Review: Spirit Possession “Spirit Possession” [Profound Lore Records]

Spirit Possession strikes with their first full-length self-titled album and what an album ladies and gentlemen. SP summons the primordial forces of nature and all evil within the universe, there is no place for melodic passages or overproduced metal; just rawness and obscurity.

Throwback and retro bands are all over the place right now in the underground extreme metal scene, almost becoming into a trendy movement. However, SP seems to be a time-capsule band, keeping a fossilized sound loyal to those pioneering acts from the early years of metal. A frozen in time record that makes you feel in the ’80s where sub-genres were still to be defined and the music was played with true aggression and intention. In a way, you feel like in a ritualistic summoning of elder entities that are coming for your soul to make it burn in hell eternally.

Certain elements in music make it memorable and you tend to come back again and again to specific albums due to the catchiness of their sound. SP tends to create catchy, memorable yet chaotic passages that haunt your subconscious mind and soul even after you finish listening to them. The aura created here is hellish as in the vein of many black metal acts but it feels more authentic and addictive. You can’t tell if they are drawing influences from Norway, Finland, or Sweden, but you can identify the good stuff as soon as the record starts. What makes the record interesting are the heavy trashy elements infused into the guitar riffing, the band does not fall into dull contemplative black metal. Instead, the music is imprinted with violent yet simple riffs that transport you into an alternate reality where Celtic Frost (the singer in SP even tributes the powerful Ughs that Thomas G Warrior used to do), Bathory, and HellHammer are still doing great music. Less is more in SP awesome debut; the filthy and dirty production helps a bunch to transmit the infernal feeling track after track. Something I can criticize is that the simplicity of the album makes it just a little bit repetitive and predictable but is just my opinion and that fact does not ruin the experience at all.

All in all, SP is a relatively new and emerging band that has an interesting proposal into extreme underground music. If they continue loyal to this raw, violent, and primordial sound, tasty new releases will come up in the future. Their musical structure is simple but effective, it shines due to their catchy trashy influences and organic production. I don’t think there are favorite tracks here, I would take the record as a whole as outstanding; less is more and SP is the proof of that statement.

Release date: July 24th, 2020

https://spiritpossession.bandcamp.com/