Spirytus – Spirytus CD review

Originally released in 2010, Spirytus’s self titled debut album has become available again for the public to buy and it’s only in 2012 with the ever growing rise of the Djent and progressive movement that Spirytus are getting the respect and admiration they deserve. Although this is more of a long EP than an actual album – Spirytus show both their extremity and their melody on this release, presenting the listener with a diverse collection of groovy, down tuned, progressive metal that is awesome throw down and head bang to. If you want something different and unusual, but still heavier than a ten tonne weight crushing a granny then Spirytus are the bands you need to check out, as they are one of the best metal bands to emerge from the UK metal scene in the past ten years!

When you get the simple yet effective album cover, Spirytus is an album that is heavily built around slick and groovy bass guitar lines. That plus the dual 8 string guitar riffs are a superb head pounding combo in tracks such as ‘Bullet Ride’, ‘You Don’t Know’ and ‘Crucify’, adding a whole new dimension of musical technicality to Spirytus’s music. It’s completely different and dissimilar to anything done before in the metal scene, and it’s the brilliant and diverse combination of 80’s funk and balls out heavy alternative metal that makes this album so memorable.

There isn’t one dull moment on this album and one thing that makes the tracks on Spirytus stand out is Ryan Walton’s monstrous vocals. He is such a talented vocalist, mastering both the melodic and the brutal as he sings and growls his way through tracks like the beat down filled ‘Taken Away’, the dark powerhouse that is ‘T.V Clown’ and the driving ‘Schizophrenic’. There are elements of Soil, Disturbed and Drowning Pool in these songs, but the fact of the matter is he is far better, and much more talented than the vocalists in those bands, adding his own interesting spark/uniqueness to them.

There is nothing wrong with any of the tracks on Spirytus, but it would be good to see the band experiment with something more melodic and slower. It’s all good going full out aggressive and fast, but to appeal to a wider audience and fully show off every member of the bands talents, Spirytus may have to write a long, drawn out melodic piece on their next album to show that metal bands are not just about writing ear bleeding heavy music.

Spirytus is one of the finest debut albums to come from a UK metal band, and with seven all killer, no filler tracks on it; every track on this album will no doubt be blasting through your speakers for years to come… 110% GOD DAMN GROOVELICIOUS! [8/10]

1. Bullet Ride
2. Taken Away
3. You Don’t Know
4. T.V. Clown
5. Heaven hates You
6. Schizopherenic
7. Crucify