A black metal purist would rather be baptized than slap Ghost Bath with the label 'black metal', in part due to fear of being strung up by his heels and tarred and feathered by droves of furious black metal traditionalists… They are also as fiercely loyal as they are obtusely ignorant when it comes to protecting the genres aphotic purity. This is fine by me.
With that being said, Ghost Bath's upcoming release 'Moonlover' seems to nestle in more accurately with the Black Gaze movement, a term that gets some crowds all rankled and riled up.
I have listened to the song Golden Number in full as I am posting this, being the first song I have heard of Ghost Bath as I wasn't familiar with their 2014 release Funeral. I was neither wooed nor disappointed, but I must admit that riff at 01:47 into the song nullified the evil atmosphere that was building up, for minutes after that riff the guitars and drumming are brazenly poppy in sound, sonically akin to a more post-punk ethos, which I guess is par for the course.
In lieu of total transparency, I'd rather just listen to Lunar Aurora, whom were untouchable when it came to making ambient driven black metal with a potent ability to construct genuinely eerie songs that never strayed too far from its roots. I don't mean to compare Lunar Aurora with Ghost Bath as I don't think Ghost Bath is really trying to mimic them, but those heavily drowned out vocal shrieks on 'Moonlover' really make me just want to listen to Lunar Aurora's 'Andacht' instead.
* Enough of what I think, how egocentric of me, I am more curious as to what you guys think of 'Moonlover'? Do we like it? Do we hate it? Do we not really give a shit?
One thing cannot be argued; That album cover is incredibly bleak and I give full points for that. At least they got a leg up on those stubborn black metal dudes with no visual art sense at all. Maybe.
Ghost Bath (bandcamp)
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