(((O))) : High Spirits – You Are Here

I first came across Chicago’s High Spirits, a heavy metal of old band, via a couple of demos back in 2009 which hinted at great things. I wasn’t the only one as record companies began to notice the band and the demos compilation album was soon released on digipack CD by Cruz del Sur Music and on gatefold vinyl by High Roller Records. Despite the rough recording, songs like ‘Never Going Back’, ‘Torture’, and the signature ‘High Spirits’ shined through; both versions are sold out. During 2010 the band did a lot of shows around the Midwest USA and self-released a 7” single titled Let’s Rock.

Interest was building for a proper full-length album, and studio sessions began in early 2011. Because the demos collection had been so successful, it was decided that all new songs would go on the album. In May, recordings took a break for the band to do a two-week tour in the USA.

Titled Another Night, High Roller Records released the album on CD and LP in August of 2011, and the response was sensational! The audiences loved it, and the response from the press was fantastic, especially that the band was named Best Newcomer of 2011 by Rock Hard Magazine.

By 2012, demand was “high” in Europe to see the band live. Keep It True Festival soon was in touch to offer a spot on their 2013 bill, and the band happily accepted! But the Rock Hard crew just could not wait that long, so they asked the band to play the Rock Hard Festival in May of 2012. On the same trip, High Spirits played two hot club gigs in Germany and also Muskelrock festival in Sweden. In 2013 the band returned to Europe and to do a short run of gigs (including Germany, Holland, Belgium, and the UK) leading up to the Keep It True Festival. The group will also play at 2015’s Brofest in the UK capital of heavy metal, Newcastle Upon Tyne.

The brains behind High Spirits is Chris “The Professor” Black, a virtuoso who writes and performs the tunes himself using friends from other bands to play live. Chris is possibly best known from the bands Dawnbringer and Superchrist and has an uncanny ability to nail the exact sound he’s after. Superchrist is a Saxon-like NWOBHM group; Dawnbringer play agreeable progressive anthems but with High Spirits they seem to take the most exciting elements of both as they call their particular brand of music, “100 per cent high energy rock music”, which is fair enough if you’ve ever heard it. They sound certainly invokes the sounds of yesteryear with nods to a more carefree time, before metal became constipated with bands who liked to bellow incoherently at the listener over the top of distorted and painful guitars.

Each song on the album is full of power and passion and a cross between the familiar and the new. If you’ve only got the time to listen to one song check out ‘Gone to Pieces’ as this is perhaps the most immediately accessible and inviting. The riffs sound like you’ve heard them before but are supported with melodies and lyrics which provide a real sense of atmosphere. Check out the cover art too, it’s reminiscent of tube map and is a nice pun on the name of the album itself.

So in summary, a highly recommended listen from an upcoming band. The abundant, inviting melody is balanced by raw heavy metal energy. Lots of melodic riffs fuse with exciting songwriting building on the experience gained from the live shows. Check them out, even better check them out live!