Review Summary: The pinnacle of The Fall of Troy's career, so far.
The Fall of Troy (
TFOT) –
Ghostship Demos
At the time of recording,
The Fall of Troy was:
Thomas Erak – Guitar, Lead Vocals
Tim Ward – Bass, Backup Vocals
Andrew Forsman – Drums
Many groundbreaking bands will have a cult classic: an album less mainstream and popular that contains a sound differing from the band’s signature style, or conveys the band at their best without excessive production. These are by no means their best works, simply the lesser known. Take
A Calculated Use of Sound for example. Die hard
Protest the Hero fans will rave about this album and its unbelievable musicianship for such a young band, but a fan of their latest release might cringe upon hearing Rody’s punk-influenced vocals.
System of a Down reached worldwide popularity due to the releases of
Toxicity and
Mesmerize, despite
Steal This Album! and their self-titled debut containing more unique sounds and excellent craftsmanship (Toxicity is remarkable, don’t get me wrong).
The Fall of Troy’s hidden gem is their
Ghostship Demos. The quest to find an actual disc of these, or even a place to download them for a measly 99 cents, would be long and arduous. They are, for now (
Phantom on the Horizon, the re-recorded set of Ghostship songs, will be released sometime in 2009), restricted to being scattered amongst file-sharing programs across the internet. I suggest that everyone who has yet to settle down and listen to this phenomenal set of recordings go download them now. This is the greatest release of
The Fall of Troy’s young, successful, and promising career.
For those unfamiliar with
TFOT, they are a post-hardcore/experimental trio hailing from the renowned music scene of Washington State. Their sound resembles that of
The Blood Brothers and
At the Drive-in, and they were originally a four-piece named
The 30 Years War. With the loss of one of their guitarists, the remaining three flipped through a history textbook until they landed on
The Fall of Troy, and that name stuck.
Ghostship Demos is their second release under the new name.
The concept of the
Ghostship Demos revolves around the crew of a battleship or pirate ship, and their otherworldly encounter with a ghostship. The crew is unable to cope with the ghosts, and is driven to madness when their ship is forcefully submerged. It is
not featured on this album, but
Ghostship Part II contains a fascinating yet alarming account of the captain of the ship resorting to cannibalism.
My teeth in my mouth felt like knives,
and I ate you it tasted so nice.
Can I even believe my own eyes?
And upon my horrendous insight,
I still felt that it was so right.
His face looks so true in this light.
- First verse,
Ghostship Part II (Rare-recording, not on this album)
In
Ghostship Part IV we find the captain hearing voices of the devil in his head, offering the captain his life for his soul. When the captain finally returns home in part V, he has to deal with his wife (possibly) cheating on him, and continues on to “pick up the pieces” of his life and start all over. The final track,
Macaulay McCulkin, concerns a deranged man waiting to murder his girlfriend/wife. This could be the captain killing his wife, and it not only seems slightly out of place, but could also be placed on an entirely different recording (which it was, being slightly altered for the band’s 2005 release,
Doppelganger).
The lyrics here are not only interesting and well-thought out, they are beautifully written, and although screaming is frequent here it is easily comprehended. The entire “chorus” of
Ghostship Part IV can be made out without the lyrics sitting in front of you, and one really feels like a bad*** yelling along with Tom. While listening to/reading the lyrics, take into consideration that
The Fall of Troy were all 19 years of age, writing a concept album as their second release. This isn’t
Kezia, but it’s pretty close, albeit in a few places better written. It is, in the end, too short to really compare.
Some might expect an instrumental drop off in
The Fall of Troy compared to other bands in the genre, because they have only three people in the band. Lucky for us, this was the tightest trio in recent memory (Tim Ward left the band, but I’ve heard Frank Black, the new bassist, is excellent as well). Not only is the riff work superb, but people have come up to me and told me they loved the dual guitars. That is just how prevalent the bass is in this mix. While the production is not outstanding, although better than their previous release, you won’t have any trouble hearing it. It doesn’t harmonize with the guitar like in latter releases, but it will take the lead in places. The first minute of
Ghostship Part I is entirely bass, and throughout the rest of the album it can be heard playing right along with the guitar. Thomas Erak’s guitar work is mind-boggling. His riffs are up there not only with the fastest around, but also the most melodic. Every song here is filled to the brim with dazzling moments, and Erak doesn’t simply throw an arpeggio in there, he will really break them down and turn each and every one of them into technical works of art. The drum work here is spot on as well. The steady build-up of the drums at the end of
Ghostship Part I is magnificent, as it completes one of the more epic endings you will hear from
The Fall of Troy. After 15 or so calming seconds, part IV kicks in and Andrew once again picks up the pace. The band really makes up for the lack of band members, proving that you don’t need a rhythm guitarist or a turntable man (
Slipknot…) to make a statement in the world of metal. They only back this statement up more when playing live, where the three amigos are nearly flawless.
The vocal work here is outstanding, similar to everything else on the album. Tom isn’t the greatest of singers, but nothing he does is really annoying and these are better than his vocals on
Manipulator. The screaming is situated between post-hardcore yelling and the more severe screams of say,
Converge. They are easily understood, not painful in any way, shape, or form, and keep the album intense when it needs to be. The album has its share of calmer moments, which make it about as complete as a 23-minute album can possibly be.
All these components assembled together create one of the best EPs in the genre’s short history, as well as
The Fall of Troy’s greatest recording. Chock full of imaginative storytelling and unparalleled instrumental work, it is a can’t miss. Thank you,
TFOT, for opening my mind to technical and intellectual musical brilliance.
Pros:
Thomas Erak’s guitar work and vocals
Tim Ward’s bass work
Andrew Forsman on drums
Lyrical content
Fluctuation between wild and soothing moments
Cons:
It’s shorter than half an hour, so it shouldn’t really be considered a classic
Score:4.5/5
