I think it’s fair to say that SpiritWorld have been one of the more interesting newcomers in heavy music this decade. Since 2020’s Pagan Rhythms, lead cowboy Stu Folsom slathered his boots in blood as he weaved Wild West tales branded with occult, gory themes that complement the brutality of that time in American history, marred by greed, disease, and frontier justice. It complicated an already tumultuous era with the fiction of demons and fears beyond our comprehension, and kicked dirt in the wounds made by agile and lacerating punked-up death-thrash, heavy on the melody and light on fucks to give. Over time, Folsom and the band have gotten a lot more up front with the country and folk influences getting baked into the music, and good – not only does it differentiate the band in a key way, it also plays strongly to the themes in a way that goes beyond gimmick.
This is indeed a wild time to make a stop at Helldorado though. Folsom, ever the hell-giver, injured his voice during the recording of 2022’s DEATHWESTERN, which when you hear that album, you get it. His vocals on there were intense and shredding, a dial spun to 10 then splintering and cracking from the force to reach 11. I can imagine if immense care wasn’t taken during the recording of them (not to mention the likely scores of takes it took to nail THEE one for the record), you’re not coming out on the other side the same. Not only did this inform (and force) Folsom to scale things back slightly with his vocals on Helldorado, but it also provides some subtext to the album. On the surface, it’s a rootin, tootin’, vengeful, violent storm of blood through the American West down to Mexico to pry open the gates to hell and save the soul of a woman taken far too soon by demons and the burning desire to play DOOM in real life with the legions of hellspawn responsible. Below that surface, it’s Folsom himself searching for something he’s lost as well.
Functionally, I’ll lead with the fact that Helldorado does not lose any power or menace from DEATHWESTERN which I considered at the time to be a near-perfect album. Dare I say, this has a chance to age better than that one because of its different approach. Single “Abilene Grime” tells you all you need to know on this front. The country twang in the guitars is more pronounced than ever and the vocals take on a more hardcore timbre. Stu is still yelling his ass off, but it sounds like he’s hit a sweet spot with his throat and delivery that makes the enunciation better than ever before. Think Tom Araya’s later years in Slayer, like when they put together Christ Illusion (their best late-era album). It’s great and gives key lines like ‘revenge like the devil’s kiss‘ the weight they need, just like when he bellowed ‘don’t need a cross, just the end of a rope‘ on DEATHWESTERN‘s title track.
Helldorado‘s 28 minutes burn like strong tequila, stinging and fiery. “No Vacancy In Heaven” is one of the toughest moments on the album. The riffs smack you in the face and the lyrics backhand you for the follow-up:
‘I heard that preacher say
That the final war in heaven was through
I never felt God’s grace
So how the hell could I know if it’s true?
But if they can bleed
Then they can die
And I can send them all back
BACK TO HELL’
Even the lighter moments like “Bird Song of Death” still retain Folsom’s voice and the gang vocals punctuating moments along top bona fide country rock. It’s mystic and adventurous, musing on fate and the mission at hand alike. But the big surprise comes on “Prayer Lips”, a true-blue love song with hushed vocals and saxophone, our hero reflecting on the loss of the love of his life. Even in this tender moment, it’s hard-edged, talking about carving crosses in bullet casings for his ‘date with the devil‘. There’s also the closing track “ANNIHILISM”, but I won’t be spoiling that except for saying it’s a wonderful note to go out on even though it sounds like it should be at the beginning to tee up the story.
The rest of the album is all dynamite and horse kicks to the temple though. While Helldorado is easily SpiritWorld‘s most explorative and expansive venture yet, they know where the meat lies and fans will eat up tracks like “Waiting on the Reaper” and “Stigmata Scars” and every wobbly guitar squeal contained within. The band get a valuable assist in the form of Sgah’gahsowáh (Blackbraid) on “Oblivion” with the black metal vocalist quite at home voicing a demon with prophecy on the mind, embodying sulfuric breath coating the back of your neck . You also get Zach Blair from Rise Against (an old fave) and Frederic Leclercq of German thrash greats Kreator providing guitar solos on “Oblivion” and “Stigmata Scars” respectively, a veritable motley crew of intensity.
Helldorado is just a ton of fun. The story is packed with mature philosophical asides and campy B-movie allure, like the Coen Brothers collabed with Robert Rodriguez. The heavy instrumentation calls back to the death and thrash metal pantheon, accented extraordinarily well with a keen, finely executed country music aesthetic that anchors it in a place in time as well as provides levity from the screeching guitar leads from the former genres (as entertaining as they are. It’s a concise project that reflects more of Stu Folsom’s intersections of art and influence, a new beginning of sorts as he delves deeper into his writing and storytelling chops after his book, Godlessness. As sung in “Bird Song of Death”, ‘horizons stretch out forever‘ and it seems SpiritWorld are riding out in all directions with nothing but a six-shooter and true grit to see what comes of it.
