Review of GOLD SPIRE - Steps into Shadow / Awakening Records

 Gold Spire are not a band you can neatly file under progressive death metal and leave it at that. The guitars and drums provide a solid connection to the genre, but saxophone, flute, organ and keyboards have been part of their sound from the beginning. On Steps into Shadow, the second full-length, these elements are still very much present. The result is a record that can be heavy and quite sombre, then take an unexpected turn without abandoning its basic character.

The story behind Gold Spire goes back to 2019, when brothers Erik and Påhl Sundström started the band in Uppsala following the end of Usurpress. Some of the original ideas eventually found their way into the new project, although the music developed in a different direction. Progressive death metal and doom provide much of the foundation, with progressive rock and jazz also entering the picture. It took time for the material on Steps into Shadow to reach its final form. A considerable amount of early work was discarded along the way, and this is also the first album to feature vocalist Arvid Sjödin.

There is a historical thread running through the record as well. The events at Ådalen in 1931, when Swedish troops opened fire on striking workers, serve as one of the reference points. Gold Spire connect this with wider questions of working-class solidarity, political tension and the gradual erosion of both social and personal structures. The lyrics don't spell everything out, and the album doesn't come across as a collection of political slogans. Much of the subject matter stays in the background, but it gives the music another dimension.

The eight tracks aren't built around a single formula. The guitars can be thick and downturned, with the doom influence becoming more obvious when the tempo drops, but Gold Spire rarely stay in one place for too long. The woodwinds are particularly important here. Saxophone and flute aren't simply added to give the arrangements an unusual touch; they have a real effect on how the songs develop. Sometimes they sit surprisingly well against the heavier guitars, while elsewhere the contrast is less convincing. Organ and keyboards add further colours, and the rhythm section generally keeps things under control even when the arrangements become more involved.

That willingness to bring different musical ideas together is both the album's main attraction and its occasional stumbling block. Gold Spire have enough confidence to avoid turning every passage into a display of technical ability, and the slower sections are not just pauses between heavier parts. Still, the material doesn't always justify its length. Some passages could have been tightened without losing anything important, and the shifts between the different influences occasionally feel more interesting on paper than in practice.

Steps into Shadow is a more settled record than a band still trying to work out its identity might have made. Gold Spire know what they want to combine, even if the results aren't equally convincing throughout. It isn't a radical step forward for progressive death metal, nor does it need to be. The album has its own character, and the unusual instrumentation gives it a recognisable sound without turning the whole thing into a novelty. Those willing to spend time with something that doesn't always follow the expected route should find plenty to explore here.

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Thanks to Grand Sounds PR.