Review Summary: They do riff but they don't western.
On the band's second album,
DEATHWESTERN, SpiritWorld takes their unbridled aggression, in the form of crossover thrash metal, to the theme of westerns, hence the album title. They not only focus on this theme lyrically on a good chunk of the tracklist, but they also incorporate a couple of western-tinged guitar passages throughout the record. From the intro,
Mojave Bloodlust, to the opening forty seconds of
The Heretic Butcher, these sections feature some of the most unique music across the album as it allows for great atmosphere and melody. However, this idea is only used every now and again and ultimately feels underutilised. Additionally, it does not help that the western atmosphere is separate from the main sound, showing that the band never fully committed to this idea. If they found a way to incorporate these sounds together, the album would have been vastly improved.
However, at the end of the day,
DEATHWESTERN is a crossover thrash album, and the riffs are what truly matter here, so are they good? Yes, yes they are. As soon as the title track starts, you are immediately aware that they know how to make a good riff.
Purafied Violence and
U L C E R carries on this trend of solid riffs. The pairing of these pummelling riffs and growled vocals adds so much more punch to these songs than there otherwise would have been. The album's easiest highlight, however, is
Moonlit Torture purely for the main riff that sounds like it could be from a classic Slayer record.
Despite the solid riff writing, a decent chunk of this album still ends up feeling forgettable and ‘done before’. Amongst the sea of crossover thrash bands, this band does not really capture the same highs and energy of the best of the genre, such as Power Trip. Even compared to other releases within the genre from this year, SpiritWorld falls a bit short. Bands such as Ninth Realm and Mindforce feel like their sounds are much more unique and fully realized, while SpiritWorld do not stand out as much as a result of them failing to take advantage of a fairly interesting gimmick.
Overall, SpiritWorld releases a solid crossover thrash album that will unlikely disappoint any die-hard fan of the genre, but if you are looking for something a bit more unique, this album probably won’t cut it, and if it does, it will only be by a slither. Even so, due to the album's excellent riffs, there will undoubtedly be a track or two that are playlist-worthy.
