Pulse

In today's world of Metal, it's pretty easy to find countless clone bands amidst a handful of original acts. After so many years, let's face it - there are few areas that have not been tapped by Metal bands. Thus, it becomes a bit of a task to weed through all of the dime-a-dozen garbage and find the real class acts; the bands that are a breath of fresh air in a genre cluttered with gender bending Children Of Bodom clones and countless Black Metal bands who only distribute their 1 song CD-R to their friends in return for some kind of strange sex act with an animal of their choice seem to be few and far between. Thankfully, Spi-Ritual is one of these entities and "Pulse" is one of the most fascinating and captivating works of metal that I've had the pleasure of hearing in a very long time.

Mixing ethnic and middle eastern elements with loud, blasting metal, vicious vocals, awe inspiring guitar work, an abundance of ambiance and a roster of guest musicians that could practically take up an entire page of the booklet, Spi-Ritual's "Pulse" leaves few areas untouched. Whether you fancy a fast and loud song that boasts a catchy chorus and soulful guitar outro ("This Battle Is Your's"), beautiful and atmospheric songs that really incorporate the ethnic and ambient atmosphere through the use of various flutes and other middle eastern instruments ("Khundas", "Soulgate Open"), or songs that mix the beautiful vocals of Yana Veva (Theodor Bastard) and Gaby Koss (Haggard) with Stefan Hertrich's biting vocals and epic compositions ("Pulse", "Symphony Of Life"), Spi-Ritual has something for just about any Metal fan in any mood.

Some of the best contributions come from the guitarists who participated on the album, René Berthiaume (Equilibrium) and Christian Bystron (Megaherz). Between Christian's sweeping solos and epic melodies on "Pulse" and René's fast paced solo on "This Battle Is Your's", it's very hard not to be swept away by the amazing atmosphere, passion and emotion that clearly went into the creation of this album. It would be especially wrong of me not to acknowledge Maurizio Guolo's fantastic drumming which ties the songs together in a great way, dipping into the background to add to the ambiance or give focus to other instruments when necessary, or becoming the point of interest themselves as they help the songs build to their most climactic parts.

"You Believe" takes on a particularly different sound from the rest of the album, instead choosing to take a more moody route that gives it something of an industrial feel while maintaining the Ethnic soundscapes that the album had worked so hard to create thus far. Taken together with the album's final real song, "Save And Heal" - a semi ballad that starts off soft and quickly picks up it's pace as the song goes on - and you have the formula for an album that has a little something for everyone, even those who aren't really into metal. It neither alienates fans of heavier music nor does it ignore those who like more laid back, creative music; instead, Spi-Ritual oozes with artistic passion, spirit and originality, and it's certainly not one that should be missed.

I would love to give the album a perfect score, but I feel there's always room to grow, and any future Spi-Ritual releases could be even better. Yet despite much critical acclaim (the album has rarely received below an 8, with the bulk of it's scores in the 9 to 10 range), "Pulse" continues to go unnoticed months after it's initial release. A shame indeed, as the mastermind behind the project, Stefan Hertrich, truly poured his heart, soul and every ounce of his creativity into this brilliant piece of music. For those of you looking for something fresh and interesting, ambient, heavy, or just different, Spi-Ritual's "Pulse" should not be missed.

(Note: This review is based on the 8 song re-release of the album as well as the multi-media bonus track "Soulgate Open". The spelling of the band name as Spi-Ritual is also proper spelling of the name and was commonly used when the project was first under way)