Texas’s premier blackened electronic artist Gost is releasing his first album with Metal Blade titled “Prophecy”.
Gost is like no other. Melding extreme metal, synth-wave & dark elements to carve out his hellish soundscape.
Since beginning in 2014 Gost has had five full-lengths under his belt. Taking the underground by the throat & being one of the most talked about electronic artists of the past few years in all of the subgenres. Most notably recently when featuring on fellow Texans Frozen Souls “Glacial Domination” album with providing tracks for their John Carpenter’s “The Thing” inspired tracks “Frozen Soul” & “Assimilator”.
Now joining forces with Metal Blade Records to release his sixth & darkest album to date. Opening with “Judgment” a spiral down to hell & the first few glimpses into the oncoming apocalypse the track begins things before “Prophecy” escalates them.
The first few moments of the song feel like your brain is melting inside your skull (it’s a good thing I promise). A bellowing screen rattles your eardrums & blast beats in a synth track that feels like it’s been missing all my life! Then creeping & slowing things down before the track drops into a rhythmic & hypnotic dance beat sends you into a tailspin. This track feels like Gost’s themes for the album. “It’s about an imaginative fall of the Western civilization, the biblical end of the world – the rise of Satan and Armageddon,” says James. “In America, there’s been a big rise of scared, reactive Christianity again, and almost like a re-emergence of the Satanic Panic. So it felt like an appropriate time to bring Satan back into things.”
Before the closing moments of the track angelic keys cleanse the palette of the listener but just as soon as the track ends “Death in Bloom” turns the hectic power up to 11. Chugging breakneck guitars, screeching vocals & bass-pounding drums pound you into dust. Building the intensity before an early 32-bit Doom soundtrack-style motive is brought into the fold. As a stubble & seductive vocal soars over what’s going on, tying it all together nicely.
What can’t be understated with Gost is the use of metal elements. Reintroducing a blasting section which perfectly switches into a breakdown section that would make any beatdown band envious. Gost crafts his tracks. Only a few tracks in & the layering is superb. The electronic elements paired with the analogue guitar distortion & sounds are two opposite sounds & feel but he crafts them so well together to make them both equally make each other that much more heavier or beautiful.
“Obituary” is the first of my favourite tracks. Opening hard with a distorted beat & catchy keyboard track it’s both dancy & brutal. A great merging of tracks that reminds of the spirit of The Prodigy mix of metal & dance beats. In the second half, the track brings this big bassy drone section & haunting melodies. It doesn’t feel like a total bait & switch but I like how it keeps the listener on their toes.
The second track “Golgotha” is pure chaos. Opening with a dissonant guitar repeating & an eerie sample before picking up the pace this track is a banger. With a great hypnotic beat with an impressive & agile use of guitar work, this track stood out on my first listen & is a track I love returning to. A track that covers all spectrums on Gost’s sounds on the album. The intensity, the harsh elements & the catchy earworms of his use of drum tracks.
Now with an album that has a close to fifty-minute run time & thirteen tracks, you may think it might drag but Gost has somehow been able to do the opposite. The album flows so well & each track’s moments don’t outstay their welcome. Writing peaks & valleys that keep your interest & help you breeze through the album before you listen to it for a second time.
The album closer “Leviathan” feels like their perfect send-off for this mammoth album. The most epic track is left to last. Feeling like the closing moments of an industrial dark sci-fi epic this track with its nearly five-minute run time does it all. Bringing in these 80’s horror movie score snippets with huge drone-like bass drops, and choir like background synths to create this truly breathtaking final bow before the curtain drops.
“Prophecy” is a seminal album. The perfect meld of everything I love about dark electronic & extreme metal music.
It truly feels like an album that will ascend multiple genres & is a great gateway for metal fans to dip their toes into this style. And for those who may love synth-wave who want something darker, a lot darker ha.
Review: Guy Williams
Prophecy is out via Metal Blade Records on 8th March 2024
Find preordering options at www.metalblade.com/gost
Prophecy will be available on CD and digital formats as well as vinyl in the following color variants:Tigers Eye (US)
Yellow w/ Orange Smoke (US)
Firefly Glow Marbled (EU)
Beige Brown w/ Black Smoke (EU)
Red “Black Dust” (EU)
Find preordering options at www.metalblade.com/gost
Prophecy Track Listing:
1. Judgment
2. Prophecy
3. Death In Bloom
4. Deceiver
5. Obituary
6. Temple Of Tears
7. Decadent Decay
8. Widow Song
9. Golgotha
10. Digital Death
11. Shelter
12. Through The Water
13. Leviathan
GOST:
James Lollar – everything
DISCOGRAPHY:
Albums
Skull (July 2013)
Behemoth (April 2015)
Non Paradisi (September 2016)
Non Paradisi (Secret Arcana) (September 2016)
Possessor (March 2018)
Valediction (October 2019)
Rites of Love and Reverence (August 2021)
EPs
Radio Macabre (January 2013)
The Night Prowler (February 2013)
Nocturnal Shift (April 2013)
S/T (February 2014)
Singles
Driller Killer – From out of Nowhere (Gost – cover) (January 2014)
Christine – Death on Wheels Part II (Gost remix) (January 2014)
Online at:
https://gost.live/
https://gost1980s.bandcamp.
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