Two years after “Curse of Conception” the band from Phoenix Spirit Adrift returns with a less doom but more traditional and definitely great heavy metal album. The personal project of Nate Garrett shows noteworthy maturity as they seem to have a way for impressive songwriting and manage to offer not only their third interesting album in a row (and all that in only four years) but also their strongest one.
Spirit Adrift is not a one-man project anymore, along with Nate Garrett (vocals, guitars, bass) we see Marcus Bryant (great performance on drums) and Preston Bryant on keybaords. Our first contact with the album is positive through the nice cover that is made by Joe Petagno (known for his work with Motorhead, Pretty Maids, Krisiun etc)
But what about the music? Although there are no great differences with the previous album (at least not as many as between “Chained To Oblivion” and “Curse Of Conception”) the compositions are top class and the production is also very good so it’s no surprise that “Divided By Darkness” is easily their best album. “We Will Not Die” is an ideal start with its tight-riffing (definitely an instant hit), accompanied by the heavy “Divided By Darkness” and “Born Into Fire” (this one will be great to hear it live) until we reach the melancholic ballad “Angel And Abyss” (don’t miss the retro video for this) that closes the first part of the album like any old traditional heavy metal album (when was typical to have the metal ballad at the end of A side).
The second part of the album also offers a terrific set of songs. It starts with the traditional doomy but catchy “Tortured By Time”, then we have the thrashy (and first single of the album) “Hear Her” and then “Living Light” which is kind of -in your face- at first but gets more interesting after the breakdown in the middle of the composition (and some vocal harmonies by Kayla Dixon of Witch Mountain). And this is how we get the last composition, the instrumental “The Way Of Return” that includes a pinkfloyd-ish passage that completes a memorable album full of good impressions.
