Alrihkh
I purchased this album because the unusual blend of music genres (screamo/alternative/prog/ambient/rock) is interesting, giving it its own uncommon appeal. The post apocalyptic concept of the album suits the feel of the music well, and the vocal delivery sounds convincing as coming from someone suffering from post traumatic stress/horror: someone at their wit’s end. The ambient parts sound like the reflective moments of someone lost and in shock. I agree with Bucky’s comments.
6+\10.
Favorite track: One Way Trip to Solasoma.
Bucky
Progressively experimental and mind boggling, Our Final Days on Bellicus Prime spirals its way from serene atmosphere to brutal riffs and through the battlefields with psychedelic marathon solos. Intensely satisfying. This needs more faces on its page.
Favorite track: One Way Trip to Solasoma.
I know her from photographs,
videos, journal entries,
the dead speak through
objects left behind.
Memories stored
from a life that I
would like to know.
Every thought, moment,
locked in a cascade of data.
I know everything about her
But she doesn't know me
The impact is near.
Death is here.
I stare into the abyss.
The ship breaks apart.
Will the end hurt?
The door is closed.
I don't want to die.
Is this the end?
I wish I could see her again.
I don't have time.
I think of her.
My world explodes
in a flash of fiery red.
Her life scattered
on the hard drive.
Photographs, journals,
status updates
Images are
my only connection
to a woman
that once held me.
Words of the past
are my only future.
When they finally took the planet they were sent to watch,
every building quaked then fell down.
And every child’s eye will follow our last disgrace.
And everyone laughs while a billion people die.
And there’s nothing we can say now.
Our home is gone now.
What have you done?
What have we done?
And for everyone who fought there’s nothing left.
There’s nothing left now.
The cities decimated
The forests burn
The oceans boil
The population destroyed
They made their choice
They decided their fate
Maybe the next intelligent
Species will do better
A green plant in the ashes
The cycle begins again
The cycle begins again
Two species face extinction, one in the unfathomable depths of space, the other comfortable on its own world. A man and his daughter speed through space trying to outrun a missile, the deciding factor, which has more gas? A soldier is sent to a desolate prison planet to battle a beast with a very unique hunting style, it hunts through the multi-verse, killing not just on the planet, but on every possibility of the planet. Step inside… We’ve been waiting
credits
released May 30, 2014
Spiral is:
Aaron Frale – Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
Chris Boat – Vocals, Bass, Keyboard, Rhythm Guitar
Chris Walker – Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar
Bill Hatfield – Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar
Special Guests:
Felecia Karas – Violin on “Photographs”
Senda Shallow – Backing and Lead Vocals on “One Way Trip to Solasoma”
Be sure check out the short stories that accompany the songs. They are on the amazon kindle and written by Aaron Frale. You can get them all in a collection called Cowboys and Drones as well on Amazon.
This album has been years in the making. The first Sessions for the album started in late 2011 and the final touches were applied three years later in February of 2014. The album went through numerous working titles and in the end the recording sessions spawned 4 complete albums. Spiral has been flirting with the idea of a double album since our inception and this was going to be the one. We originally intended the first disc to be all 12 Bellicus songs (12!) and the second to be “Black Hole”, a 40 minute soundtrack to an independent sci-fi film, but once we started working on the 12 Bellicus songs they began to expand (as Spiral songs often do) and we realized that we would need both discs for the 12 songs. “Black Hole” would have to wait for a later release. So we began working on the songs in earnest.
One of the 12 songs we were working on was an old Snail tune called “Artifacts of a Different Possibility”. We had already released an old version of parts of the song on “Live on Matijevic Hill”, but the quieter parts seemed to fit well with Bellicus’ sound. We were also working on a heavy and repetitive song tentatively called “A Bigger Boat” and before we knew it, it had expanded into a thirty minute epic dirge. We decided to rename “A Bigger Boat”, couple it with “Artifacts” and release it by itself. This became our last release, “A Parasite's Guide to Rewriting History”.
Once we had gotten those two songs out of our system we began working on the ten songs we had left. Our intention was still to make a double album. So, as we worked we began to come up with an order for the tracks on the CD’s. Disc 1 had an incredible Sci-fi feel, while disc 2 felt a lot more psychedelic. As we listened we both began to realize that these were two different albums, so we dropped disc 2 entirely and worked in earnest on disc 1. Eventually we dropped the first track, which was a ten minute long tune we called “Zombie Song”, which eventually became the B-side to the “Photographs” single. We replaced this song with a space rock style intro taken from the belly of the song “Our Final Days on Bellicus Prime”.
This is the first Spiral album that is not a concept record. Each of these songs is a self-contained unit. It was invigorating to work this way because each song had to live up to its full potential in order to be included. None of these songs were left on just to advance the story. The sessions ended wonderfully, with the fortuitous meeting of Bill Hatfield who rounded out the solos on this album beautifully. With his addition to our ranks Spiral now becomes four, the biggest we’ve ever been! So here you have it, five songs that we are intensely proud of. Five songs that we hope will take you on a journey. Inside yourself… and outside as well.
Chris, Aaron, and Bill, the three constant members of Spiral are desert born. They played childish games amongst dunes and cacti and now, their music breathes sand.
supported by 15 fans who also own “Our Final Days On Bellicus Prime”
For some reason, what I previewed and the real songs was somewhat different - maybe because of the cover art?
But I definitely don't regret something more spacial than expected. The recent Ocean drifting in space. frankwurst
Chugging, organ-laden motorik-psych from Spanish group Melange with lockstep rhythms and kaleidoscopic vocal harmonies. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 13, 2017