Ghost Brigade Until Fear No Longer Defines Us |
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 | Tracklist:
01. In The Woods
02. Clawmaster
03. Chamber
04. Traces Of Liberty
05. Divine Act Of Lunacy
06. Grain
07. Breakwater
08. Cult Of Decay
09. Torn
10. Soulcarvers
| Ranking: #74 for 2011 | |
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On 18 Lists
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| Summary: Ghost Brigade have truly come into their own on their third full-length effort |
14 of 14 thought this review was well written
Guided By Fire showed potential, Isolation Songs thrived on that potential, and Until Fear No Longer Defines Us capitalizes on said potential. Finland’s Ghost Brigade, one of the newer names in the dark metal genre, have already managed to create some buzz, and their recent effort proves them to be worthy of hype. Until Fear No Longer Defines Us sees the band further cementing their own sound which they started to fully develop with 2009’s Isolation Songs. The band still has a few minor kinks to flesh out, but on this new effort, those firmly take the back seat to what is a captivating overall sound.
Ghost Brigade's music is so familiar, yet no one does it quite like them. There is an equal amount of Neurosis, Swallow The Sun and Katatonia in there, yet they sound strictly Ghost Brigade on Until Fear No Longer Defines Us. This is near peculiar, when delving deeper into the music, because Ghost Brigade’s song structures aren’t anything out of this world, nor do they experiment a great deal. Their brand of dark metal just plain clicks, encompassing well-working features such as sludgy, Cult of Luna-esque thick riffing sections, Swallow The Sun-like melodeath/doom passages, and the use of harsh/clean vocal dynamic (with the emphasis being on the latter of the two). When the end product is this smooth as a whole, it is hard to criticize the band for not experimenting with their sound more. As the saying goes, beauty lies in simplicity, and that is exactly the case here too: by build-up, Until Fear No Longer Defines Us is simply a coherent record, but what works miracles in this case is the superb amalgamation of melodic guitar chords coupled with an atmosphere that is both ascending and gloomy. This results in an album that flows along seamlessly, and is a great companion for those upcoming, somber autumn nights.
About the aspects that could be improved upon, for one, the lyricism needs to be upped. Not only does Manne Ikonen completely ignore the phenomenon known as a rhyme, the lyrical lines themselves seem to be forced (at times). Take the closer "Soulcarvers" for example: the lyrical content itself isn’t bad, the mysterious, dark tone of them fits the music nicely, but the words sung are so awkwardly pronounced and stretched (aftermath of haphazard writing) that it takes a lot away from their effectiveness, especially in the chorus, which is supposed to be the culmination point. This is a recurring theme throughout the album, too, and since the lyrics are so comprehensible, it becomes a bit of an annoyance in the long run. Another thing that the band needs to do is bring back the harsh vocals in the quantity they were in before Until Fear No Longer Defines Us. On Isolation Songs, there was a perfect balance between the two styles, with the cleanly sung passages complementing the vocalist’s harsh style nicely. On this record though, the growly parts are toned down, the clean vox dominate, and even when the harsh style finally kicks in, there still isn’t enough of it to produce an effective counter-balance.
Enough with the negatives though, as the pros of this record far outweigh the cons. When it comes to overall development and execution, Ghost Brigade are progressing along nicely and getting better with each record they put out. Until Fear No Longer Defines Us is an exercise in consistently great melodic dark metal, and not only has the band placed its foot firmly on the map, Ghost Brigade have also made themselves recognizable. After this album, they won’t be addressed as "that pretty decent up-and-coming dark metal band" anymore, no, they will be known as Ghost Brigade, the great Finnish metal band. They definitely have room for improvement still, but it doesn't take anything away from Until Fear No Longer Defines Us.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Man you're reviewing like once a month haha. I pos!
| | | Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off
I agree with the review
| | | Album Rating: 4
@Pizza
But at least I'm still reviewing! I've been experiencing quite the writer's block recently. I try to get it together though at least, like you said, once a month to put something out.
Digging: Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites Digging: Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites | | |
Ahh that's too bad, once a month is understandable in that case. :/
| | | Album Rating: 4
Autumn does bring a lot of promising releases though, so who knows, maybe I will get my mojo back when I hear a couple of spectacular albums that urge me to write about them.
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Yeah it's been an amazing year for music, no doubt that'll happen.
| | | Album Rating: 4
It has also been a year during which I've been slacking, even more so than usual haha.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Well. This isn't as good as the new Textures album imo. I found this overly familiar. It didn't grab me.
Digging: Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Pinata Digging: Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Pinata | | | Album Rating: 4
Good review, glad to finally see one for the album. Taking me a long time to digest it, but it's really good. Perhaps not quite as good as Isolation Songs though.
Digging: Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol Digging: Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol | | | Album Rating: 4
Also try to pin down your descriptions more accurately, to a specific aspect that makes them like said band or whatever. Wouldn't I just fragment my review even more if I'd go into great specifics when making comparisons to other bands ;)? Anyway, sure, I'll look this over again when I get back (going away for a few hours atm).
| | | Album Rating: 3
Ah excellent, this reminds me I must listen to this.
Digging: Joe Bonamassa - Driving Towards The Daylight Digging: Joe Bonamassa - Driving Towards The Daylight | | | Album Rating: 3.5
God damn I love the album art. Gonna have to check this out, sounds like something I'd enjoy.
Neurosis, Swallow The Sun and Katatonia
Sold.
Digging: Mount Eerie - Clear Moon | | |
if you like generic post metal then yea this a must
album sucks hard
Digging: Florence & The Machine - Split Digging: Florence & The Machine - Split
| | | Album Rating: 4
OK I made a few fixes before leaving, tell me what you think, Thomas. I'll read your input when I get back.
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i listened to a few songs off of this on youtube a few weeks ago and really liked what i heard. will give a full listen soon hopefully.
nice review, btw.
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Great review
Looks nice, think I'd enjoy this?
Digging: Walknut - Graveforests And Their Shadows Digging: Walknut - Graveforests And Their Shadows
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yea
| | | Album Rating: 4
I agree, Kyle, that cover looks awesome and I hope you enjoy the album man!
Tyraelxy and Eskate87, you'd both like this a lot
Pyosisified - bringing down the mood since, well, whenever your main got banned because I refuse to believe you only got here in 2010 or something.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I agree, Kyle, that cover looks awesome and I hope you enjoy the album man!
Getting it now, hoping to be impressed!
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
wow this is incredible...arrived at the perfect time too
great review dude
Digging: In Mourning - The Weight of Oceans Digging: In Mourning - The Weight of Oceans | | | |
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