SpiritWorld – Helldorado

vote
7.5

• Band:
  SpiritWorld
• Duration: 00:28:42
• Available from: 21/03/2025
• Label:

• Century Media Records

Who is the only musician on the Thrash and Hardcore scene to have never worn a pair of Nike? Studi Folsom, of course, visionary leader of the SpiritWorld who, by fitting his cowboy boots, transports us to the third chapter of his horror western saga that the Las Vegas band designed on the map. Connecting to the previous “Pagan Rhythms” (2020) and “Deathwestern” (2022), this concept is in fact set in the expanded narrative universe (in addition to the music there are the short stories of “Godlessness”) of a wild imaginary West, an infernal place where not dead Rancher, dark spirits and men of faith armed to the teeth between the sun of the desert and demonic.
The most cumbersome limit highlighted in the band's journey in the first two records was to have a musical dimension, lyrics aside, substantially unrelated to the rich and characteristic cinematographic imagination: so here “Helldorado” runs for cover, increasing those moments that can transport more easily to a western context even when you limit yourself to listening.
“Skilled grime” is only the first example: a song that starts with a Honky-Mark swing before leaving in the usual Thrash assault. “Bird Song of Death”, on the other hand, mixes groove punk, acoustic guitars and country with cantable melodies; “Prayer Lips” instead surprises with sax and a melancholy tone that reflects on the loss, offering a moment of emotional breath. The ending of “Annihilism” then rides openly towards sunset between acoustic guitars, harmonious and the western epic at the highest levels, but there is no shortage of thrash and hardcore that made the SpiritWorlds popular, of course, with “No Vacancy in Heaven”, “Western Stars …” and “Stigmatized Scars” that perpetrate the Solemn Cult for the Slayer, with hatebreed and gang vocals flashes to cement hardcore influences and a few moments reminiscent of the Volbeat.
Staying extremely fun and successful in its most Heavy, “Halldorado” parts makes the experience of the SpiritWorld most varied and immersive, thematically consistent, in balance between ferocity and accessibility. Of course, there is always a slightly hidden reference to some more famous groups, and the imagination is more rowdy than deep, but “Hallydorado” remains a journey that is absolutely worth facing.
Then give a sprinkling to the cowboy hat and mounted in the saddle, but without forgetting the silver bullets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlvkav1sf9s