Short Reviews [Hail Spirit Noir - 2024 - "Fossil Gardens"]

Formed in 2010 as a trio, this Greek psychedelic prog/black metal outfit has long experimented with different styles and the best way to describe this album is probably “eclectic”. On this release, founder members Theoharis (guitars, vocals), Haris (synths) and Demian (bass, guitar solos) have again been joined by Foivos Chatzis (drums) who started playing live with them in 2016 before becoming a full member in 2018 while Dimitris Dimitrakopoulos again provides clean vocals as he has on all releases apart from 2021’s ‘Mannequins’. Note, that was almost a side project in many ways and this album is seen as the successor to 2020’s ‘Eden In Reverse’, albeit with less people involved. If one listens to some sections of some songs then it is obvious they are coming to music from the genre of black metal, yet highly polished albeit very powerful, aided again by Dimitris Douvras (Rotting Christ, Nightstalker) and Magnus Lindberg, member of Cult of Luna and world-renowned mastering engineer, who handled the production duties. But then there are plenty of others when the approach is more prog metal, and others when it is something which is quite poppy in nature. One never knows what is going to come next and if someone is looking for something which stays in one place without venturing into another then they will probably find this album way too distracting and without enough focus. But, if the listener wants to be taken on a journey where there is no clear path, then this might be of interest. The title track can be blasting along or move into a section where there are just held-down keyboard chords overlaying pounding drums, before moving into something which is massively over-produced and building into something anthemic. One never has the opportunity to rest and there is this constant feeling of a band who are not interested in staying in one place but instead will keep mixing it up. There is no doubt that the result is somehow challenging and interesting at the same time, as here is a band who truly are progressing the genres as they mix and meld them into something quite unusual. This will not be for everyone, but if you can follow their thought processes then there is no doubt this a very interesting release indeed.