Coming off the sheer majesty that was the Spells of Speed EP, Portland’s Spellcaster left an indelible impression on me when I first heard them last year. They encompassed all of the brilliance of that traditional metal sound that can’t be denied or dismissed, for without it we wouldn’t have the million bastard children running rampant under the same nomadic father. That said I was anxious to dig into the first full-length Under the Spell to see if the band managed to ward off the ‘sophomore jinx’. 

When a band carries with it a true sense of the aesthetics of heavy metal the honesty of the music is hard to falsify; it can occasionally be diluted, but usually the plasticity of such efforts is easily identified. Spellcaster believes in its music, and as such said music is of high quality and has multitudinous staying power. The somewhat baseline, yet overly-tangible riffs found in tracks like “Molten Steel” or “Spellcaster” are the cornerstone of a band like this; they let you know they aren’t out to retool the genre but simply add its brand to it, and Under the Spell does just that.

Vocalist Thomas Adams is precisely the type of vocalist I enjoy because he has a powerful voice, capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound, but his reserved style is a refreshing change of pace. Far from hum-drum, Adams knows exactly where to hit a high note for effect as opposed to cause. If many other vocalists understood the difference before just ‘going for it’ I think the medium would fare much better overall. He fronts a perfectly capable band that also understands that flash never outdoes style and structure, which will definitively make Spellcaster a band to forge ahead nicely. In the grand scheme of it all, Spellcaster has exactly what the metal world needs to remain a vital, undeniable force to be reckoned with, and within the scope of 36-minutes your palate is sure to be whetted nicely.  

As opposed to the creative maturity from the EP to this, the band of course turns it up a notch, but, again, not so much that they lose the original idea; in fact, I find this to be the perfect add-on from the EP to Under the Spell because you get exactly what you expect and anticipate with these guys, which is always top-notch heavy metal music, yet the fresh ideas keep stagnation well at bay. The song “Power Rising” has a tremendous early 80’s Judas Priest feel throughout, especially in the solo and underlying riff, which is part-and-parcel for an oldster like me that loves recalling periods of metal mayhem that drift further and further from my memory bank as I get older. To see a band like Spellcaster take such a persuasive style from days of old and make it relevant and vibrant today gives me hope for the future of our chosen life soundtrack.           

What I can’t get over is how many shattering riffs and power chords there are literally all over this album. “Nite of the Hellbeast” has a seriously battering punch to it, as does the rest of the album. While you won’t get Warrel Dane metal poetry in the lyrics, you certainly won’t be disappointed in what is far more than a throwback sound to an era long forgotten. You can even get past the somewhat blueprint lyrical championing for metal that makes up “Molten Metal”, but these little nuances are easily forgivable in the larger picture. Every single cylinder is hit with amazing accuracy, especially the drums, which took me a minute or so to figure out what was so familiar about the drumming in “Sands of Fear”, but if you think back to an album titled Kill ‘em All it won’t take you long to hear some undeniable influences. As dirty a word as Metallica is these days, let’s not forget how important the sound was back when and be happy some bands can build on that with an honesty long lost to our San Franciscan elders.

If you can feasibly see these guys in concert, I implore you to check them out as soon as humanly possible. They’re just five guys that collectively pillaged the metal arsenal and put forth one hell of a debut full-length. If the song “Spellcaster” doesn’t convince you, I’m afraid nothing will, but hey, I’m only the chosen messenger, and the message is Under the Spell is well worth your attention.

Heavy Artillery Records, once more, does the movement proud!

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  Spellbound
2.  Chainsaw Champion
3.  Molten Steel
4.  Locked On
5.  Power Rising
6.  Nite of the Hellbeast
7.  Sands of Fear
8.  Spellcaster

Total playing time:  36:28

Release Date: July 12, 2011
Label: Heavy Artillery Records

Spellcaster - Under the Spell

Reviewer: Chris

July 4, 2011

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