Restless Spirit – Afterimage
Release Date: 6th October 2023
Label: Magnetic Eye
Bandcamp
Genre: Stoner, Doom, Heavy Metal.
FFO: Black Sabbath, The Sword, Mastodon, Orchid, Spirit Adrift.
Review By: Eric Wilt
Restless Spirit released their debut full length, Lord of the New Depression, in 2019, but it wasn’t until they released Blood of the Old Gods in 2021 that I heard them. They were one of the recommendations at the bottom of the page on Bandcamp where it says, “If you like this album, you may also like that album,” and damned if I didn’t like it. Blood of the Old Gods was a fun and energetic record that saw the band build their own version of stoner metal on the backs of influences such as Mastodon and The Sword. When I saw that they had a new album coming out soon, I immediately jumped at the chance to review it because I think Restless Spirit is definitely a band to watch.
The new album, Afterimage, which comes out on 6 October, is a worthy successor to Blood of the Old Gods in every way. In addition to being influenced by Mastodon and The Sword, it sounds pretty apparent that Restless Spirit worships at the altar of COC as well. Guitarist and vocalist, Paul Alosio’s voice even sounds a good bit like Pepper Keenan, which is about the highest compliment you can give a singer of stoner metal.
Afterimage is filled with muscular riffs, raging leads, and soaring vocals. It’s the kind of album you can put on at a party because every song is a banger, and you know everyone’s going to enjoy it.
The album gets started with Marrow, a high-octane opener that will get the heads banging in a live atmosphere. Of Spirit and Form and All Furies keep the pedal to the metal as After Image has more barnburners on it than did Blood of the Old Gods. Brutalized is a super-heavy instrumental with riffs that rumble way down in the pit of your stomach. This is followed by perhaps the strongest track on the album. The Fatalist is a slowed down, sludgy song that sounds like what you’d get if Orchid had a baby with Crowbar. The penultimate song, Hells Grasp, is the one opportunity Restless Spirit gives the listener to catch their breath with over three minutes of clean guitars and tasty leads. This song actually reminds me of some of Spirit Adrift’s recent output.
At any one time, there is a plethora of stoner and doom bands vying for your attention and dollars. Restless Spirit is as good as any band going these days, and the eight fuzzed-out tracks on Afterimage are enough to make anyone a believer. 
(4 / 5)
