Metal Anarchy

Spirit Adrift have surprise released their farewell album, “Infinite Illumination.” The effort is currently available digitally. CD and vinyl copies will also be available on May 15. Pre-orders can be found HERE.

“Infinite Illumination” Track Listing:

01. “Infinite Illumination”
02. “Window Within”
03. “You Will Never Hold The Key”
04. “Born In A Bad Way”
05. “Buried In The Shadow Of The Cross”
06. “White Death”
07. “I Am Sustained”
08. “Where Once There Was As Ocean”

The following was said in a press release:

“The end has come… long revered and widely acclaimed heavy metal giants SPIRIT ADRIFT have released their sixth and final album, Infinite Illumination, today via 20 Buck Spin. Bookending a monumental decade+ long run, the band’s bittersweet swan song is marked by one of their most ambitious and crushing records to date.

SPIRIT ADRIFT mastermind Nathan Garrett’s final magnum opus is a return to the wellspring that first inspired it all and a testament to a band that in the last 10 years has crafted an impeccable signature thoroughly their own, molded from the elemental matter of more than a half century of heavy metal exaltation.

Infinite Illumination has a directness to it, a sense of urgency and raw intensity. The songs feel inevitable, like they had to be driven out from deep within during a time of great upheaval. The fatalistic ‘Born in a Bad Way’ summons a vengeful “broken relic from another age” that must “live again and make them pay” via Garrett’s swaggering snarl, while “White Death” impugns “God shined on a chosen few, we must kill the rest of you”. These songs have a palpable sense of malaise both spiritual and terrestrial, personal and universal, inflicted via crushing traditional Doom riffs, thunderous mid-tempo marches and Garrett’s impassioned vocal delivery.

Long after the band is gone fans will continue to discover the SPIRIT ADRIFT catalog and witness the breadth of greatness they delivered in just a decade’s time. Every melodic, epic and emotionally charged thread that defines the band’s legacy honors the animating force behind pure creative ambition. And at its core Infinite Illumination carries both the weight of conclusion and the troubling realization that it is rarely painless to say farewell.”

Nate Garrett also discussed the band’s breakup during a new interview with Invisible Oranges:

“There are so many answers there. One is my relationship with the ‘music industry.’ I want to put that in quotes. Especially post-COVID, it turned into something that I don’t love. I love music so much. It’s so sacred to me. There’s stuff I want to do with it, and it’s almost impossible post-COVID. I hate to talk about money but there’s less money in it than there’s ever been. And when that happens with anything, it becomes more cutthroat. It becomes less about art and expression and more about survival. And I don’t need that, man. So, that’s a big part of it.

The other part of it is, I truly believe, in my heart, that there’s a curse on Spirit Adrift. Every time I put out a record, people I love die like clockwork. I’ve talked to folks about this, and they’re like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ But, for instance, the record’s coming out on Friday, April 10, right? My grandfather just died yesterday. I don’t want it to be true. It happens every time; somebody overdoses and dies, or my dog dies, or my wife gets diagnosed with cancer. So, I’m shutting this down and we’ll see what happens.

I’m not quitting music. I love music, man. You can ask anybody who knows me, whether it’s musicians or people in my family or whatever. I might love music as much as anybody’s ever loved music. It’s sacred to me. It’s why I’m halfway or quarterways sane and relatively happy, you know? I love playing for people, but when you start having to shake people down just to fucking do the right thing, not even to get something extra, but just the right thing.

We played a show at Empire last year, right? There’s this guy–I don’t want to say his name because I don’t want to get sued, but everybody will know who I’m talking about–at Empire in Austin, Texas, the guy that’s running that place, and he doesn’t pay people. I had to do some gangster shit, which I don’t mind that much, but when that’s connected to music, it spoils the one release valve that I have emotionally. When I have to connect the gangster to the art, it’s not fun.

And I had to do that with this guy because he wasn’t paying the three bands that played. Eventually, we got paid. We got paid more than what he even owed us because some things happened. Then, six months ago, The Austin Chronicle and everybody else exposed this guy as a lifelong con artist. He was doing the same on the East Coast, robbing people, postponing payments for bands, and he got ran out of there and came to Austin.

Post-COVID, it’s like every other show I’ve played is like that. It’s merch cuts where I have to scream at somebody or just flee the scene and not pay them, because I, philosophically, am opposed to merch cuts, period. It’s a Ponzi scheme. And music is my one emotional release valve. This is the thing I love the most in life, outside my wife and my family. I’m having to be like Johnny Goodfella tough guy every time we do anything, every time we play a show, every time we try to book a tour, whatever. I don’t need that.

Everybody’s going through it. Part of the reason I wanted to end things is so I can speak about it on behalf of my friends and on behalf of people. I’ve seen Randy from Lamb Of God getting a lot more open about everything, whether it’s politics or the music industry, and it’s admirable. A lot of their fans might not agree with what he’s saying or understand it, but his shit’s getting desperate.

I want to put myself in a position where I can tell the truth about all this and not endanger anybody else. I don’t want it to affect any of my bandmates or my friends while still speaking on behalf of people, because everyone I know in the music business feels exactly the same way. And the guys in the band are three of my best friends I’ve ever had. They’re just such good guys. They’re so supportive and selfless, and they understand.”