SpaceMetal - Shroud (2018)
Making their debut in 2015 with a
self-titled album, SpaceMetal have now returned with their sophomore
LP, and the near-hour of material it packs shows the band angling for
a blend of flavors both old and new, coming through in a batch of
doom-brushed heavy metal. Big work-horse riffs are plentiful, the
vocals take time to savor the words being sung, and the breaks and
switch-backs are rolled in and out with cool smoothness. The guitar
solos are probably where the group's Louisianan standing comes
through the clearest, with a soulful strain that could easily be
chalked in as delta blues blended with Dio-era Sabbath (“Forest of
Faith” and “The Wheel” being a back-to-back pair that really
bring out that flavor).
Lyrically, things are kind of all over
the place, but in a pleasing way, with nature, revenge, replacement,
lady-craving, existential spookiness, future landscapes, and van-art
wizards are all in play, and the singing is balanced out by tasty
extended dips into instrumental rocking. The music rarely gets
full-on heavy, but when it's leveraged (e.g., the crunchy weight of
the main riff in “New Blood”), it comes off very well, and as
something done to benefit the song, instead of just being there for
the sake of heavy. In the end, Shroud has a lot going on, and
the musicians behind it deserve recognition for putting together such
a well-rounded album, and for successfully channeling the sounds of
yesteryear while dodging flat imitation or too-accurate flab. Grab
yourself a copy once it drops on September 15th, should
full-bodied heavy metal be to your tastes, and hear for yourself the
SpaceMetal style.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Magic Circle, Pilgrim,
Saint Vitus, Valkyrie, Witchcraft
~
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