Rectified Spirit hail from Guwahati, India, formed in 2005 and resurfaced with a new line-up in 2011. Members seem to have had their share of experience and influences in many different subgenres before and combine them into this album. It sounds simple, no? They sure make it sound easy to write and perform these complex and powerful songs, something which is only possible when your heart bleeds metal.
The album opens with 'The Art Of War', a highly aggressive slab of blackened heavy thrash metal with fierce guitars, neurotic drums and a wide array of growls, screams and clean vocals. Seemingly effortless, Rectified Spirit combines Children Of Bodom, Hammerfall and Dimmu Borgir, to name a few. It's not until 'Winter In Thine Eyes' that I realize that this is actually a heavy metal band, comparable to bands like Primal Fear, Queensryche or Edguy.
Although, 'The Green Goblin' then suddenly turns the whole to extremes again and I'm even reminded of the recent post-metal era. And even then, there's so much more going on which starts going beyond my comprehension, so here's another bunch of names: Soilwork, Dark Tranquility, Halloween, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Between The Buried And Me, Pantera, Machine Head, Evergrey. I can go on like this.
But I won't. All I am going to do is recommend checking this out for yourself. Metal rarely gets as varied as this. It shifts between subgenres faster than Madonna switches outfits, resulting in massively complex and immersive songs. This is only possible when your band has a tremendous amount of technical skills and songwriting talent. I'm sure that Rectified Spirit are one of the most talented bands in India and around the world.
Serge