PHOTOGRAPHS

Spiral's journey of into the hot barren afternoon of their musical landscapes continues in the new year. The two track single "Photograph" is a prelude to their next upcoming full length album this spring, which will be called "Our Final Days on Bellicus Prime."

The first song "Photograph" is a rumination on death told in two or three different scenarios I believe. The three different musical sections are all very cool, the first a sort of longing, slow chord exploration very much in Spiral style with tortured vocals. The second jumps to a full blown metal guitar with huge, skull shattering power chords. And the third is the contrasting break, the breather section that again features the violin of Felicia Karas. I just love it when they do this. Spiral is so heavy and intense that these sections are really complimentary, they can be violin, or female voice, other times they have used keyboard drone, the effect is really quite perfect...giving you a taste of beauty, a moment to compose yourself....and then WHAM! Back to the mayhem...... The lyrics in the final section were especially moving to me. Someone who lost a loved one clings to their digital footprint, their journal, status updates, photos. She is dead and all he has is her written word past and his future is pouring through them, trying to feel something. Not too hard to imagine such a sad scenario.

The second track "Zombie" was an outtake from the Bellicus sessions. The is bread and butter Spiral, a slow, brooding gila monster two-step with a delirious solo by Casey Mraz, another frequent Spiral contributor. It certainly is soundtrack for zombie encounter nightmares. If these two songs are any indication the upcoming album should be another interesting chapter. I'll be waiting for it in the next dusty town down the highway, with burrito and a sweating bottle of beer, watching out for those characters from the Spiral stories, past and future...... As always, fantastic ideas for their cover art.