: that lead riff lending the thrumming colossus an airy balance.
There is an indisputable lack of the immediacy and warmth that Behind – Beyond possessed in spades. Despite this the belief and passion within Chained to Oblivion cannot be disputed, and it remains evident that the Gatecreeper family tree has another branch to be proud of in Spirit Adrift. I suspect this could grow…
7.0/10.0
PAUL QUINN