SpiritWorld – Helldorado
SpiritWorld – Helldorado
Century Media
Release Date: 21/03/2025
Review by Rory Bentley
8.5 /10
It’s a tale as old as time, Las Vegas man writes Hardcore/Crossover Thrash albums to soundtrack his Western Horror Fantasy series whilst dressed like a dollar store old-timey preacher. Actually, no it isn’t, that’s really fucking weird- but also great! Like why has nobody thought to do this before?
Thank the Lord for Stu Folsom, then who got fists flying and yees-hawing in the very well received “DEATHWESTERN” breaking through like an outlaw kicking open the doors of the Metal Corale. I’m going to keep throwing in these laboured cowboy analogies for the entirety of this review, so strap in, Pardner. Whilst a really fun record bursting with creativity and quirks, the hoe-downs and the break-downs tended to be separated. For me it was a really good Hardcore album with a great concept occasionally punctuated by some Spaghetti Western bits that added a bit of colour rather than an integral part of the sound. “Helldorado” sees the band meld these disparate styles together, as the line dance and the two-step become one. The result is one of the most bonkers releases you’ll hear in heavy music all year, but does it actually work?
Well there, Padre, I’m mighty pleased to tell you that Folsom and them boys have largely made this rootin’ tootin’ son of a gun work real nice. ‘Abilene Grime’ wastes no time establishing SpiritWorld’s new sonic shift, immediately inserting some Country swing into the more familiar Crossover Thrash sound of yore. It’s a little jarring at first, particularly with Fulsom’s new partly crooned, partly barked approach, but after a bit of mental recalibration I dug it. The fact that the band still go harder than a prospector’s kidney stones in the beatdowns also ensures that there is plenty for meatheads like me to bop along to with comforting familiarity.
The chugging Slayer-flecked divebomb feast of ‘No Vacancy In Heaven’ sees the band on more familiar ground and were it not for the biblical lyrics of a grizzled outlaw riding towards ruin on the dusty planes, it would slot nicely into any modern-day Crossover throwback. It gives the listener time to bed into the wild ride ahead and makes it clear that despite a multitude of quirky sonic additions, there will be a healthy dose of headbanging on offer throughout. After more pit fodder on ‘Westerns Stars and The Apocalypse’, things go full Outlaw Country crossed with Street Punk on the fantastic ‘Bird Song of Death’, which lands somewhere between Hank III and The Dropkick Murphys with its driving slide guitars and “whoah-oh!” gang vocals as Fulsom goes full on storytelling balladeer. The major chords and Fulsom’s gravelly sung vocals will prove divisive to people that will only accept their Hardcore in its most po-faced form, but to me it feels like a huge triumph. Like a more ragged round the edges Volbeat with the Metallica influenced subbed out for Suicidal Tendencies. This is followed by the outright balladry of ‘Prayer Lips’ which segues beautifully out of its predecessor into straight up rootsy Folk, like a Stetson-wearing Nick Cave and sets up the next ass-beating rager perfectly.
The riffing on ‘Waiting for the Reaper’ is as thrilling and deadly as you could ever want from a 21st Century Thrash song. The guitar tone is as thick and girthy as buffalo sandwich and the gang vocal chorus is catchier than whatever mutant syphilis was doing the rounds in the back-alley brothels off the Old West. Somehow by adding a little Americana to the mix the tired trops of shouting about hell and grim reapers over Slayer riffs feels fresh as a sweet summer morning on the meadows. Yes, I am still going with this tedious cowboy/Western analogy.
Things continue to plow this Thrashy furrow until ‘ANNHILISM’ comes in right at the end to deliver a knockout blow. Simply out this is just a straight up beautiful country ballad, with twanging electric leads and rustic acoustic strumming and Fulsom in full troubadour mode. When he delivers the closing lines of “This runnin’ gun ain’t fixin’ to run anymore’ I get genuinely choked up. Which is an awkward situation to be in at six o’clock on a Monday in crowded gym after ‘Stigmata Scars’ has made you ego lift to the point of injury moments before.
I still believe that there is more work to be done to organically meld the Countryfied elements with the Slayer-isms, and this may be a little too silly for the average Terror fan- but I fucking love this album! It’s a shitload of fun, has a distinctive artistic direction and it is willing to try new things whatever the cost. I fully back the band to evolve into their final form on the next record, but for now “Helldorado” is more than enough to satisfy my appetite for Hardcore gold. Fill your hands ya filthy varmints- there’s a new Sheriff in Town and he’s about to hit the pit!
‘Abilene Grime’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Abeline Grime
02. No Vacancy In Heaven
03. Western Stars & The Apocalypse
04. Bird Song of Death
05. Prayer Lips
06. Waiting on the Reaper
07. Oblivion
08. Cleansing
09. Stigmata Scars
10. ANNIHILISM
LINKS:
