Ghost Bath- Funeral (2014)

Ghost Bath- Funeral (2014)

You have to applaud China for the brutal way they are pushing their country into the future, yes, it’s a very harsh doctrine, but the revolution goes on, and one thing that this still leftish giant understands is that in order to work fine, a communist state has to create richness, you can only share richness and abundance, otherwise, you only spread misery, as happened in the USSR, Cuba or North Korea, Marx commented about good communism functioning only on highly advanced and rich countries, where there are goods that can be equally distributed, and although China started their red revolution on poverty, they had enough vision to open their vision, expand their parameters and bring millions of people out of poverty, yes, the gap between the rich and the poor has grown wider in modern China, but the percentage of poor people is decreasing, which means that poverty is worse than inequality.

China, an isolated country in the past has started to open their frontiers, to open their markets and to soften their once restricting social policies; the monster of many heads is evolving fast towards an advanced economy with a bright future, and once forbidden art performances start to blossom in this less restrictive scenery, although there is still a long way to go.

From this new China comes Ghost Bath, a band that has taken me by surprise with its particular take on black metal, once again BM becoming just a medium for artist to launch their own singular attack, Funeral, their new recording is a record that stands well against the savagery of the genre, but has enough charming touches to become a different monster that stands far from the typical clichés, opener Torment begins with chiming guitars, clean soloing and steady drumming, melody reigns big up to this point, drawing the band closer to other more post rock oriented bands, and then suddenly the Pandora box is opened and the band delivers a melodic hardcore approach, their complete denial of common BM vocals is remarkable, as mere subconscious screams are thrown into the mix, no matter how much saturated the song can become, they keep intact their melodic vein and their guitars although heavy remain clear and positive sounding.

Burial starts with languid ghost guitars, more commonly heard on Jandek records than on a Mayhem song, but the bands quickly introduces explosive drumming and buzzing guitars to ignite fire on the theme to achieve epic results, it becomes clear that Ghost Bath are totally into developing their own version of BM, clean guitars playing a big role in giving the band a very distinctive approach, no matter how necro their vocals can turn, and believe me, they do get vey necro in this song.

Guitars again become the main conductor of innovation for Ghost Bath, as they introduce the song in an eerie manner, but when drums and the wall of noise made by guitars and bass starts, Procession display that ferocious, resounding and vibrating commonly found on BM, but they are clearly defined by painful screaming, that sometimes reminds me of the supernatural approach of Abruptum, whom I deeply love, and the epic touches of Viking metal pioneer Bathory, although in a very different context, perhaps imperial China.     

A piano is used to introduce the next song: Dead, and guitars quickly follow, up to this point rather tame, less ferocious, challenging BM followers once again, but quickly adding generous tons of distortion and tremolo, in a way that most please any extreme music fan, drumming becomes devastating, and the wall of noise becomes amazing, fiery BM sounding, but without losing its own identity.

Mixing heavy melodicism, necro screaming and an imperial wall of noise, Ghost Bath produces a very entertaining and impressive record, one that doesn’t compromise their own identity and uses wisely BM only as a base for their amazing musical approach, without a doubt great musician with open minds that will improve their rich sounding music in more years to come.