The Downspiral to Hell

The Advent of Neurosis

CDG Records 2008

It has been 3 years since the release of The Down Spiral to Hell's debut album and the Spaniards are still brutality oriented though there is a heavy injection of experimentation within their violent framework.  With each compositions heavy, thick riffs form a lethal union with supremely deep, guttural vocals and bizarre drum machine patterns.  All this provides a sort of template for TDSTH to cast out bursts of piano, keyboards and metal squeals.  Greeting the listener with distorted vocals and ear splitting electronic sounds is Unshaken.  As an exercise in contrast, lightning fast black metal riffs are the foundation of By Seven Needles.  Pummeling riffs mete out punishment on A Withered Passage while the track constantly writhes under nonstop tempo and rhythm shifts.  A Stage of Lunacy features synthesized horns adding an ominous touch to the stop-and-start pounding that the sledgehammer riffs are administering to your face.  A bouncy, modern riff drives the initial stages of Inside Weakness and then strange basslines corrode the song into a more atmospheric passage where keyboards drop into spacey sections not unlike V:28.  Boundaries of a Mind Landscape pushes those exact boundaries with a rocking beat and experimental oddities that explode out of left field only for the track to erupt again into devastating malice.  As with some of the other tracks, the strange experimentation renders the song somewhat unfocussed and therefore unlistenable.  It just makes it hard to concentrate on all the ideas that are streaming in and out of the song's structure.  The Down Spiral To Hell has tried to present ideas new and fresh against a backdrop of traditional though technical violence.  Brutality met with a forward thinking attitude will carry music a long way.  TDSTH has that attitude in massive quantities and their album is never stale.