Spiral Grave Premiere “Out of My Head” Video; Legacy of the Anointed out Now
With veins pumping the dense blood of Maryland doom itself, Spiral Grave released their awaited debut album, Legacy of the Anointed, on July 16 through Argonauta Records. It is the culmination of two-plus years of work and a collaboration that goes back over a decade, as guitarist Will Rivera, formerly of Virginia chaos-conjurors Lord, joined together with the three remaining members of MD doom mainstays/elementals Iron Man following the passing in early 2018 of that band’s founding songwriter and guitarist, Alfred Morris III. As one might expect, Morris and Iron Man are a significant presence in the Noel Mueller of Grimoire Records-helmed Legacy of the Anointed, the very title of which acknowledges the band’s origins and the sense of duty they feel in carrying forward in the way they do across these eight songs.
Fair enough. Vocalist “Screaming Mad” Dee Calhoun, bassist “Iron” Louis Strachan, and drummer Jason “Mot” Waldmann, together with Rivera, form a presence of their own in bringing together classic metal and doomly traditionalism, offering some speedier moments that Iron Man likely wouldn’t dare in the early cut “Out of My Head” (video premiering below) as well as “Walking Talking Dead Man” and the closing salvo of “Tanglefoot” and “Abgrund,” though there’s plenty of nestled-in groove to coincide, whether it’s prior singles “Nothing” and “Walking Talking Dead Man,” or the opener “Nightmare on May Eve (Dunwich Pt. 1)” — a song with its own thrashier moments and no shortage of context to suit a band of whom the same could easily be said.
The crucial work Spiral Grave do, however — and however they do it in a given track — is to move forward from the foundation of the members’ prior work. Due homage is paid, but Rivera is a much different guitarist than was Morris, and Lord (who also broke up in 2018) have a worthy back catalog to prove that along with the merit of his songwriting and aggression-tinged approach, well suited to a lyric like “Modern Day Golden Calf,” and the brooding bleakness of “Nothing” and “Your Enemy’s Enemy,” to say nothing of “Walking Talking Dead Man.”
It’s hard to know the timing on which songs were first and which were later, since even “Nothing,” which Salt of the Earth Records released as the band’s first single in 2019, arrives with some progressive flourish in the midsection instrumental stretch, but definitely by the time the four-piece are into “Tanglefoot” there’s a sense of the progress they’ve undertaken, Calhoun, Waldmann and Strachan pushing themselves to keep pace with the riffs in a way that isn’t struggling or conflicting, but gives a sense of undertaking a new style just the same. “Abgrund,” the longest cut at 8:15, has a similar metal-of-doom vibe, and hits its payoff — you’ll note the mad screaming from Calhoun — after about five minutes in, not just in answer to the two six-minute-plus songs that led off in “Nightmare on May Eve (Dunwich Pt. 1)” and “Modern Day Golden Calf,” but for the momentum of Legacy of the Anointed as a whole. The swing of “Out of My Head,” the hook and bass punch of “Nothing,” the shove of “Your Enemy’s Enemy”; all seem to find representation and summary in the final going of the album, and the flow from one to the next is palpable despite the purposeful bumps left in the road in the shifts from one part to the next.
The duality of Legacy of the Anointed becomes a defining feature, both stylistically and in terms of the band itself, these being experienced players embarking on something new together. One would not ask more of Spiral Grave than they give here, and in terms of giving that legacy of Iron Man its due while at the same time moving ahead to something willfully ‘else,’ these songs look forward more than back. As they should.
Calhoun offers a quote to go with the premiere of “Out of My Head” below. To it, I’ll just add that given the vitality of the band’s performances throughout the record, it’s fair enough to have the video represent them on stage.
Enjoy:
Spiral Grave, “Out of My Head” video premiere
Dee Calhoun on “Out of My Head”:
I think the cool thing about the video is we shot it at The Depot in Baltimore, which is where Spiral Grave played our first show, and where we did our single release when “Nothing” came out. So it just seemed like a cool thing to shoot that video in the same spot, and we were real happy with how it turned out. Had a real fun day that day.
Produced and engineered by Noel Mueller
Recorded at Tiny Castle Recording, Towson MD
Mastered by Doug Benson at Commodore Recording Studio, Thurmont MD
Spiral Grave are:
“Screaming Mad” Dee Calhoun – vocals
Willy Rivera – guitar
“Iron” Louis Strachan – bass
Jason “Mot” Waldmann – drums
