My native stomping grounds of Long Island, New York birthed such notable metal acts as Twisted Sister, Suffocation, and Dream Theater over the years. Hell, the legendary Chuck Schuldiner was born here, so that means we basically invented death metal too. It’s been a while since the area had a major metal champion to rally behind and support. Based on 2021s highly impressive Blood of the Old Gods release, I was ready to bestow that mantle on Restless Spirit. The band exists at the crossroads of several genres including sludge, stoner doom, classic metal, and grunge and their proprietary blend is nigh irresistible, sounding like Corrosion of Conformity mixed with Black Sabbath, Crowbar, and The Sword. Blood of the Old Gods is an album I’ve returned to regularly since it dropped and it had me hoping for even bigger things in the future. With a relatively short turnaround time, Restless Spirit are back with a new platter, and almost all the things that worked for them last time have been improved and refined. Afterimage keeps their sound intact as the band pushes their writing and performing skills to the next level. Restless Spirit take a big step forward here, but they shoot themselves in the foot as they do so, and that is truly tragic.
Afterimage is 38 minutes of excellently heavy, larger-than-life metal with a cosmic ass-ton of feeling, emotion, and gravitas. All the things that endeared them to me last time are here in greater quantity. Opener “Marrow” puts all their cards on the table and lays down large markers. It’s a mammoth song that feels monolithic but instantly accessible and welcoming. The best way to describe it is like C.O.C. between Blind and Deliverance, and that my friends is a great place to build a church. Hard rocking, heavy guitars rumble and riff to the heavens as Paul Aloisio bellows and roars like a young Pepper Keenan mixed with Wino’s dark edge. It’s an entirely intoxicating and massive sound and the slick writing and expert performances wring every ounce of potential from it. What more could you ask for? Well, you might ask for top-shelf material like this to avoid being smashed into rancid jelly by an abomination of a crushed, brickwalled sound that punishes the ears without mercy. It’s like the ruinous mix Baroness brought to the public on recent releases and it absolutely smites the high-level material in the most tragic of ways.
This is all the more depressing because every damn song here is excellent and worthy of a competent production and mix. “Shadow Command” is a humdinger of a song, loaded with lovingly heavy and memorable stoner riffs and a massive swagger pervades everything as vocal hooks and righteous guitar tricks fill every available moment. This is then all crushed into sonic pulp. “Of Spirit and Form” is the kind of song you’d want blasting as you stood facing a once-in-a-century storm and bravely resolved to survive at all costs. It’s all machismo, badassery, and raw power and it feels so good. Until it’s chewed up and spit out by the completely incompetent production. Highlight among highlights “The Fatalist” washes you away in a torrent of fat grooves and sweet, sticky guitar heroics, leveraging classic stoner ideals to near perfection. Emotive vocals push it to that next level and hook you in deep. The production murderizes it in the crib. “Hell’s Grasp” weaves in some Khemmis-esque magic and mystery with a melancholic, fragile flavor that hits hard, but it sounds so warped and distorted by the shit production that it will make you want to weep. This is an air guitarist’s dream album, with so much going on that works and gets you engaged, and it hurts to listen to it. The heavier the song the worse the production fares, with “All Furies” sounding the worst for its aggression.
I can’t speak highly enough about the performances here. The guitar work by Paul Aloisio is stellar and truly inspired, ranging across multiple genres and taking the best of each into a cohesive and masterful collection of riffs and flourishes that will impress even the most jaded metalhead. There’s so much raw emotion and beefy power in Aloisio’s playing and it really gets under your skin. His vocals are also excellent, gruff and raw but bristling with force and strength. Marc Morello’s bass is everywhere all the time, morphing and bleeding into every crack and pore. The throbbing, bubbling power he brings to the material makes it feel truly immovable and inevitable. On top of this sonic structure, new drummer Jon Gusman finds his way with thoughtful, restrained fills and rolls until it comes time to pound you into the ground. This trio is locked in, loaded and lethal and the music pulses with real energy and danger. If only it was given a proper production.
Afterimage is easily a 4.0 and maybe a 4.5 based on the material itself. The unrelentingly awful production makes it a real chore to enjoy, fatiguing the ear and drowning the wonderful music under layers of loudness that warp and disjoint what was so carefully pieced together. This would have been an Album o’ the Year contender, but it’s just too abrasive to spin in volume. So here we are watching art burn. I feel for Restless Spirit. They nailed it here and this material deserves so much better than it got in the mixing room. Check it out and hopefully your tolerance for bad mixing is greater than mine. Long Island remembers.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 2 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Magnetic Eye
Websites: restlessspirit.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/restlessspiritny
Releases Worldwide: October 6th, 2023
