Till the Dirt – Outside the Spiral Review

I will never say I’m an Atheist fan. Not because of opinion, but just lack of exposure. I think I heard Jupiter once and that was fine, but I’ve never gotten around to Unquestionable Presence or Piece of Time. So while I passed up another promo, ¹ I came upon Till the Dirt. My eyes taking in the stereotypical death metal cover, I discovered that the act is a project of Atheist vocalist Kelly Shaefer, a fact which I greeted with a lukewarm “oh cool.” So, as no one else had gobbled it up, I decided that debut Outside the Spiral was mine for the taking – also cool, man. Is my indifference towards Till the Dirt deserving?

Till the Dirt is comprised of Atheist members Shaefer, guitarist Jerry Witunsky, and bassist Yoav Ruiz-Feingold, as well as Soreption guitarist Ian Waye and Fermentor drummer Dylan Marks.² With an Atheist-heavy lineup, what can we expect from Till the Dirt? Well, death metal with nu-metal was not on my Bingo card. Featuring Shaefer’s trademark screeches and snarly tenor, chunky and warped death metal riffs, and Ruiz-Feingold’s nearly jazzy noodles beneath it all, you might be tempted to call debut Outside the Spiral a train wreck. You’re mostly right.

With bands like deathcore darlings Slaughter to Prevail and breakdown abusers Alpha Wolf bringing nu-metal to new heights lows, to their credit Till the Dirt does things differently. Thick and chunky death metal riffs dominate Outside the Spiral’s fifty-one-minute runtime alongside Marks’ insane percussion, making tracks like the thick riff-fests “Forest of Because” and “Bring On the Gods” or the chugfests “Invitation” and “The Good The Bad The Other” highlights with aptly spiraling riffs and wonky melodies alongside Shaefer’s manic shrieks and sparse roars, with minimal melodramatic cleans. The rhythm section composed of Ruiz-Feingold’s noodles and Marks’ wild percussion also adds a meandering and otherworldly energy, best exemplified in the Ulcerate-gone-nu-metal³ “Insist and Demand” and the whispery Deftones-gone-death-metal⁴ tracks “Who Awaits” and “Watch You Grow Old.” Ultimately, Till the Dirt does best when they sound as pure to death metal as possible especially vocally, focusing on riffs and instrumental experimentation.

The elephant in the room is the fact that Till the Dirt insisted on sounding like Korn’s Jonathan Davis singing over old school Death songs. Tracks like “Starring Role” and the southern rock(?) flavored “Privilege” are entirely derailed by this clashing dichotomy, as the riffs are far too frail to play the “starring role,” while Shaefer’s clean vocals dominate “As It Seems” and “Who Awaits” in a way that distracts from the impressive instrumentals. This is hindered further by the sickly production that Outside the Spiral sports; while the bass is formidable and present and the drums thick and organic, the riffs feel overpowering too often while the melodies feel too crowded, and Shaefer’s relatively thin vocal performance is drowned out in the process, both sides end up a noisy din in an already noisy palette. This album with this style is also far too long at fifty-one minutes. Highlights are not plentiful enough strewn across, as “Invitation” is the act’s first hit after four tracks of mixed to poor quality. Solos, while sounding solid in tracks like “Invitation” and “Outside the Spiral,” feel purposeless and empty in “The Good the Bad the Other” and “Forest of Because.”

To their credit, Till the Dirt commits to its unique breed of death metal, if you can call it that and they are certainly passionate about it. Shaefer and company offer a platter, for better and much for worse, which improves slightly in the back half. While Schaefer’s vocals are a weak link to begin with, by virtue of a shrill trademark in a beefy album, he commits to a putrid Korn-esque clean vocal performance that drops things further still. My initial indifference is now a major blend of mixed and horrified. At the end of the day, I can only be reminded of Jeff Goldblum’s classic quote in Jurassic Park in regard to Till the Dirt’s blend of death metal and nu-metal: “[Shaefer and company] were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

Rating: 1.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 192 kbps mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Website: facebook.com/tillthedirtband
Releases Worldwide: August 25th, 2023