Review TILL THE DIRT ‘Outside the Spiral’

In the early 90’s Atheist belonged to spearhead of progressive death metal that not solely counted on brutal riffpower but also had a rather progressive and layered approach to their songs and albums, like the debut still belong to the highlights from that time. Why am I Mentioning all this. The main reason is because Till The Dirt is a project of Atheist frontman Kelly Shaefer. Since Till The Dirt also features with Jerry Witunsky and Yoav Ruiz Feingold two more members of Atheist the idea could rise that death metal is also what rules on this debut album. Now, it isn’t exactly a death metal album that we are facing here.

Till The Dirt is more into modern sound that faces a wider approach too. This is already apparent while dropping the needle at the opener. ‘Starring Role’ is a wild ride and what is recognizable are the hoarse screams of Shaefer, having very little in common with growling. Furthermore, the thundering riffing is rather modern and gives Till The Dirt an own identity. Latest when halfway down the road some grunge references appear it is very obvious, that we are facing a wild blend of styles.

What strings all this together is the passion for extreme metal and it’s songs like ‘Privilege’ that reflect sheer power and flawless step outside the comfort zone. Songs like ‘Invitation’ come with a certain impatience although the moderately paced track belongs to the better ones on the album.

Blastbeats is what one gets with ‘Who Awaits’, a song that also comes with tempo breaks to spice things up.

‘Outside the Spiral’ features extreme metal and a mixture of black metal, death metal, grunge, jazz and more genres. In my humble opinion it is a bit too much and although the class of musicians can keep things together, there is a feeling of length latest at the midpoint of the album.