Review Summary: the ghosts we fear are inside us all.
I’m not afraid to say that I fantasize about my funeral on the daily. The thoughts of life after death and where everyone in my life will move on from there feels like peeking into an open book. It’s a certain specificity of knowing no matter how hard you try, you will eventually be forgotten by everyone you know and love with time. I’ve come to terms with this. That’s life, I suppose. I’ll be kept in mind from time to time and that’s okay, I’m content with that. But sometimes it feels so frustrating knowing I’ll never be able to get over myself. I’ve been having a horrible time constantly reassuring everyone around me that I’ll be okay with time, and I’ll eventually pull myself together.
The Ghosts I Fear proposes the same questions that I can’t help but feel asking myself all the time. “If this is love where is life meant to lead us than in circles?” is the question that ends the near-perfect opening track and it sets the tone off the bat with realism that brinks on existentialism and the fear of one’s self. The place where I was when I heard
The Ghosts I Fear, which wasn’t necessarily that long ago, was a dark one. I’ve been in a position where I’ve been trying to push forward and plan the lines for the next battle while I still can but truthfully I know I’m losing ground. I’ve been living as a ghost with a lot of things falling apart around me with me sitting helpless, but never a victim.
The Ghosts I Fear is the epitome of perseverance in the most fragile and weakening circumstances.
The imagery
The Ghosts I Fear evokes has a further range than not only in today’s emo, but music as a whole. The soft spoken talks of industrial paint and magnolia, as well as airport bars and the things in between burst with as much passion as a group of individuals can interject in such a seemingly miniscule amount of time due to how much
punch this record has to offer. It also has the capability of flowing seamlessly which a lot of the genre’s records have seemingly lost footing of. The angst and flawless production only serves to aid the fast-paced emotional crises that strike you when listening. The vocal delivery from the female lead of the record (Victoria if I’m correct) has a huge dynamic to it, and provide a great counteract to the subtle post-rock influenced guitars that roam this record so gracefully. The rhythm section also provide a crisp and frontward battle-stance when it comes to setting the record into full throttle at times, in particular the intro to closing track “Sometimes” provides a pulsing climax to the album with a triumphant and cathartic rhythm guitar as the early screamo influences take you over. The thing is, the record doesn’t end with some triumphant war-cry of winning a battle; in fact it feels like the exact opposite. That’s what makes it stand out infinitely more than other records in the same vain. The record ends invoking imagery of a sunset into forgetting your faults and moving forward from the pain you persevere through for no other reason than the reason you started, to get home; when the truth is, home is you, home is
us.
It’s okay to be alone sometimes, and it’s okay to have to count your dimes while you still have them. In our society with the constant changing of times, we can only move forward. We all think of ourselves, perhaps a bit too much; but we are all just making decisions as shots in the dark. That’s how we’re supposed to do it, life is unpredictable and angst is futile.
The Ghosts I Fear is our underground subconscious reminder to keep moving forward. No matter how empty your city streets may be, your streetlights will keep lit. You can always keep moving forward through, with no one to stop you except yourself, and
The Ghost I Fear is the perfect delineation of such a thing.
