SPIRITWORLD

“With, Helldorado, the third installment of SPIRITWORLD’s death-western trifecta, chief hombre Stu Folsom takes the listener deeper into a world where the hot desert sun beats down on his singular vision of the American West as a gateway to hell. “It’s a different album than the past two,” says Folsom, of the thematic and sonic journey that began with the Las Vegas band’s 2020’s Pagan Rhythms LP and continued with 2022’s Deathwestern. Now, the story rides on in a cloud of dust and a spray of blood with his latest offering.

Helldorado blasts the Mojave-born bloodlust and stomping, tomahawk riffs SPIRITWORLD won their brutal, horrific vision of the old west with while riding straight into macabre Americana, “I could have done Deathwestern again,” says Stu of the album that won SPIRITWORLD international acclaim. “But that’s shortchanging the fans and myself.” Helldorado rings with the sort of true grit few heavy records do.

From the urgent honky tonk swing of opener “Abilene Grime” straight into riffs that Slayer would be proud to call their own on “No Vacancy in Heaven” or “Waiting On the Reaper”. SPIRITWORLD hits with the fury of a cattle drive gone out of control. However, it’s with the punk-ish, rootsy swagger of “Bird Song of Death” and the spare, melancholic chords of “Prayer Lips” that Helldorado heads into yet unclaimed territory for Folsom and his rhinestone encrusted crew. “I like to make records that flow, that tell a story,” says Stu. “Helldorado does just that and sums up where we’ve been and where this is going.” Helldorado not only tightens the reins SPIRITWORLD’s riff-riding that has won the band “most played” stature at Sirius XM’s Liquid Metal, but also looks over its shoulder (with a cigarillo dangling from a sun parched lip) at their punk driven outlaw country origins.

Folsom and his gang first assaulted Vegas Elks Lodges in 2017 on a mission to brand country music with a manic singalong energy cultivated over years involved in the local hardcore scene. “Dwight Yoakum probably meant as much to me growing up as Black Flag or Slayer did,” says Stu. With country in his soul and metal in his veins, Folsom had a yearning for the power of the riff. This found him teaming with producer/mixer Sam Pura (who has produced all 3 SPIRITWORLD records) to unleash Pagan Rhythms, first on the tiny independent label Safe Inside Records. The much buzzed about debut album caught the eye of Century Media who signed the band and issued the album worldwide a year later. The reaction to the album, which drew comparison to the likes of Slayer or Integrity was nothing short of overwhelming.

Not surprisingly, it was the purity of Folsom’s vision that won raves from the likes of Gary Holt and Soulfly leader, Max Cavalera, who raved about the band on their social media. Helldorado is the next chapter of Folsom’s cycle of Western weirdness that draws inspiration from his own published literary work, Godlessness, a collection of short stories rooted in Lovecraftian horror and Louis LaMour’s classic tales of the American West. The track, “Oblivion”, which features additional vocals from Sgah’gahsowah, leader of Adirondack black metal band, Black Braid and a guest solo by Rise Against guitarist Zach Blair, truly spells out the darkness of Folsom’s gritty vision. From the James Bousema cover of a lonesome, skeletal rider peering into hell, This isn’t “How the West Was Won”, it’s something far darker and demonic.

“Stigmata Scars”, which features additional guitar work by Kreator’s Frederic Leclercq digs even deeper into SPIRITWORLD’s already horrific lyrical vistas, “It definitely continues the fiction side of things,” says Stu. “It continues post Godlessness onto a new cycle of stories. Helldorado is a sneak peek into what happens next in that world. It’s the same sort of epic horror Western fiction quest that has been happening on this trilogy of records.” Folsom freely admits that his foray into gritty pulp fiction is essential to SPiRITWORLD’s Western world building – and vice versa. “In the song ‘Waiting on the Reaper”, there’s a line, ‘I saw a vision of my fate in a puddle of piss and jaguar blood’. That was a lyric that just came while I was playing guitar and mumbling gibberish. That’s such a cool line that it’s become a couple chapters in the book I’m writing. Two lines in a heavy metal song that somehow grew into several thousand words of fiction. One informs the other.”

SPIRITWORLD live, is where the rubber meets the road for Stu Folsom and crew. Taking the stage in embroidered, rhinestone-ed jackets and Stetson hats, the energized fivesome is literally Elvis’ Wrecking Crew from Hell. From their inaugural stint on Decibel Magazine’s branded jaunt with Obituary and Municipal Waste in early 2022 to recent North American tours including a co-headline run with metal legends Kreator and Sepultura as well as hardcore heroes Stick To Your Guns and European festivals including the UK’s legendary Bloodstock and France’s Hellfest. “The mentality on some of these tours is literally ripping a page from The Ramones or Against Me!, don’t stop, no stage banter, just rip your songs.” Helldorado will also be a turning point for SPIRITWORLD when Stu Folsom and Co. take the stage.

“If you go see a rippin rockabilly band or a really good honky tonk band, maybe for the encore or maybe most of the way through the set the band will strip it down and get on a barstool,” says Stu. “I’d like to take those sorts of dynamics. Just making it more impactful Maybe the big epic production of something like Ghost where the intensity goes down. Maybe some pedal steel and some singer-songwriter storytelling from this world I’ve created.” One thing’s for sure, SPIRITWORLD is back with an album that is as much Sergio Leon as it is Slayer. When asked to sum up where it’s all going, Stu Folsom steps back, considers the question and answers plainly. “Straight to hell, my friend.Straight to hell.”