Las Vegas’ horror-western gunslingers SpiritWorld strike bloody gold on thumping third album Helldorado.
Nudie-suited SpiritWorld mainman Stu Folsom has always revelled in his band’s basis in a demonic version of the mythical Wild West. Populated by undead ranchers, wildly outgunned men of God and every dark spirit stirring beneath the prairie sands, it is a world fleshed out at length between Stu’s novels (the epic GODLESSNESS due to be followed by an imminent second volume tying together the events of this third album) and blood-drenched music videos that owe as much to The Evil Dead as Hang ’Em High. Musically, however, they’ve struggled to really noose their hardcore-meets-evil-thrash sound to the skeletons-on-horseback high concept. Until now.
That’s not to suggest Helldorado slacks on the mix of high-speed Slayer worship and pit-battering Hatebreed-styled hardcore that fans already love. There’s loads of that on bangers like No Vacancy In Heaven or Western Stars & The Apocalypse. It’s more that where previously they’d worried that actual cowboy sounds might weaken the onslaught, here they’re keenly integrated.
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Excellent opener Abilene Grime shuffles into life with the moan of an organ and a blast of irresistible rockabilly riffs before flooring the throttle and hitting hellish high speed. Bird Song Of Death features gang vocals custom built to be screamed along to by a chorus of cowboys in some dusty saloon at the end of the world. Prayer Lips, meanwhile, feels like the most obviously ‘country’ that SpiritWorld have been thus far been: a surprisingly tender love song in the face of Armageddon, replete with twangy guitars and a saxophone solo that goes straight for the heart.
A trio of leftfield guest spots enliven proceedings further still. Blackbraid vocalist Sgah’gahsowáh and Rise Against axeman Zach Blair lend their weight to the ferocious Oblivion. Then Kreator bassist Frederic Leclercq keeps pedal to the metal on the penultimate Stigmata Scars. But none of them can upstage Stu himself as he drops curtain with ingeniously folksy closer Annihilism, swelling hearts even as he navigates the fires of hell and stoking interest in where the devil SpiritWorld might be headed to next.
Rating: 4/5
For fans of: Slayer, Kreator, Power Trip
Helldorado is released on March 21 via Century Media
