The sun beats down on your stetson covered head, the dust swirls around you and dries your mouth and throat. Wandering across a sacred and charred apocalyptic landscape, chaos has been unleashed on the world and somehow, by some miracle, you have survived to live another day. Stu Folsom and SpiritWorld present us with the eagerly anticipated follow up to the band’s infamous debut album Pagan Rhythms, a story of frenzied survival going by the name of Deathwestern. With massive 1980s drum production, crushing hardcore riffs and a hefty dose of thrash metal worship, Deathwestern is even more barbaric and brutal than its predecessor. The album carries on where Pagan Rhythms left off, and brings with it a whole host of intriguing and unlikely heroes with it.
From the first ringing acoustic guitar notes ‘Mojave Bloodlust’, instantly you’re transported to the dusty trails of the desert. This particular desert is located south of heaven and west of hell, in the darkest, most apocalyptic, horror-western inspired corners of Stu Folsom’s imagination. With a massive creative burst leading to the rapid creation of the album and the more vivid and fleshed out world narrative that Folsom had written alongside it, Deathwestern is the savage and blood drenched sequel we’ve all been waiting for. In this hell-scape a gallery of rouges emerges with tales of bloodlust, torture, gore and survival in an ever chaotic world. These characters include; gunslingers, necrophiliac preachers, Comanches (a Native American tribe) and a train hopping, serial sodomite demon slayer. One fascinating aspect about Deathwestern is that events on this album run parallel to the events on Pagan Rhythms, inextricably linking the two albums. However, Deathwestern doubles down on the thrash metal carnage, creating a relentlessly pummelling album that will leave you winded with every thunderous double kick drum barrage. There is a lusciously devastating amount of thrashing, whiplash inducing, sonic violence on this album that would make the likes Slayer, Power Trip and Get The Shot proud.
With the album artwork’s central figure drawing you in with his demonic eyes, Deathwestern definitely has a bigger budget, Hollywood appeal to it, SpiritWorld sound bigger and better than ever. Thunderous rhythms, tight grooves and an unholy amount of distortion, what is not to like? The album still contains a sinister rawness, with the dive-bomb squeals on songs like ‘Purified In Violence’, ‘Crucified Heathen Scum’ and ‘DEATHWESTERN’ all sounding like they have come screeching out of the depths of the Satanic Panic and the frenzied madness that came with it. Yet, this album is here to claim your soul, there’s no hiding from the demons that reside in this earth shattering album. SpiritWorld also add to the grim and haunting atmosphere with snippets of films, screeching torture victims and short atmospheric burst of eerie acoustic melodies like the introduction to ‘The Heretic Butcher’ and ‘1000 D E A T H S’. The band really have gone out of their way to create a truly immersive, cinematic experience which is rare on thrashy hardcore albums. Stu Folsom’s strange vision, that was first realised on Pagan Rhythms, has been fortified in emphatic fashion. With crushing riff after crushing riff pounding your skull like the burning rays of a red, fiery sun, you can’t help but sit back and marvel the sheer creative genius on display.
SpiritWorld have cemented their standing as one of the most conceptually unique bands around. Deathwestern is a vivid and chaotic exploration of a horror filled wild west, and it is safe to say that if this were a blockbuster film then you wouldn’t want to miss it. SpiritWorld have thrown their ten-gallon hat in the ring for album of the year.