Horror has played a large role in Metal for decades with eerie and creepy imagery being one of the quintessential elements of some of the largest acts in the genre. The Ghost Next Door’s sophomore release, A Feast for The Sixth Sense (Ripple Music), demonstrates this in swathes.

Yet, a question to pose is, has the horror theme been done to death, or does this band bring a new light to the haunting ground? Well, what the quartet do well is creating an eerie atmosphere from the start with ‘Deadworld’, building suspense up to the crashing cacophony of instruments and vocals as they converge in on each other. The mood and soundscapes created feel like they’re straight out of a Blumhouse Production film.

Where the group excels in creating a haunting mood and feel, the rest of the output, though, is lackluster, and unfortunately, the act isn’t making a whole new wheel with their second release.

There is a variety of unusual sources of musical influence that prop up throughout the album, though, alongside the Sabbath mark that is present throughout the rhythm and flow of the majority of the release. This dirge is combined with mixtures of Thrash in a move that in theory creates a captivating listen that forces the listener to headbang, but the end result is often drab and dreary; Gary Wendt’s Myles Kennedy meets David Draiman voice awkwardly raining down above.

All of these elements together just don’t flow freely. Instead, it all clunks away, never really straying too far away from a routine set at the start. Whilst the album isn’t extraordinarily long, excess fat could be trimmed towards the end of the album as ultimately the latter tracks don’t add to the overall project. To rise above this, the four-piece perhaps need to further experiment with the different combinations of sounds and flows they utilize to further develop their own unique name. After this, they can thrive.

5 / 10

CHARLIE HILL