AN NCS PREMIERE: SPIRE — “LABYRINTHINE”

 

Australia’s Spire have been rising steadily from underground depths like an obsidian tower surging through basaltic slag. They first appeared through a self-titled EP in 2010 and then followed that with 2011’s Metamorph EP and a 2015 split with Midnight Odyssey. Continuing their upward momentum, the band have now recorded a debut album entitled Entropy, which will be released on the 19th of August by Iron Bonehead Productions.

The first advance track from this imposing monolith surfaced in June, and “Void” proved to be a dense and devastating hurricane of sound, a deeply doomed and despairing brand of black metal. Now we give you the chance to hear a second track. Fittingly, this one is called “Labyrinthine“.

 

 

The unearthly notes, groaning chords, and deep wails that begin the song are both unsettling and hypnotic… and the sense of being pulled into a vortex of otherworldly menace and suffering only grows stronger as the power of the music suddenly explodes. The deep thunder of the bass and drums, the unnerving dissonance of the riffs, and the hair-raising cries of Spire’s vocalist send the imagination spiraling into a dark, disorienting dreamscape.

The speed and volume of the music ebb and flow, but “Labyrinthine” remains shudderingly intense from start to finish. It’s a wholly immersive and transporting piece of music that generates an aura of malignant grandeur at the same time as it tears at the fabric of sanity.

 

Featuring artwork by Ryan Thompson, Entropy will be released by Iron Bonehead Productions on August 19 in both CD and LP editions.

Below you will find streams of both “Labyrinthine” and the previously released “Void”. To learn more about Spire and Entropy, check this recent interview.

https://www.facebook.com/Spire-162076060469674

http://www.ironbonehead.de/