Spirit Adrift-Enlightened in Eternity

If you’re keeping track, this album is brought to you by the letter “E”.

Spirit Adrift feels like the belle of the Headbanger’s Ball of late. It feels like everything Nate Garrett touches these days is heralded as gold. And rightly so. He and his cohort, Marcus Bryant on drums, have amassed an extremely solid catalog for Spirit Adrift in only five short years of existence.

I love that Garrett has been so prolific in his output. It feels rare these days when a band attempts to put out an album every single year. Last year’s Divided By Darkness was an absolute masterpiece of molten metal. Topping it was going to be a tall order. This latest album is a nice solid release, but seems to be missing a bit of that magic something that makes an album transcend into the realm of legendary. As expected, the guitar riffs and solos are there, but the songs themselves just don’t quite come together as much as they did on the previous album. Additionally, it kind of feels like Garrett’s vocal delivery is a little different on this album. On past albums, he has a very distinct croon. His voice feels a bit rougher on this album than in past efforts. However, these critiques are nickpicky at best. As stated, attempting to outdo the preceding album was going to be a tough task. Spirit Adrift is still one of the shining young stars championing the classic heavy metal sound. It feels like they are filling that void left by Dio and other such classic metal bands from the 80s. This album is still very worthy of your time.

Fun fact: The two dogs shown on the album cover are the dogs of Garrett and Bryant who both passed away earlier this year. As a dog owner, I can’t think of a nicer tribute to two fallen friends.

4 flip flops out of 5