SPIRIT POSSESSION – Spirit Possession
October 18, 2020, 4 years ago
(Profound Lore)
There are many combustible elements on Spirit Possession’s full-length debut and the crazy part is it’s done by two people. This noisy, Portland duo is a chaotic smash of blackened thrash and while that is the most basic description, there are other layers that makes them stand out from the pack.
The elegantly haunting cover art is a harbinger of the black magic that conjures the spell of Spirit Possession: ghastly, intimidating, mysterious, and unsettling. S.’ echoed vocals are at times maddening (in a diabolical way) and full of chaos. He indeed sounds like someone possessed. Pulverizing riffs descend in pummeling fashion on the seven tracks presented and there is no simplicity to be found as pale synthesizers add an extra dimension to this entity and it’s hard to point what direction the tracks will turn to. Great care and precision definitely went into the making of this record and the technical musicianship is something to marvel at. Opener “Deity Of Knives And Pointed Apparitions” crashes in without warning and it’s startling, ghoulish screams are an eye-opener as guitars rumble in with a raw sound, taken straight from a ‘90s black metal demo. There’s a whirlwind of riffs in the “Swallowing Throne” and it literally sounds like being sucked into a vortex. The best part of this debut is that with each listen, there is a different aspect of the songs to latch onto. There’s a ton of potential with this nasty force; don’t let this one slip under the radar.
