Hopelessness. Maranatha’s latest EP, Spiritless, brings with it all of the darkness and sadness that life can embody. Spiritless is heavy, both musically and lyrically. Combining elements of sludge, crust, and hardcore, Collin Simula has written a 15 minute, 6 song EP full of heavy, catchy riffs. The slow jam that carries the whole second half of track 2, ‘Skinless', will get stuck in your head for days. The same thing is true of the opening progression on track 3, ‘Mindless’. Thick, sludgy riffs that stick to your ribs, as your mom would say. I picked up this EP when it came out in July of last year. It’s still in regular rotation.
Lyrically, Spiritless travels a path through all of the crap that we have to deal with in life. Loved ones dying, questioning relationships, and crawling around in pits of despair are subjects that went in to the writing of Spiritless. The album “is hopeless. It is dark. It is a bummer record, and that was on purpose”, says Simula, the one-man whirlwind behind Maranatha. There is a glimmer of hope, but you have to wade through the garbage and the pain and the doubt to find it. Even then you may not come out whole, if you come out at all.
Simula is a drummer, first and foremost, and that comes across in the driving beats and thundering low-end throughout the EP. Simula also plays guitar and bass, writes all of the lyrics, and handles vocal duties for the band. Nick Nowell from The Famine and Society’s Finest makes a guest vocal appearance on track 4, ‘Heartless’. Simula cites Kirk Windstein’s guitar prowess as a major influence on his own style, and it shows. Comparisons can be made between Crowbar on this most recent Maranatha EP, as well as bands like Globe And Beast and Reproacher.
If you missed this EP last summer, you need to check it out. Spiritless will take you to a place that is full of sorrow, frustration, and anguish, if you’re willing to go there. Maranatha is heavy.
