Classic heavy metal band Spirit Adrift announced Oct. 16 as the release date of their upcoming album Enlightened in Eternity. The album will be released on the 20 Buck Spin label in the United States and on the Century Media label elsewhere.

Enlightened in Eternity includes Nathan Garrett on vocals and guitars and Marcus Bryant on drums. It was engineered and mixed by Ryan Bram, produced by Bram, Bryant and Garrett and mastered by Howie Weinberg and Will Borza. The band also released the first single “Harmony of the Spheres” from the upcoming album.

Addressing what went into the making of the album, Garrett states:

I wrote the songs on Enlightened In Eternity before my life fell apart, and from the beginning, I set out to make this our most uplifting and empowering album. I’m glad I did that because, ironically enough, these songs helped me keep going when things got bad. I’m proud of the work Marcus put in, I’m proud of these songs, and I’m proud of how we navigated the entire experience. This is the most challenging record I’ve ever made, and it’s my favorite record I’ve ever made. I hope it helps others the way it helped me.

Making a Spirit Adrift album is always intense, but Chained to Oblivion and Curse of Conception dealt with issues from my past, and Divided by Darkness dealt with external issues from more of a philosophical perspective, so there was a bit of a protective layer of detachment between the material and myself. On the other hand, when Marcus and I recorded Enlightened In Eternity, we were in the middle of a lot of intense emotional upheaval — hour to hour, minute to minute. Some days it took everything I had to keep working, particularly when it was time to record vocals. From a technical standpoint, things couldn’t have gone smoother. But from an emotional standpoint, it was brutal. The silver lining is that our hearts and souls are embedded into this record with a raw immediacy and urgency that’s unmatched by our previous material.

According to Metal Injection, members of Spirit Adrift and Gatecreeper decided to split ways earlier this year resulting in Garret leaving Gatecreeper for Spirit Adrift, while singer Chase Mason and guitarist Eric Wagner left Spirit Adrift for Gatecreeper.

Garret states, “Eric and Chase write the Gatecreeper stuff and they started that band. I write all the Spirit Adrift stuff and I started that band. It just kind of went without saying. We just reached a point of diminishing returns. For a while it was cool, and it was working, but I think we reached a point where both bands were suffering by sharing the members. We’re gonna be two separate entities moving forward.”

Also this year, Spirit Adrift released the EP Angel & Abyss Redux on Bandcamp in celebration of Juneteenth. The EP includes an “Angel & Abyss” remix and covers of Jimi Hendrix and Rocky Erickson.

Enlightened In Eternity Track Listing:

1. Ride into the Light
2. Astral Levitation
3. Cosmic Conquest
4. Screaming from Beyond
5. Harmony of the Spheres
6. Battle High
7. Stronger Than Your Pain
8. Reunited in the Void