Single Slam – The Clouds of Damnation by The Spirit (Sounds from the Vortex)

German black metallers, The Sprit, are due to reissue their debut album, Sounds from the Vortex, through Nuclear Blast on the 10th of August. The Clouds of Damnation is the title of the first single to be released.

The Spirit formed in 2015 and made a name for themselves by working hard and touring extensively. All 4 members hail from the region of Saarland in Germany. They actually released Sounds from the Vortex in 2017 independently before Nuclear Blast took note and snapped them up. The Spirit are a 4 piece, going simply under the names MT on vocals and guitars and AK on lead guitars. Drums are with MS and bass is with AT. Not much to go on there but we do have a picture.

The Clouds of Damnation is 7 minutes and 15 seconds long and is a powerful display of force, especially in regards to the guitar work on display. From the opening crash of drums, the guitars kick in and drag you on a virtuoso display of speed riffing and soloing. The drums and bass lay a fast and thick foundation which allows the guitars to be a tone higher. The vocals are full of menace and I like how they almost sit ever so slightly behind the guitars which are definitely the drivers. It gives the track a retro sounding, traditional edge.

The Clouds of Damnation bounds along at a blistering pace as the drums pound along at an impressive pace. As we progress, different guitar tones and paces jump in to the mix as well as gloriously moody sounding solo sections. I feel like the track is more death metal then straight up black metal. A strong hint of melodic death metal comes through as well, driven by the leading guitars. If this one doesn’t get you playing air guitar while head banging viciously, nothing ever will.

As well as releasing new music, The Spirit have a busy few months coming up starting with the album launch party, a couple festival dates and then an extensive European tour with Kataklysm and Hypocrisy starting in October. You can see those dates, and grab tickets by visiting the band here.

The Clouds of Damnation is out now on all the usual streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. You can check it out at Nuclear Blast’s YouTube channel here. Preorder the new album, Sounds from the Vortex from Nuclear Blast, here. Find out more about The Spirit at their Facebook page or Bandcamp page. Be sure to give them a like or follow while you are there.

[amazon_link asins=’B07DK2RV4B,B07DJZ3CRB,B07DKG8283,B07DK66515,B07DK2T2Q3,B07DK2W468,B07DK4DKMD’ template=’UseThisOne’ store=’g0e5b-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’48d9703d-72fa-11e8-84b8-2de55cbba2bd’]