1-5-23, St Vitus, Brooklyn, NY
This was a hell of a show from start to finish and the best way I could have started the 2023 year if you want to quantize it that way. Boozewa (ˈbooze-ˌwä), features members of Backwoods Payback, hailing from West Chester, PA started the night off. Good lord, riffmas stayed late this year and treated Brooklyn with a healthy heaping of head-banging, fun time signatures, thick bass, and caveman drums.
Hjartastjaki (Svart) is an almost cinematic experience, as Isafjord create bleak and desolate landscape pictures with their sombre atmospheric music. The duo of Solstafir vocalist Addi Tryggvason and multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Zolberg (Sign) wrote the album while holed up together in an old house, during the depths of an icy winter and using a broken piano to start many of their ideas.
A core facet of the human experience is that of compelling, powerful emotions. About how within our busy lives, halting for a moment can bring with it overwhelming feelings; positive or negative, and perhaps even ultimately unexpected. How such moments can highlight your headspace more than you even realised until you have that reprieve? It is this mindset that South Africa’s Constellatia are perfectly suited to with the latest release Magisterial Romance (Season of Mist) serving a worthy soundtrack to a reflective pause.
Ghost Cult caught up with Michael York of Pianos Become The Teeth! Their new album Drift is out now via Epitaph Records. Michael chatted about the bands’ songwriting process, coping with the challenges of the return to touring, working with Epitaph Records, comparing the difference between the screamo era of the band and the post-Rock era, thoughts on the comeback of City of Caterpillar, side projects from the band, and more! Continue reading
Black Veil Brides – The Mourning (Sumerian)
There’s an underlying belief that interim releases are merely disappointing cash-ins comprised mostly of filler and cast-off material. A strong title track usually followed by cover versions, demo versions, live cuts or songs simply not worthy to make it onto a full length record. A theory to which Hollywood based five piece Black Veil Brides clearly do not subscribe.
Ghost Cult recently caught up with Janosch Rathmer of instrumental post-rock band Long Distance Calling, to discuss their new album Eraser – out now via earMUSIC. Read our review here. Janosch discussed LDC being prolific writers, spending extra time on the new album, concept records and music videos, sexy saxophone parts, playing festivals versus intimate venues, touring in the pandemic era, switching record labels, climate change, and more!
Nuclear Blast Records have been on somewhat of a roll recently, releasing big new albums from the likes of Machine Head, Soulfly, and Behemoth in recent weeks. But one of their lesser-known bands Irist certainly deserve some attention, and their new EP Gloria (Nuclear Blast) is the first new music they’ve released since their debut album Order Of The Mind arrived in 2020.
Banefyre (Season of Mist) is the twelfth album from Crippled Black Phoenix, the category-defying collective centred around Justin Greaves, a former doom metal drummer (for bands such as Electric Wizard and Iron Monkey) turned multi-instrumentalist songwriter. The current studio lineup of the band has Greaves joined by longstanding vocalist Belinda Kordic, plus more recent recruits Helen Stanley (keys, synths, trumpet), Andy Taylor (guitars), and new second vocalist and third guitarist Joel Segerstedt.
The HU – Rumble of Thunder (Better Noise)
The HU and their joyful rock laced with Mongolian folk condiments rode into our collective consciences with 2019’s brilliant The Gereg, establishing themselves immediately by managing to produce something new, yet simultaneously neither novelty nor cheesy despite its requisite ingredients. A skilful piece of musical chef-ery indeed. Second time around, the HU have sought to refine things a little, less bold in some of their choices, yet with an eye on producing something more palatable to more people now that the attention has been piqued.Continue reading
Legendary German Instrumental post-Rock/post-Metal band Long Distance Calling will release their new concept album, Eraser, releasing on earMusic on August 26th, 2022. The band has released an incredible series of music videos for the new record which you can check out here. Ghost Cult is teaming up with the band to give away three merch bundles worth $120 with some unique items! Perfect for true LDC fans! We will give away 3 bundles in total! US residents only. Details to win here: