In the line of his very good third EP "Forge Your Future" released just one year ago, Spirit Adrift is already back with a sixth short album (37 minutes), but a real album, of eight tracks all the same, "20 Centuries Gone". Well no, it was a feint because there are six covers on eight tracks. So it's a very small two track EP.
The Phoenix trio has made a specialty of heavy metal in the form of a 70's and 80's revival drawing its inspiration from Black Sabbath in particular. Among the two original tracks, 'Mass Formation Psychosis' is an ode to Iommi's band with its low tuned cavernous guitar riffs. As for 'Sorcerer's Fate', it skillfully mixes influences from Manowar to Judas Priest with simple and groovy riffs, fast soli and a grand orchestration that carries everything in his path. A very good track.
About the covers, let's note the (too) faithful interpretations of titles like the joyful 'Everything Dies' of Type O Negative which plays skilfully on the contrasts between a falsely detached neutral vocal and lyrics of a cold gloomy fatality or the bluesy 'Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings' of the excellent "Fandango" from ZZ Top. The same goes for Pantera's 'Hollow' or Thin Lizzy's 'Waiting For An Alibi'. These covers are treated with an obvious respect and the variations compared to the originals are tiny.
Only 'Escape' by Metallica in a stoner way with more fatty guitars than the version of 'Ride The Lightning' and 'Poison Whiskey' by Lynyrd Skynyrd see a more marked appropriation. Nate Garrett even allows himself a fantasy on the second one by replacing the piano solo by the riff of Iron Maiden's 'Phantom of the Opera'. Sassy but effective.
So nothing new, you might ask? Indeed, only two original tracks is a bit short, especially when most of the covers don't bring much to the originals. Nevertheless, the excellent production and the sound of Spirit Adrift make the whole thing convincing enough. Under its airs of only touching the vintage heavy made in eighties, Spirit Adrift does much more than surf on the revivalist vibe of the NWOBHM. It pays homage to it without revolutionizing the genre and confirms the trend of the hard'n'heavy sphere around this eighties hype.