Metal
Century Media
Release Date – August 18th 2023
Studio Band
Nate Garrett – Vocals, Rhythm/Lead Guitar and Bass
Tom Draper – Lead Guitar
Mike Arellano – Drums
Tracklist:
1 – Give Her To The River
2 – Barn Burner
3 – Hanged Mans Revenge
4 – These Two Hands
5 – Death Won’t Stop Me
6 – I Shall Return
7 – Siren Of The South
8 – Ghost At The Gallows
Spirit Adrift started as a Nate Garrett solo project but as it has developed over the previous five albums it has become his main gig after he stopped trying to get rich or famous. He now just plays the music he wants to hear plus sobriety has aided in his cause. It took the deaths of some family members, some pets, and close friends like Riley Gale from Power Trip and Trevor Strand from The Black Dahlia Murder for Garrett to fight back, and being too stubborn for therapy he took to writing songs as his catharsis.
A twangy guitar intro (along with some running water) starts ‘Give Her To The River’ slowly and gently until power chords come crashing in and drummer Mike Arellano rattles out a time change and we’re off on a galloping metal ride that flies along for over seven minutes before the gentle intro becomes the gentle outro. ‘Barn Burner’ starts with a spidery riff and again takes off this time on a chunky groove and some fiery fills and leads before the rapid double kick and chug of ‘Hanged Mans Revenge’ brings a thrashier vibe. ‘These Two Hands’ is another with a beautiful gentle intro – acoustics this time – and we get a dark melancholic ballad where Garrett croons with a smooth tenor full of emotion and pain. Halfway the acoustics are dropped four some huge riffage and fills and Garrett then roars his pain out and takes it out on his fretboard along with Tom Draper – stirring stuff! ‘Death Won’t Stop Me’ is another heavy chugger that stomps along with lead boots before the double-picked riffery and twin harmonies of ‘I Shall Return’ brings a real NWOBHM feel. Things get punchy on ‘Siren Of The South’ as it weaves around the riff rising and falling on a dark vocal melody then the title track gives us a Metallica-like guitar line that gets doomy and heavy with softer dreamier parts midway through before getting heavy again.
Nate Garrett has put his heart and soul into this release, and I hope he gets some healing out of it because it is good. Nothing fancy, just excellently constructed songs that have been played both expertly and with a whole load of feeling. Yeah, it’s dark but these are songs about life, love, and loss and those are some heavy feelings. It’s not your run of the metal either there are loads of superb sounds and emotions happening on this which are all turned into eight superb songs. Highly recommended.
Written by: Smudge
Ratings: 8/10
About Author
