More Finnish music you never heard of? Yep, and this time it’s vest metal! Seremonia brings you some doom rockin, acid ingesting, 60s influenced rock with creepy female vox and Finnish lyrics. If that patches your denim, then read on, flower child!
Ghost
Bedemon – Symphony of Shadows Review
Are you wearing a vest? Well, since Steel Druhm feels like he’s found the Holy Grail of doom metal, you best get to the tailor and get fitted for an old timey one. Actually, better make it two because this is big!!
Occultation – Three & Seven Review
Like a demented Doctor Who, a lot of modern metal continues to spiral backwards through time, seeking inspiration in all things “retro.” Currently, the trendy place to set the dial on the trusty Way-Back-Machine™ is the 70s.
Devil – Time to Repent Review
Ghost may have unintentionally triggered a little retro within retro trend with their well received Opus Eponymous debut. The similar acts are already starting to pop up like evil mushrooms and Norway’s Devil is one of the first. Their debut Time to Repent harkens back to all things 70’s and its melodic doom rock all day long. They wield a sound that falls somewhere between Black Sabbath’s Vol. 4 and the NWOBHM vibe of Witchfinder General with a few traces of old Pentagram mixed in. I’m sure that sounds like a heady brew to many loyal readers (not AMG though, he hates blues-based doom like I hate light beer). Time to Repent offers up eight tales of sorcery, evil women, open graves and all such good family fun. It’s stripped down, simplistic, melodic and not the kind of doom that crushes you or brings on bouts of crippling despair. Instead, its very rock-based and groovy. While some of the material is worthwhile and shows real potential, more of it is pure amateur hour, cringe-worthy garage rock and unlikely to make anyone forget about Ghost anytime soon.
Devin Townsend Project – Ghost Review
Devin Townsend Project // Ghost Label: InsideOut Websites: hevydevy.com Release Dates: EU: 2011.06.20 | US: 06.21.2011 By:Natalie Zed It’s impossible and incorrect to review Ghost or Deconstruction as entirely antonymous albums. Even if they were released years apart, they exist in the same milieu as the other Devin Townsend Project releases, Ki and Addicted. But […]
In Solitude – The World. The Flesh. The Devil. Review
Steel Druhm likes his old Mercyful Fate. Yep, those first two albums and the early EPs were pure metal magic and some of the best stuff the genre every coughed up. Needless to say, I support the sudden wave of Mercyful Fate influenced retro metal that’s been popping up of late. We have Ghost, Hell and now you can add In Solitude to this heady witch’s brew with their second release The World. The Flesh. The Devil. Along with fellow Swedes Ghost, these gents are shamelessly robbing the graves of the Melissa and Don’t Break the Oath albums and trying to bring some of that ancient black magic into 2011. While Ghost took elements of the Fate sound and added poppy, catchy hooks, In Solitude stays much closer to the source material. They actually sound A LOT like the great Fate as they trot our their own tales of demons, devil worship and all things malevolent. So, does their similarity to a Mercyful Fate tribute band necessarily mean I love them too? In this case, yes, yes it does. I love them and I’m man enough to admit it!
Ghost at House of Metal 2011 in Umeå
I just got this video from the excellent Guger of Guger Art (which does art for Hail of Bullets, Vomitory, The Project Hate and others and is super badass at it) who is at House of Metal up north, where I can unfortunately not be despite fully intending to be there. One of the bands […]
Ghost – Opus Eponymous Review
How can this be? Yet another metal treasure nearly escaped the watchful eye of Steel Druhm and makes me feel shame for failing to include it in my Top Ten(ish) of 2010. Please forgive this epic oversight as I belatedly introduce you to Opus Eponymous, the debut by Sweden’s Ghost, which is a goldmine of expertly written and played mega-retro 70’s style satanic heavy metal. Taking inspiration from old Mercyful Fate, Witchfinder General, Pentagram and every horror film about satanic cults ever made, Ghost operate in a time warp where metal was as much about mood as sheer musical heaviness and where melody and accessibility were king. Opus Eponymous sometimes feels like the soundtrack to The Exorcist and at other times like Anton LaVey’s satanic mass set to music but it’s compelling, instantly likable and a lot of evil rocking fun for those among us in the left lane of the highway to hell.
