Ghastly - Mercurial Passages (2021)

Finland's Ghastly has been thus far consistent at living up to its namesake, whether through the more ancient occult/psyche death metal stylings of the debut Carrion of Time, or its superior, spectral successor Death Velour. These guys distance themselves a lot from the traditional Finnish death metal roots, so if you're seeking more along the lines of a Demilich, Convulse or early Sentenced, you might be taken aback at how this band offers a more phantasmal, atmospheric, almost sparse on the genre. This is rarely if ever written straight to your face, but as a collection of foreboding or haunting death metal tracks that might play out in the background as you made some horrible discovery of your existence, or your lineage, or were prepping for some Lovecraftian cultist ritual.

That's not to say it doesn't get heavy and pound away in some capacity, like "Out of the Psychic Blue", but such surges are often short-lived, and it lapses back into the eerie ghost-like passages. Because of this, when the band erupt into a more straightforward tremolo picked guitar line, or when they pick up some speed, or the drums grow turbulent, it stands out all the more as a contrast, like that thing you were afraid of just surfaced as a conflict that physically threatens you. This is all glossed over by some appropriate, dissonant, airy chords, ritual melodies and of course the grisly vocals, which are delivered at a higher pitch than a lot of their Finnish forebears and their guttural muck. But I don't want to exaggerate too much...Mercurial Passages is a death metal album. If you're fond of the gloomier, cavernous fare that stemmed from old bands like Incantation, or the Paradise Lost debut, I think there's still plenty to admire, it just has a more laid back, ethereal quality to it and doesn't constantly beat on you.

I did think Death Velour was a more captivating experience, and there are some segments of this album where I find myself a little bored with the note patterns or riff choices, waiting for something more macabre or distinct to manifest in a melody or vocal line, and that happens all too rarely. The sound itself is comparable with the last, spacious and not terribly abrasive, the rhythm guitars have a slightly tinny feel to them that works with the faster melodic lines, and the leads stand out nicely against them. The cover art is once again interesting though the colors don't pop like the fantastic sophomore, and the lyrics are passable parades of images that gel with the tension and despair that the music creates. Still one of the more interesting Finnish death metal upstarts of the last few years...if you want a murkier, heavier sound or something more claustrophobic, then groups like Gorephilia, Corpsessed and Krypts have your number, but Ghastly goes along well with a group like Lantern as a more atmospheric, dimly lit adventure into morbidity.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://ghastly.bandcamp.com/

Ghastly - Death Velour (2018)

As interesting to the eye as Carrion of Time initially was, Ghastly's sophomore effort easily trumps it with that hypnotic cover art, using a rich color scheme I rarely encounter in this genre. Not to mention, Death Velour is a pretty classy title for a death metal record, a title that the album actually lives up to as a substantial evolution over its predecessor. Rather than approach their genre nostalgia like so many others in the field, treading down the expected paths of early Swede worship, cavernous claustrophobia, or even the nuances of their own Finnish forebears, Ghastly adopts its style into a more melodic, graceful presence which haunts while it soothes, chills while it comforts; an improvement over their more primitive debut in every category I can think of.

That isn't to say there aren't a few of those thundering, simplistic death metal grooves strewn about the rhythm guitar choices, but a large portion of the album is devoted to these melody or harmony driven sequences which are almost unanimously memorable, evoking a mournful sadness to the material which is loyal to how the album looks. By contrast, some of the tremolo picked throwback death metal riffs here sound even more evil by comparison, as in "Violence for the Hell of It". Due to this lighter, eerier, airier approach, the drums carry a lot more power, and even the bass lines thrive, since you can really hear them grooving off under both the heavier riffs and melodies. The vocals, while not changing up much from the style of the debut, have a little more potency and sustain to them which is a better fit for the often soaring, murkily majestic effect of the guitars. Other little atmospheric embellishments like clean guitars or the keys used in pieces like the intro further enhance its effects upon the listener as a bastion of Romanticized horror molded to death metal flesh.

Death Velour is certainly a throwback to an earlier age of the genre, when the melodies on records like North from Here or Tales from the Thousand Lakes were a new thing, but Ghastly handles them in its own way, wrenching the doom and gloom from the beauty of the guitars rather than from the constant drudgery of the band's bottom end. To that extent it feels quite unique in a crowded field where so many bands would rather foment the aggression and raw heaviness. This band has within a few years already evolved along the lines of groups like Tribulation, Morbus Chron, Horrendous, and their like, who used that late 80s death metal inspiration to lead them into new directions, rather than dwell too long in the past. The result is that this is by far one of the most promising bands on the Finnish scene right now, which does not lack for them, and I'm eager to see where they'll take this sound next, whether it's a more direct continuation of Death Velour or another sizeable ascension.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

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Ghastly - Carrion of Time (2015)

I was really curious about this record at first because somehow I had registered that the trippy cover aesthetics and 'death metal' branding might result in some quirky, psychedelic spin on the genre, and after listening through Carrion of Time a few spins I realized that was not exactly the case. Sure, you could make the argument that the Finns' debut was a death metal that leaned more on atmosphere than musicianship, and that's what it is, a hazy and truly old school death metal record, threaded with death/doom influences and reaches so far back into the genre that I'd almost label it a proto-death album due to the primordial production and simplicity of the riffing patterns. There might be a small fraction of influence from their fellow Finnish exports of the early 90s, but this comes off as even more ancient in its own way.

I'd probably liken it to a descendant of Hellhammer, with some additional influence from the first few Tiamat records when the Swedes were almost wholly death metal. The former is felt primarily through the vocals, which are like a more fleshy, dynamic Tom G. Warrior bark which weaves in a bit more of a grotesque guttural circa Killjoy or Chris Reifert. The guitar tone isn't quite as raw edged, but clearly they were going for a tone that felt like it would if it were spurting out of a cab in the same room as you. A lot of the riffs slog along at a workmanlike pace, with somewhat predictable chord patterns, but the magic is when they erupt into these truly evil sounding, slower tremolo picked riffs which will recall bands like Death and Obituary, along with some more spacious, open string or higher pitched riffing which creates an incense-whiff of archaic atmosphere that helps round out the experience. The bass doesn't do a whole lot of interest except hover like a smog behind the rhythm guitars, and when the leads or melodies burst forth they really deliver a needed dynamic charge to the experience.

Drums are quite appropriate, with lots of splashing and crashing, fills aplenty to once again help emphasize the riffs since they are so basic in structure for the style. And it's that minimalist style which both hinders and helps the album. I mean it can certainly evoke the vibe of a very basic demo level death metal act from the late 80s/early 90s, paraphrasing the riffs of others and not in the most intense or interesting of configurations, but at the same time when the guitars come across a truly eerie riff it stands out quite a lot and makes you appreciate the whole package. I also like some of the more subtle, creepy melodies which arrive in tunes like "White Flowers Abloom", there probably aren't enough of them scattered through the album, but they make it clear that Ghastly is quite focused on its composition, the patience to let these details elevate the material beyond the mere redundancy it would otherwise suffer. It's a solid, and somewhat intriguing debut for fans of seminal death and or death/doom, and a seat from which the superior ideas and craftsmanship of their second album were sprung.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

 https://www.facebook.com/ghastlydeathmetal