Visions Shifting Form: A Sonic Odyssey through Cleveland’s Black Metal Abyss with Spiral Staircase!
Visions Shifting Form Review:
Spiral Staircase are blistering, tight, and punchy as fuck black metal from Cleveland, Ohio. When I think of Cleveland I think of Drew Carey and not some of the best black metal to grace these ears in 2023. I had to have the limited yellow vinyl pressing, which was sold out, so I found a great seller on discogs who delivered a copy in pristine condition.
I first listened to the ‘Visions Shifting Form’ album on bandcamp and was immediately pulled in by this one man project of kvlt black metal barbarity. The first time I spun the vinyl I realized all the hype surrounding the sound of the record perfectly suiting the dirty low-fi feel and the atmosphere that the vinyl format projects, catapulting this style of music. Countless spins later and let’s try to sum up Visions Shifting Form.
J.H. (Justin H.) is the man behind the project, also going by the moniker Dread. Dread has a number of other projects including Triangulum whose full-length release ‘Bringer of Death’ is another one to add to the list it’s that good.
Spiral Staircase have two other releases titled ‘Collection I’ and ‘Collection II’ which incorporate all past material into a couple albums. You can check those out on the band’s bandcamp page here and here.
I know the ‘Collection I’ vinyl is still available in limited quantities from some sellers.
The previous material has a dirtier underproduced low-fi harshness which is some fans preference. ‘Visions Shifting Form’ went with a cleaner approach which emphasizes the guitar work and those punk/black metal drumming techniques. The drums sound great on here, driving the whole affair at breakneck speed. I’m all for grimy sounding black metal but sometimes its nice to display the talent and instruments involved so you can actually hear them.
The cover art stuck out on the release to me. The sinister haunted house, cracking lightning, ominous figure in the background — it all looks majestic and belongs delivering that foreboding feeling.
The maestro of the project Dread can be found posing on the back cover and on an included mini-poster in a standard black metal troupe style with homemade spiked bat, elongated spiked wristbands adorned with chains at a local cemetery or cathedral.
Stand out songs on here for me must be ‘The Returning,’ the melody and riffing in the intro had me hooked immediately, scathing speed with an unyielding memorable composition. ‘The Scrying House’ has this mid paced riff part way through which grabbed my attention. The title track is another favorite, it’s so easy just to spin this from beginning to end. The Asakku cover is well done and slows things down with that melodic intro, a very cool choice from a prolific German black metal band who released a bunch of demos, splits, and an EP from ‘94 to ‘97. Asakku are another one to look out for. They thrive on raw yet supremely melodic compositions in their material.
Spiral Staircase checks off all the boxes with ‘Visions Shifting Form’ and then some. This is seven tracks of memorable black metal which doesn’t let up, all encompassing controlled chaos with light touches of melodic fury. The scorching black metal vocals, punchy drumming, and riffs galore, all meld together in perfect unharmony.
Available from Death Hymns: deathhymns.bigcartel.com/product/spiral-staircase-visions-shifting-form-lp
Album Info:
Band: Spiral Staircase
Album: Visions Shifting Form (Limited Edition Yellow Vinyl)
Members: Justin H.
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Runtime: 30min 07sec
Label: Death Hymns
Track Listing:
01. Infinite Shadow
02. Returning
03. In the Scrying House
04. Visions Shifting Form
05. The Hallucination
06. Empyreal Wolven Gate
07. Endless Woods (Asakku cover)
