Band:	Spirit
Album:	Effacer Qui Je Suis
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	2008
A review by:	Jeff

01. Premier Acte
02. Survivre Seul
03. Revelations Obscures
04. Solitude
05. La Garce
06. Renaissance
07. Retour à la Vie
08. Effacer Qui Je Suis
09. Dernier Acte

"Effacer Qui Je Suis" is the first official album of Spirit, a new combo made in France. Their music is dark, clearly influenced by Paradise Lost (period "Draconian Times") and even Metallica and Kreator when it comes to talk about the melodies, though this is definitely not Thrash. All in all this is not bad at all, especially when it comes to the music but I still have some problems with the lyrics in French. You'll understand why later in this review?

"Effacer Qui Je Suis" is neither Thrash nor pure Heavy Metal. The music of Spirit is more like a mix of a lot of different genres (from Thrash to Power and Heavy) with classic "Heavy Metal lyrics a la French sauce". Some of you probably know Killers, ADX and all those bands and you have to know that Spirit's singer just use the same kind of voice and way to sing his French lyrics. This is not particularly enjoyable when you listen to the music. I mean that, at least, Spirit's music is not cliché and has really good melodies and riffs but the lyrics in French give an old school side to the songs which, unfortunately, clearly kills the whole album. Too bad because a song like "Survivre Seul" is a pure jewel especially if you like "Draconian Times", but just listen to it and I'm sure, if you'll like the music, that you'll find the vocals really weird and a bit outdated? Too bad that we're in front of this lyrics problems but on the other hand the band can do good melodic music so please give a chance to the band, they deserve it.

The recording is ok, not bad at all for a French production but the cover artwork on the final CD is extremely dark and we can't even see the drawing/picture (?)? It's a bit sad that the label didn't find a way to produce it in a good way? Despite this problem, the band can be proud to produce a really nice Metal which mixes the kind of melodies used by Metallica and the riffs and ambiances of a band like Paradise Lost. This is classy and catchy, promising for the future.

It can be good to sing in French but it cannot be a cliché and as you know now, "Effacer Qui Je Suis" suffers of this big problem. We have good music though so if the band can find a way to sing in English or to find a solution to change this way of singing. Spirit is promising, I cannot say that it's the best newcomer from France this year but I feel something good for the future of the band. Wait and see, with some few changes, we could hear a lot of good things about this band in a near future?