Spiritual Plague - volume 1

Spiritual Plague

Volume 1
self-released; 2013

3.6 out of 5

By Ethan Skelton

Spiritual Plague takes post hard rock and mixes in strings for an even more powerful tone along with choral sounding vocals amidst soaring progressions and strong lyrical repetition. They find themselves between Skillet, Alterbridge and Anberlin. Their album Volume 1 is a solid effort in breathing new life into rock and it succeeds in some respects. The strings and piano play a great part in Spiritual Plague’s sound, filling up the spaces with more melodic sensibility. The guitars do a fine job, but some songs use outdated tone and effects, which hampered their credibility. However redemption was never more than a track away. Consistency would be the biggest fix especially for the opening tracks.

Between “Hearts” and “Should’ve Been” Spiritual Plague work on grounding their foundation of hard rock, soft verses, string complimenting and grandiose vocals. Aside from not quite nailing a single-worthy track putting these guys on the same stage as any big rock act of today would make a lot sense. I’d urge them to snatch up some national tours with the likes of Theory of a Deadman for example. 

By “Your Life For Mine” I was hoping to escape the formula of strong riff and opened up verses but to no avail. These guys would benefit from holding on to that opening riff sometimes and really bringing it home come the chorus. As it stands currently, the songs on the whole are a little too early 2000s. 

“Transparency” is a good example of Spiritual Plague moving toward that epic sound that comes so easily for them. The chorus extends into some deep lyrical content and then falls away briefly before slamming back with the heavy half time. I can’t help but hear this song in a faster tempo; all of these songs for that matter. I think it would be an interesting process for them to take a step back and review how tempo could really ignite some of their tracks. Not to say that’s an umbrella solution, but it is worth a shot. Sometimes it’s the simplest way to take a good song to a great song. 

To close things off we have “What If I Try.” The guitar is fierce from the start and this song sounds the most modern and cutting. I would recommend everyone to use this as basis for the band. The chorus has an excellent major key feel contrasting with the intense riffs that surround it. Bravo.

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