{"id":106098,"date":"2026-05-01T00:00:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T23:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=106098"},"modified":"2026-06-03T14:13:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T13:13:27","slug":"album-review-spell-wretched-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-spell-wretched-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"SPELL – Wretched Heart (2026) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SPELL
\nWretched Heart<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nBad Omen (2026)<\/span>
\nRating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Canadian band Spell is an outfit I\u2019ve followed since their debut album, The Full Moon Sessions<\/em>, emerged in 2014. Since then they\u2019ve remained consistent in their ability to craft engaging heavy rock and Wretched Heart<\/em> is the fifth full-length from the Vancouver-based quartet.<\/p>\n

With another ten bouts of Gothic yet pastoral slices of metallic poetry, Spell remain coolly mesmeric. Lyrically, there\u2019s something so immersive, deftly forlorn yet rich when one explores a track like \u2018Lilac\u2019. \u201cAnd you\u2019re already there, Your perfume fills the air, But spring has just begun, How can I keep you? And gold can never rival, Your touch or haunting smile, But if I turn away, How can I make you stay?\u201d<\/em> swoons vocalist and bassist Cam Mesmer. It\u2019s all darkly romantic with strong wafts of Ghost and Nosferatu.<\/p>\n

Okay, so I\u2019m not fully on board with the whole occult rock thing when it all becomes so similar, but Spell really does engage, especially with the mystical guitar work. However, Spell stirs its cauldron well, sprigging with a manner of ingredients from sickly emo to prog, but with a general 70s hard rock merging with 80s coffin dwelling Goth vapours. In fact, one can smell the patchouli oil and hear the creak of leather trousers right from the off with \u2018Dark Inertia\u2019. With synthesizers and shadowy melodies there\u2019s a successful meeting of the aforementioned Ghost alongside legendary UK rain dancers The Sisters Of Mercy and The Mission.<\/p>\n

Spell never invades the space of the listener and instead slithers with elegance into the ear canal corridors, never once going in for the kill but just remaining to haunt. Maybe it is that defining lack of punch which is to the detriment of Spell, because while the Ghost-like dreamery is enticing, I am on occasion a bit unfulfilled. Even so, Wretched Heart<\/em> is still a quality album even if its haunting capacity is residual, Spell becoming truly bewitching with their bass lines, with both \u2018Unquiet Graces\u2019 and \u2018Take My Life\u2019 showcasing the sublime finger work of Mesmer.<\/p>\n

The hardened rockers among you might think that Wretched Heart<\/em> is just a powdery Goth rock album, but a song like \u2018Oubliette\u2019 will bring reassurance of Spell as a metallic force too as riffs tumble in timely reaction to the hard drums. It\u2019s as heavy as the album gets because Spell prefers to enchant with a subtler brand of rock, usually drifting with vaporous melodies that hint at Mercyful Fate yet without the satanic spikiness or blood-drenched steel.<\/p>\n

\u2018Iron Teeth\u2019 is a gem, opening with theatrical keyboards and unravelling as a fluid rocker. There\u2019s no doubting that Spell has mesmeric properties; every chiming chord flowing like golden honey. And boy, do these guys know how to write infectious choruses. In fact, so many earworms are crafted here, the standout being \u2018Exquisite Corpse\u2019 which is the sort of H.I.M.-styled rock I\u2019d usually laugh at and ridicule, but oh no, not here. This is dark rock from a band which deserves more attention.<\/p>\n

Five albums in and Spell remain on the cult precipice of Ghost-a-likes, a burden they really should be shifting away from, but as it stands, Wretched Heart<\/em> is another hypnotic entry in their repertoires in spite of being a phantom of familiarity.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SPELL Wretched Heart Bad Omen (2026) Rating: 7.5\/10 Canadian band Spell is an outfit I\u2019ve followed since their debut album, The Full Moon Sessions, emerged in 2014. Since then they\u2019ve remained consistent in their ability to craft engaging heavy rock and Wretched Heart is the fifth full-length from the Vancouver-based quartet. With another ten bouts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5093],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-spell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106099,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106098\/revisions\/106099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}