Review: Crystal Spiders ‘Metanoia’
Crystal Spiders are back baby!! And this time there’s more of them. One of North Carolina’s premier hard rocking monoliths climb out of hibernation and are gracing us with a brand-new album entitled Metanoia. It’s seven monstrous riff laden tracks, brimming with fuzzy guitars, pummelling rhythms and a hypnotic sultry vocal that’s impossible to ignore.
Complete with a couple of new sidekicks, Brenna Leath is turbocharged and ready for maximum chaos. Newly installed cohorts Aaron Willis and Reid Rogers assume the drum and guitar parts respectively, and overseeing production again is the legend that is Mike Dean of Corrosion Of Conformity, assuming all the nob twiddling majesty.
As a long time Crystal Spiders fan, I’ve been along for the ride since their debut album Molt was released back in 2020, as I reviewed it right here on The Sleeping Shaman. Then again in 2021, I covered the follow-up album Morieris. With each new release, I saw the band go from strength to strength, and with Dean in the mix, it was always guaranteed to be something special.
Now, here we are, somehow its four years later already, and there’s been a shift. Not only in personnel, but also in dynamics and to a certain extent in sound too. Obviously, this was always going to happen with new band members coming in, but Crystal Spiders 2025 has a different swagger to the Crystal Spiders I’ve known to this point.
Let me elaborate….
On the first two albums there was a vibrancy that comes with any new band. A dynamic that is driven by a need to stand up and be noticed. Both of these album’s had that, and the mix of urgency in Brenna’s vocal, the aggression in the drumming, and the fuzziness of the bass and guitar, it felt like there was a mission, and that was to break out as spectacularly as possible.
With Metanoia it’s different. That doesn’t mean worse, it just means it’s different. The whole vibe doesn’t feel like an emerging band, more like a band that’s arrived, are happy and at home with where they are now at.
There’s no doubting the quality of the musicianship, it’s mesmerising, but there’s been a shift in dynamics. It’s hard to pinpoint without it sounding like a moan, but what gave the band an edge on the early work isn’t so evident now. In its place is an air of competence and satisfaction in where the journey has taken the band. Objectively, the shift feels like they have found their comfortable groove, which is incredible, and in doing so, the grasp of their previous work has washed away and left a sonic plateau that is a thing of beauty to behold.
seven monstrous riff laden tracks, brimming with fuzzy guitars, pummelling rhythms and a hypnotic sultry vocal that’s impossible to ignore…
With Metanoia the band have found a sense of enjoyment which is evident through the music, and it sounds and feels like they are having a blast whenever they play together. The vocal is somewhat less intense, while still being a powerhouse, and whenever Brenna sings, it utterly destroys me. So powerful, so hypnotising, it’s a voice in a million.
As always, the bass is so bassy that it doesn’t only rumble along, it drives the experience. It’s like a juggernaut, and I can only imagine what a challenge it must be keeping up at times. Add to that some truly world destroying percussion, and the backline really is second to none.
And then there’s the guitars….
Now, one thing that was always at the forefront of Crystal Spiders was the dynamic mix of incredible vocals, driving bass, and thunderous drums, which took centre stage in equal measure. What wasn’t always as instantly pronounced was the guitar. A lot of the time, it was there, but the powerplay of each other’s elements outweighed what would usually be at the forefront, especially on the breaks, and that was guitar solos. Well, this hasn’t only been addressed, it’s been overhauled and upgraded. When those opportunities arise, they are so enormous that they are gargantuan. Their inclusion throughout this new album really is a welcome one indeed.
What this does is push the band from their trademark doomy stoner hard rockin’ badassery, and more so leans the sound into a hard rockin’, less stoner vibe. It nudges towards a more classic rock old school band sound, without sounding dated.
Tracks such as album opener Torche and Ignite are good examples of this newfound Crystal Spiders sound, where the energy is as vibrant as ever, yet there’s an extra layer of adventure in the mix to shake things up. It’s especially noticeable on tracks like this where those new elements are instantly evident, and with Brenna’s vocal as intoxicating, there’s nothing but pure happiness for these moments.
Then we have Blue Death and OS take us down a far darker path that’s firmly into Windhand territory, without ever really sounding too much like Windhand. Add to that the likes of Time Travel and Maslow and all those Mike Dean COC vibes running amok throughout, what you are left with is an album filled with absolute bangers from start to finish.
Metanoia may not be Crystal Spiders as they were, but it’s Crystal Spiders 2025, a newer, less intense, but more defined version. All the heritage with new ideas, what’s not to love?
Label: Ripple Music
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Lee Beamish
