ALBUM REVIEW: Spirit Crusher – Dödsrit
Sweden’s DÖDSRIT have managed to create a strong impression incredibly quickly; since their formation, the one man outfit have already produced two full length records and procured a signing with the excellent Prosthetic Records. Not bad when you consider that the band was formed only last year. Spirit Crusher, their second album, builds on the many strengths of last years self-titled debut, and shows a band that are able to blend bombastic atmospheric black metal with a meatier and headier tones of crust punk to create some truly fierce yet melancholic music.
Aura has a dark and ferocious sound that manages to capture the sound and tone of black metal’s rawer, more acerbic side, and blending this with some impressive lead guitar melodies and subtle atmospheric flourishes that enables this track to feel both aggressive and grandiose in equal measure, without one element of the sound completely taking over the sound. There’s plenty of different parts in here, from far more hypnotic minimalist sections through to parts which possess lots of intricate musicianship, something that helps to keep this track as interesting and varied as possible throughout, without any one motif feeling as if it’s been added to the proceedings purely for the sake of it. The guitar hooks and bass lines in this track really help to carry the music, and the vocals, with a venomous, acidic edge, are hard to find fault with. They’ve got plenty of genuine emotion to them, and add a sharp layer to an already heady and impressively fierce piece of music. It’s an excellent opening gambit for this record.
Endlisa Udror is an incredibly powerful, intense piece of music straight out of the gate, with dense rhythm guitars and tight lead guitar hooks being backed by thunderous drums, quickly diving headlong into a more speed-driven, aggressive tone. This aggression rarely lets up for the first five minute of the song’s ten minute run time, providing a palpable and robust track that is cloaked in atmospheric flourishes. There are a few more measured, sublime moments as the track enters its second half, which switches the focus from rage and ferocity to transcendent and ambient. It gradually builds to an epic crescendo that makes for a great climax to an equally great song.
A Drowning Voice is an ethereally bleak and monolithic sounding song, with some great thunderous drumming and dark, jarring guitar hooks creating a vast sound that marks the track throughout. The guitars have plenty of great moments that are as impressive as they are melancholic. The vocals, shrill and acerbic, carve through the mix like a knife and add a sense of discordance to the proceedings, counterpointing the haunting and sublime nature of the music. The whole track is cloaked in a great atmosphere that makes it sound even more gargantuan and powerful, and it’s hard not to get caught up in it. The songs second half slows the pace significantly, opting for more primal drumming and far denser guitar and bass parts.
Spirit Crusher‘s fourth and final track, Spirit Crusher, clocks in at just over fifteen minutes, and manages to make the most of this songs sprawling running time to get as many motifs and ideas into this one song. Initially starting out as a very solidly atmospheric affair, with cleaner guitar tones creating a hypnotic, haunting sound it slowly but surely begins to incorporate more elements into the sound, from primal drumming to dense, sludgy bass lines, the depth of which acts as a great contrast to the razor sharp and acerbic edge of the guitars and vocals. It starts to take its foot off the pedal around the half way mark, changing the thunderous tones for much cleaner and sublime ones, with some excellent guitar work being the focal point that the rest of the music shapes itself around. It ebbs and flows between powerful density and grandiose atmospherics with ease, taking the listener on a musical roller coaster ride that sees the band make use of a variety of different guitar tones, performance styles and degrees of intensity. This is a suitably monolithic and expansive way to close this record, ending on as high a note as it opened on.
Spirit Crusher is a truly spectacular album. It’s clear that the band have refined their sound somewhat, opting to focus more on a solely atmospheric black metal affair. The crust punk elements are there if you listen hard enough, but they are more there to add aggression and ferocity to proceedings as and when required, rather than dominating the sound. This music is expansive, sprawling and ultimately epic in the truest sense of the word. With any luck, this album will launch DÖDSRIT onto the worldwide stage, and usher in the start of a long and successful recording career. It will be interesting to see how this album is topped.
Rating: 8/10
Spirit Crusher is out now via Prosthetic Records.
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