ALBUM REVIEW: Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She


Chelsea Wolfe’s seventh solo full-length (and her first in around five years), She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She (Loma Vista Recordings), seems to represent something of a rebirth for Wolfe, both in terms of thematic content and sound.Continue reading


EP REVIEW: Slower – Slower


Covering Slayer is a tricky business. Many bands have tried and failed, and despite displaying obvious reverence to the Californian Thrash legends, only a handful have ever really been able to do real justice to the source material. And of those, it’s the ones who arrive from left field that remain in the memory the most.

From Finnish cellists Apocalyptica to LA rap-metallers Body Count, it’s US singer/pianist Tori Amos who produced arguably the most innovative cross-genre take back in 2001 when she gave the world a very different version of “Raining Blood”. And now it’s the turn of Fu Manchu guitarist Bob Balch, the stoner metal legend getting the idea after teaching a student how to play “South of Heaven” in a different tuning and, well… Slower.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Bosco Sacro – Gem


 

Gem (Avantgarde Music) is the debut album from Italy’s Bosco Sacro, a band formed in 2020 by seasoned contributors to the Italian and European underground heavy music scene.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine Of Hell


Emma Ruth Rundle seems to have become an artist with a licence to shift around stylistically as much as she wants while still maintaining, and continuing to build, her devoted fanbase. Last year’s revered collaboration with ThouMay Our Chambers Be Full (Sacred Bones) was dense, heavy, aggressive and complex. Whilst everything Rundle turns her hand to shares a certain delicate and fragile emotional openness, Engine Of Hell (Sargent House) in most other senses explores the opposite end of the Emma Ruth Rundle sonic spectrum.

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PODCAST: Episode #129: Andy of Thou on Working with Emma Ruth Rundle, Roadburn and More!


Ghost Cult scratched one off the interview bucket list recently by chatting with Andy Gibbs of Thou! We talked all about Thou’s new collaborative album with Emma Ruth RundleMay Our Chambers Be Full (read our review here), due out on October 30th via Sacred Bones. Andy candidly chatted about writing with Emma, long in the works and put into fruition via Walter Hoeijmakers of Roadburn, how the band and Emma complemented each other, the concepts delved into the album, working with photographer Craig Mulcahy, their hoped-for joint tour and festival plans for the album getting ruined by covid-19, the bands’ penchant for covers and slowing down on them in the future, and what the next phase of Thou music might look like. Purchase the album here and listen to our chat.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou – May Our Chambers Be Full


Roadburn Festival, largely due to the impetus of its main organiser and curator Walter Hoeijmakers, has often acted as a hub for all manner of interesting collaborations between artists who sit in the arty or experimental corners of the heavy music world. May Our Chambers Be Full (Sacred Bones) the new collaboration album from Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou, is the latest creation which owes a debt to the festival, conceived as it was in the wake of the two artists’ joint set at 2019’s Roadburn.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Collectress – Different Geographies


Brighton UK quartet Collectress is pleasantly barking. Not the London borough, you understand: just barking mad, in an endearing way. Describing their two-decades-old history as one of Chamber Krautpop doesn’t do it justice: instead, try SubRosa without the weight but with mischief lurking around every corner. Latest album Different Geographies (Peeler Records) is so named as a tribute to the band’s ability to maintain creativity over new, split locations and life priorities – a testament to love and loyalty rarely able or evident in the music world today.Continue reading


Emma Ruth Rundle – On Dark Horses


The haunting Goddess that is Emma Ruth Rundle just doesn’t know when to stop. Since releasing an EP as a founder member of The Nocturnes in 2008, she has released a product every year with Post-Rockers Red Sparowes and under her own guises. Oft mentioned in glowing terms alongside such powerful performers as PJ Harvey, Tori Amos and Lana Del Rey, On Dark Horses (Sargent House) is the LA chanteuse’s fourth album under her own name, and is again filled with deep, shuddering emotion.Continue reading


Jaye Jayle – No Trail And Other Unholy Paths


For those unaware of the sinister, weird magnificence of David Lynch, his films and series are usually accompanied by equally strange yet wonderful music: edgy, dark, seductive, indulging the seedy side of Americana. Young Widows frontman Evan Patterson’s solo project Jaye Jayle fits this bill perfectly, its Dark Country-style jangle carrying a profound melancholy, and with sophomore album No Trail And Other Unholy Paths (Sargent House) being produced by Lynch’s musical adviser Dean Hurley, there’s an added resonance here.Continue reading