I blame Anthrax. It was them who started all that love thy neighbour crap wasn't it? Mixing different styles of music that had lived apart happily for years. And Sacred Reich too to some extent! Remember '31 Flavors'? "Prince, Fishbone, NWA, these are things that I like to play" - Where did that kind of un metal thinking lead us to in the end, eh? To legions of dyslexic, baggy trousered mini moshers mistakingly spelling un metal as nu metal and starting their own musically insipid genre which swept the world like a red capped tidal wave of punch drunk pop rock.

A decade on from the height of nu metal's suffocating grip on the world's music stations, magazines and record shops, Nottingham noise crew Spirytus are breathing a second wind into the fallen from grace genre. A band firmly born from the influence of post millenium metal, their rejuvenated approach to mixing it up has given them seven bullet proof tracks of crunching modern metal laced with enough slapped bass strings to make it sound like Les Claypool's been jamming with Machine Head. From the aggressive face slashing riffs of Slipknot to the clinically executed musicianship of Static X, the five piece with a purpose have culled the finest parts from the best of Kerrang TV 2000 to prove that nu metal ain't old hat yet. In doing so they have created a blistering self titled debut that offers a concise collection of traits from their countless influences.

'Bullet Ride' signals the first wave of attack with some fine (down)tuned riffing creating a storm of darkness enveloping front man Ryan Walton's gutteral vocals. Vocals that growl, soar, shout and outright scream their way through the opening pounding assault of a high noon showdown between Stone Sour and Korn. Richocheting riffs bounce from side to side over the pulsing, bass heavy foundations of 'Taken Away' and 'You Don't Know'. Musically equivalent to the devastating power of an unbridled rock tornado 'Spirytus' contains a swirling thunderstorm of all the best parts of any Nineties act you care to name. Deftones, Mudvayne, Taproot, there's bits, pieces and cross sections from all four corners of the nu metal world, and each track is balanced perfectly with musical dexterity and a brutal in your face delivery full of pent-up aggression.

And no nu metal revival would be complete without a headbanging nod to Limp Bizkit now would it? Without a doubt the twisted, distorted 'TV Clown' is more pre-platinum Bizkit than a fistful of three dollar bills. Even Fred Durst himself has become a fan of Spirytus, going so far as to have brought Ryan Walton up onstage with LB at their Astoria gig in 2009 for a run through of 'Full Nelson'. And before anyone groans about Durst's approval meaning nothing, just remember that before he became better known for his Spears/Aguilera antics in the red topped tabloids than his own brand of red topped rap/rock, the man clearly had a good knowledge of what was hot in metal. I mean, guesting with Soulfly on the classic 'Bleed' and even name checking the mighty Suicidal Tendencies on the first Limp Bizkit album, you can't deny that the guy had good taste in music if not in women.

 
The anthemic, fist throwing tag line of "fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee" during 'Heaven Hates You' carries on a bit more of the Bizkit style and is sure to ignite any live crowd caught in the Spirytus crossfire. Which leaves only 'Schizophrenic' and 'Crucify' to wrap things up. The two final tracks equally ambitious in their final push towards a totalitarian nu metal state, bringing the riffs, drums and psycho chants of a forgotten generation to the musical fore once more. 

So Spirytus leave us with a bit of a quandary. A nu metal band that seem pefectly relevant in today's rock scene? Even more perplexing is the fact that the songs are actually pretty damn good. Maybe we were just flooded with the chaff last time around but with Spirytus now regrouping the strays of their beleaguered genre with some brand nu, crunching, heavy beats things are looking rosey for baggy jeans and wallet chains in 2010. Anyway I'll leave you to ponder that one, I'm off to 'BREAK STUFF'!!!

http://www.myspace.com/spirytus