Spiral: A Parasite's Guide To Rewriting History

Fifty seven minutes of music condensed into two tracks. For two-piece Spiral, doing things the easy way isn't an option. Not only do you immediately know that the pairing of Chris Boat (vocals, bass, keyboard, guitar) and Aaron Frale (guitar) are about to take you on twin journeys of epic proportions, but their latest album in a line of quick-fire releases A Parasite's Guide To Rewriting History is the first of a trio that will also relate to a book the pair are eagerly working on to run alongside their music. Spiral are not a band for small undertakings.

The first Spiral release saw the light of day in the middle of 2009, but amazingly since that time a further seventeen album and single releases have now seen the light of day. Most impressively however is that nearly all of that outpouring has been interesting at worst and captivating at best. It isn't for the faint hearted however with deeply dark lyrical themes and a dense musical approach the likes of The Capital In Ruins and Mind Trip In A Minor are harshly majestic releases. A Parasite's Guide... continues that journey, with the album's opening thirty minute title track possessing a lyric that could have multiple meanings, from the deceptions and lies of everyday life, to the grander scale of society and government as a whole. Although the claustrophobic nature of the music certainly gives a more unnervingly intimate feel to the treachery and betrayal portrayed here. Musically the feel is dank, dense and dark - exactly what you'd expect and hope for from Spiral - but unusually the lack of solos during a song of this length leaves the hypnotic melody to weave its own strangely intoxicating tale. The sheer weight and repetitive nature of what is offered up here may prove a test for some, but those who like their progressive (not "prog") to challenge and test their resolve will find a decaying delight here.

Track two, "Artifacts Of A Different Possibility" however is a far more expected slice of Spiral, with this song's history stretching back over time, being the band's "first epic" and also presented in parts on the very recent live album Live On Matijevic Hill. Boat really stretches out vocally here, his mix of rasping, warbling, guttural cries for help and yelps of despair drawing you even further into music that bounces off stoner, spacer, proger, doomer, sludger rock to great effect. Frale also decides to add a few jagged solo spots on this track, but this is not a band for instrumental pyrotechnics, rather an outlet for sweeping soundscapes that wash over the listener, gathering all of their hopes and worries and crashing them together to make a bizarrely soothing set of songs that still keep you on the edge of your seat in almost utter terror. Not only a strange mix, but one that lesser bands would tumble at the feet of.

Spiral really are a band to cherish, being an outfit impossible to pigeonhole, or draw close musical comparisons to. If that in itself isn't enough reason to investigate further, I'm really not sure what is. Visit the Spiral BandCamp to sample their strangely seductive sounds.

Track Listing
1. A Parasite's Guide To Rewriting History
2. Artifacts Of A Different Possibility

Added: July 27th 2013
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Spiral BandCamp
Hits: 2336
Language: english

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