after many months of quiet in 2017, the excellent finnish metal/synthwave label, blood music, returned with extra staff to meet demand, and a fully loaded release schedule.
the biggest of which was the return of gost.
after 2 albums of distorto-synth excess brilliance, this album was high on my list of ‘possible best albums of 2018’ even before i saw the cover art.
once i saw the cover art it became clear that things were moving on for gost.
gone were the cliched dark comic book art that so many synthwave artists now use, and instead we get a very glossy package. i guess the label have revised their budgetary allowances.
of course there has to be a skull featured, but hey it is gost.
as for the album ?
well, there is the horror film dialogue opening scene followed by a very “heavy metal via synths” track.
all as you’d want and expect.
then things change.
during ‘the prowler‘, the sound production open ups and allows space in between the synths making for an almost electronic groove, which is then followed by an experiment, a track with vocals.
dark and sublime, ‘sigil‘ is evidence that gost could definitely make the ultimate electronic-goth crossover hit, a trick that is repeated towards the end of the album with ‘malum‘.
both tracks are definite highlights.
the rest of the album with its mix of distorted to excess electronics, spoken samples, and dark moods is, in other words, everything you want from a gost album.
an excellent return for both artist and label.
more detail : blood music