I was already stoked by their first single "End of the World" which was released around August 2024. And after receiving other parts of the puzzle, "The Spiral" finally could be listen in its entirety.
What was already apparent back in August is now apparent as a whole; the EP is a coherent acoustic concept album. While the opener "In the Beginning" is a straight and pleasant semi-acoustic song with a huge epic dimension, which is ideal for setting equally epic landscapes to music. This song could be the theme song for the sequel to "Hero", "Tiger and Dragon" or even a spaghetti western.
The following song "Down" brings the listener back down to earth (sad and depressive) with harsh riffs, partially dissonant vocals and semitone steps on the guitar.
The song "Grinding Bones" is not something you would have expected to find on this EP after the two previous songs, as after a grungy beginning it removes all the distortion from the bass and guitar, thereby creating an exciting dynamic between the beginning and the rest of the song. The song then creeps up a decent tempo with a chorus reminiscent of Paradise Lost and the mood associated with it, which really makes the listener bang along.
The song "Drowning" would certainly have ended up on a Fields of the Nephilim LP with a few more semi-acoustic guitars, the chorus is so mantra-like, the instrumentation so atmospheric, the beat so straight.
"End of the World" is very sparsely instrumented and exudes a very cold atmosphere, as is the case with the end of the world. Musically, the spiral goes back to the beginning of the EP, which seamlessly follows on from the end. A fantastic record that was created with a very wide range of emotions and a feeling for moods.