So, 2020 has been, by pretty much all standards what we in the scientific community might term “crap”. However, it has brought with it a follow up album to the rather great record “Divided by Darkness”, by Spirit Adrift, which I gave a mighty 8.5 to only one year ago. Back then, I was really struck by the take on trad metal which Spirit Adrift had produced. Rarely do albums released so closely to each other turn out well, but I was really hoping that Enlightened in Eternity would buck this trend.
We get off to a good start. “Ride into the Light” is an enjoyable upbeat romp with a memorable, if rather cheesy chorus. It’s somewhere around the lyrical level that Lemmy was pitching himself during the recording of “1916”, so probably not worth looking into for any great lyrical inspiration. “Astral Levitation” comes on next like an unholy mash up of Deep Purple circa “Perfect Strangers”, a dash of prime Saxon in the galloping outro section, and the blazing guitar solos of late 70’s Thin Lizzy. Somehow, however, it doesn’t end up just sounding like some 70s pastiche, but retains enough of its own backbone and modern production to be its own thing.
“Cosmic Conquest” has a real Spiritual Beggars feel to it, with that groove laden rhythm section acting as the solid core around which the rest of the song coalesces. Everything on “Enlightened in Eternity” has more of a hard rock feel than Spirit Adrift had before, and whether you like that will really come down to a matter of taste. From my perspective, I do like hard rock, but I am and always have been more of a metal and extreme metal kind of guy. When, for instance, “Harmony of the Spheres” gets going – with some really fantastic drum work and fast, galloping axe work, – that’s when it sounds great to me. For my ears however, much more so than on Divided by Darkness”, there are more mellow sections than ragers, and that’s not really to my tastes. Penultimate track “Stronger than your Pain” has more than a dash of Grand Magus about it (which is a good thing), but ultimately these moments are outweighed with more hackneyed rock sections which – for me at least – haven’t held my attention.
The almost 11 minute closer, “Reunited in the Void” is very interesting though. It’s essentially the kind of track that Cathedral used to put on their Eps – self-indulgent, sprawling, progressive, mad and fabulous. It’s by far the most out and out doom track on the album, and shows a riff soup approach that somehow – and despite itself – works. It’s reflective, heavy, gloriously self-assured and properly epic. I actually wish the album was a collection of four or five tracks like this – frankly, it’d have been a more memorable listen.
Verdict? Does not elude the curse of albums released to close to each other, sadly. Some moments of true genius, but they’re surrounded by moments of mediocrity. There’s till huge potential in Spirit Adrift, but they need to decided which direction they’re headed in.
(6.5/10 Chris Davison)
Leave a Reply