Hail Spirit Noir – Fossil Gardens Review

[Cover art by George Baramatis]

The cover art for Hail Spirit Noir’s fifth studio album, Fossil Gardens, is a bit of a head-scratcher until you remember where they’re from and what they do. Maybe (probably) you’re smarter than the schlub writing this review and got it right off the bat. Way to go, buddy! If not, the juxtaposition of a humanoid form composed of marine life elements set against the deep night sky symbolizes, at its simplest, the relationship between people and the heavens above. More meaningfully, the art is a reflection of the relationship between the particular people in the band, who are from Greece, and their muse, the pursuit and process of understanding. The seashells represent Mediterranean heritage, local experience that grounds the philosophical reach to the cosmos, one intimate instance of that connection’s larger implication of the human need to understand ourselves, to know our meaning, to confirm our meaningfulness.

Since 2010 (and for ten years prior as Transcending Bizarre?), Hail Spirit Noir has been making psychedelic and prog rock-infused black metal, embracing extremity to varying degrees, to where 2020’s Eden In Reverse featured no harsh vocals, leaning into melody and harmony for that dark, foreboding atmosphere and to great effect. And 2021’s offering, Mannequins, featured only keyboards and vocals, a “one-off, synthwave, sci-fi pop album” to celebrate the band’s 10th anniversary. This is an adventurous band then, to say the least.

Fossil Gardens brings the black back with the most consistently extreme sound since Transcending Bizarre?, a shift that certainly isn’t surprising, as welcome as it may be. More importantly, Hail Spirit Noir has always exerted their boldness with a careful commitment to their essence, that inquisitive introspection, especially into our darker nature, embodied by psychedelia. So the synthesizers and strangely soothing melodies remain prominent, animated by a production approach that maximizes the impact of each to the benefit of all. “The Temple of Curved Space” is a great place to notice this.

Is this black metal? Sure, but not just. Is it psychedelic? Well yeah, but more than. Progressive? For sure, but not in some of the obvious ways that tag implies. So, yes, there’s blast beats and tremolo riffing and harsh vocals that impart an air of coldness and dark. And there’s mysterious melody and swirling synthesizer sounds painting waves and streaks of colorful light across the black. On its face, this might seem pretty familiar, but “The Temple of Curved Space,” and Fossil Gardens more broadly, integrate component parts so seamlessly that it becomes a thing of its own, rather than one trying to do another.

It may be down to personal taste, but there’s an argument for depth of concept in assessing the greatness of a record. How well and completely the cover art, lyrics, and story (or at least theme), are incorporated with the songs and their music into a cohesive work of art. In this regard, Fossil Gardens succeeds as well as any other Hail Spirit Noir album, and maybe more. The harsh vocals, for example, are far away in the soundstage, while the cleans are right up front. Basically, this arrangement just sounds pretty great, emphasizing the contrast that so much extreme metal (and music generally) exploits for effect. But, in the context of this album’s themes and those of albums prior, it’s reasonable to find some simple but important symbolism there, the harsh vocals expressing our baser, corporeal selves and the cleans representing our greater awareness, that pioneering curiosity that points us beyond ourselves and to the stars, as daunting as that can be.

The clean vocals on Fossil Gardens deserve special attention. Production is important again here, as the sung vocals and wonderful harmonies are projected from above and cast wide so they envelop but are also warm and comforting in the way of a spirit guide or higher consciousness. Especially in the context of darker overall sounds, that bright melody together with tremolo riffs sweeping and swooping between complementary guitars, layers of ethereal keys, and sweetly singing leads is tremendously uplifting.

Reducing the notion of extreme metal to one of badness or evil would be (and often is), of course, an unfortunate overgeneralization. Devotees, also of course, know that the genre reflects as full a spectrum of perspective and experience as the people who comprise its base. Anger and pain and fear, sure, but also love and excitement and, as here, wonder and awe and yearning for growth, the irresistible push against boundaries. Fossil Gardens is a wonderfully executed example of this, a beautiful aural mural depicting the joy of discovery even in the darkness of unknowing.