Another day, another massive, groovy, riff machine. This time around, I am pleased to present you with the expansive, progressive, and downright dance inducing riffage of Restless Spirit, a doom band set to make their searing mark on our scene out of Long Island. They’re gearing up for their second album, Blood of the Old Gods, which releases on December 10th and they’re releasing it on their own label, Lifesblood Records. How cool is that? Almost as cool as the music itself, which perhaps most reminds me of an unjustly forgotten group called HARK. We covered them extensively on the blog before they broke up but if you’ve forgotten, they used to make this sort of uncompromising doom metal tinged with lots of post-metal influences, mostly shining through this progressive bent to their compositions. All of this pretty much spot-on describes eponymous track from Restless Spirit, which we are proud to premiere here today. Scroll down for all of the heavy riffs your hands (metaphorical hands, OK?) can carry!
Hell yeah, right? I love how Restless Spirit absolutely refuse to choose between more complicated musical ideas and the absolute swagger which powers every single one of their riffs. I especially love the last iteration of the track’s main chord progression and how much heavier it is, backed up by those robust, energetic vocals that pulsate through the entire track. Another high point of the track starts at the three minute mark, where an extended, heavy metal group of solos erupts into our ears. Not only is their technicality impressive it’s also immensely pleasing when the solos taper off back into the track’s evocative riff, made all the groovier by proximity to the more flamboyant and treble heavy passages.
All in all (and I could go on, seeing as the groove section also rules, the artwork is magnificent, and the acoustic section at the end of the track is super cool) “Blood of the Old Gods” is one hell of an introduction to these guys. I can’t wait to dig further into this release and if you feel the same way, you can head on over to their Bandcamp page to pre-order it.