Canadian heavy metal band Spell has been one of the more exciting in the genre to follow over the past decade, as their sound has morphed from album to album in interesting ways. Whether it was jumping into 70s hard rock and prog for a bit to the more gothic leaning flourishes of 2022’s Tragic Magic, Spell has explored different elements without losing their heavy metal foundation. With this year’s Wretched Heart they expand upon the gothic and darker psychedelic elements of Tragic Magic, bringing Gabriel Tenebrae and Jeff Black (Gatekeeper, Glyph) into the fold as permanent members after featuring them as guests previously. It’s not quite as big of a leap stylistically as Tragic Magic was to Opulent Decay, but the quality of the writing remains just as strong.
Opener “Dark Inertia” makes it clear that despite all the exploration of gothic elements, Spell remains a heavy metal band at their core. Upon pressing play you’re immediately met with the type of galloping pace and weightier tone that anything NWOBHM influenced has pulled from, but the as the track progresses moodier synthesizer melodies and darker flourishes are layered on top of this to provide a more dynamic sound. There’s even more haziness and a sense of darker psychedelia added in compared to the last album, and when this combines with more of the gothic rock/metal elements it makes for some infectious moments. Wretched Heart does a great job at maintaining this back and forth between the heavy metal, hard rock, and gothic elements in ways that vary from song to song, and this makes it exciting to listen to from beginning to end. Sometimes things are synth heavy and have an 80s AOR meets classic heavy metal (“Take My Life”), while “Oubilette” goes full-on goth and deathrock leaning with an even chunkier bass tone. Writing wise this album does feel a little less streamlined than its predecessor, as there are still big hooks but some of the layering and more nuanced elements remind me of Opulent Decay. With that being said though, there are some aspects of the production that made the material not pop out at me quite as much. Wretched Heart has emphasized the low-end quite a bit more, letting the bass and drums really fill out the sound, but sometimes the sheer heft overwhelms some of the finer details of the melodies. It makes certain tracks come through as a bit muddier than others, and while this may be a personal preference I liked the extra space the instruments had to breathe on Tragic Magic.
Cam Mesmer still handles the bulk of the vocal work, but as with the band’s previous material you get some contributions from Al Lester as well as new backing vocals from Jeff Black. The additional vocal harmonies are immediately noticeable, as you’ll hear Black’s singing perfectly complementing Mesmer’s on “Dark Inertia”. While the backing pitches sometimes get swallowed up in the mix, after the first few times through they started to stand out a bit more as I focused specifically on the vocals. When Lester takes the lead role on songs like “Oubliette” and “Savage Scourge” this is where things head into even more of the goth side of the house as his voice is much lower and has a haunting presence. Admittedly this also does make the band’s sound overlap with many of the other names out there bringing gothic metal to the spotlight like Unto Others, but Spell smartly layers in additional backing pitches to give the material more of its own flair. There are more guests on Wretched Heart as well, so you’ll hear backing screams and some other sung pitches on “Iron Teeth”. Overall, Spell continues to utilize the different ranges within their band to their advantage and the addition of Jeff Black only makes things more dynamic.
The muddier sound on certain songs does hold things back for me slightly, but even though I have scored Wretched Heart below Tragic Magic both are strong examples of heavy metal that is willing to go outside the usual boxes. The new lineup of Spell works well together, and the way the darker melodies and synths are layered over top of the weightier foundation is stunning. It’s clear that this is one of those groups who are always interested in exploring new ground with each release, and they have yet to disappoint. Wretched Heart is available from Bad Omen Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg