Style: Progressive Death Metal, Smooth Jazz, Death/Doom Metal
Recommended for fans of: Rivers of Nihil, Kenny G, Black Crown Initiate, Bohren & der Club of Gore
Country: Sweden
Release date: 19 June 2026

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This is undoubtedly neither the first nor last review of Steps into Shadow to mention Rivers of Nihil, and perhaps that’s unfair to the Swedish five-piece Gold Spire. But in March of 2018, RoN ruined the next several years of progressive death metal with the release of Where Owls Know My Name, pushing the sax-in-death-metal gimmick to a widespread phenomenon. Even now in 2026, WOKMN’s negative ripples are felt scene-wide, with every other prog band trying to shoehorn awkward saxophone solos into their songs—almost none succeed at being good. Gold Spire add to the ever-growing list of bands who fuse death metal and sax; do they do it competently, or is it yet another band who fruitlessly chase RoN’s success?

Unlike RoN et al., Gold Spire use the sax less as a gimmick on their sophomore release—with solos forcefully and disjointedly tacked on top of a death metal song—instead fully implementing the instrument into their compositional identity… Kind of. When used in conjunction with metal, Magnus Kjellstrand’s sax playing is at its fullest potential. At the very end of the title track, for instance, the sax grows into restless dissonance with some overblown notes thrown in for good measure, similar to Howling Sycamore, providing the end of the track some anxious wildness that caps off the moody death/doom buildup well. In “Liberation,” the flute and sax harmonize with the riff past the halfway point; “Crown of Disfigurement” gets blasty in a more true death metal fashion while we’re treated to the aural delight of one saxophone in each channel; and the rich tone of the woodwind provides extra gravitas to the chorus-y part of “A Clarion Call.”

At least as often, Gold Spire carve out separate atmospheric moments to let the saxophone (and flute) take the lead, rather than allowing the winds to interact with the heavier riffs. The problem with these sections is that the sax parts are plain bland—smooth sax like Kenny G, but nowhere near as interesting as the man himself’s solo with Imperial Triumphant. The moments exist to serve as mood builders, atmospheric contrasts to the weighty death/doom, but they come across as desperate to use the winds, no better than the other gimmick bands—which is a shame because they sometimes have above average songwriting. But their atmospheric, bland parts in the death/doom songs are nothing when compared with the fact that three of the eight songs—fourteen out of forty minutes—are instrumental “smooth jazz” pieces. At their best, the tracks are dark and foreboding à la Bohren & der Club of Gore, but they mostly just kill time, seeming to build up to something and never arriving there. The band’s new vocalist, Arvid Sjödin (Floating), also has earth-trembling lows that fit the dark vibe of Steps into Shadow—leaving him out of several tracks just kills the mood.

The death/doom itself sounds like a less explorative Sweven, and Gold Spire have produced a vibes-based album. The riffs, although never suffocatingly heavy, are solid headbangers for the genre and pace, tinged with the slightest air of gothiness. But the band would also fare better for themselves if they used proggier song structures besides the atmospheric jazz-cum-riff dichotomy. Steps into Shadow somehow meanders while never doing anything interesting structurally but also isn’t punchy enough for its relatively short songs to hit hard.

I appreciate the setup that Gold Spire work with, and I think their niche has some legitimate promise. But for now, they don’t really do enough with their gimmick and feel like yet another atmospheric death metal project with sax. Gold Spire need to pick a songwriting lane and stay in it: be pithy or be proggy. The short songs with extended saxophone breaks—both mid-song and interspersed album-wide—don’t work.

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Recommended tracks: Steps into Shadow, Crown of Disfigurement, A Clarion Call
You may also like: Burial in the Sky, Maudlin of the Well, Five the Hierophant, Sweven, Floating, Speglas
Final verdict: 5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Awakening Records

Gold Spire is:
– Arvid Sjödin (Vocals)
– Erik Sundström (Drums, Keyboards, Backing Vocals)
– Påhl Sundström (Guitars)
– Magnus Kjellstrand (Saxophone, Flute)
– Petter Broman (Bass)