Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 03:17 AM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Heavy/Epic Metal
Country: Ireland
Label: Stormspell Records
Year: 2015
The underground has always been and continues to be the elixir of immortality for heavy metal. Fashions come and go while it stands there, proud, vigilant. Although the signs of the times show us that the underground is no longer so “underground” as a movement, with countless bands and occasional fans flooding the scene, I guess it’s pretty much a fashion nowadays. The future will tell whether this whole situation benefits the scene or not. Nevertheless the matrix of the underground secretes musical creations of all kinds, from all directions and all those who know what heavy metal is all about will definitely appreciate the Irish masterpiece that answers to the name The Reaper’s Spiral.
It was certain from the beginning, that these Irishmen would surprise us pleasantly in the future. Their demo and the spilt with the Portuguese metallers Ravensire two years ago created very high expectations as excellent examples of true and honest heavy metal. Once Fortress Titan was uploaded on the net, as a forerunner of their first album, all of us eagerly awaited its release.
The Reapers Spiral, a single motion of which is enough to pull out the false perception of what is considered safe and reasonable. The Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote that “if you entice him into a cemetery at midnight, will believe in phantoms, for everyone is a visionary, if you scratch him deep enough. But the Celt, unlike any other, is a visionary without scratching.” Same thing applies here. The Celtic aura that surrounds the compositions gives the band the unlimited inspiration that embellishes the whole material of the record.
The riff-ology in Reapers Spiral refers to the most glorious moments of the European Epic / Doom scene. The proud guitar solos and emotional melodies reap as well sharpened sickles and the choruses’ make you want to raise your fist in the air, chanting the verses furiously. This is heavy metal, the sounds that cauterize our musical sensors, transferring us, even for those few minutes, in another world. The production is well arranged, giving the required space in all of the instruments to breathe. The vocals give this particular melancholic tone that seems to be the trademark of the Irish scene (see also Darkest Era, Old Season, Mael Mordha, Primordial). Musically, these lads really excelled in the synthetic part. The epic mood and furiousness of their music does not have any rival. From the merciless pounding of the opening song, The Reaper’s Spiral, followed by the four tracks of the demo, slightly changed from their early form, but equally dynamic, to the three new monstrous tracks, with Centaurean, known by the split with Ravenshire closing the effort triumphantly. For me there is no problem in the fact that we only hear four new songs. The old material had to be restored, the band acted right in my opinion.
There is extra interest here for fans of science fiction because apart from the exquisite music, the majority of the lyrics are based on the Foundation series of Isaac Asimov.
Creatively incorporating their influences in the final product, James Beattie (vocals), Paul Duffy (guitars), Gavin Coulter (guitars), David Gillespie (drums) and Dave McCallum (bass) offer us a high qualitative sample of European heavy metal, implemented in magnificent riffs and with rhythms alternating from mid-tempo to destructive outbursts, all presented under a great cover artwork which captivates you at once. They have the hindsight to know where they’ve been and the foresight to know where they are going. Let’s hope they will have the insight to know when they have gone too far.
5,5/6
