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Ghost Brigade: Until Fear No Longer Defines Us

Exploring the transition area between sludge metal, doom metal and depressive rock, Ghost Brigade take the listener on a dark musical journey through a musical landscape of melancholy, darkness, longing and desperation on Until Fear No Longer Difines Us.

The opening track 'In the Woods', while a melodic acoustic piece with clean vocals, very much sets the emotional tone of the album with its melancholic undertones. Throughout the album, Ghost Brigade successfully integrate the heaviness of sludge metal with the shoegazing melancholy of depressive alternative rock and also generate a doom-ladden atmosphere associated with doom metal, and – as the icing on the cake – they add a very melodic dimension through the use of, for example, melodic leads, guitar harmonies and other elements inspired by the Gothic brand od doom metal associated with the likes of Paradise Lost. Many tracks like 'Clawmaster', 'Chamber', 'Grain' and 'Cult of Decay' combine heavy, doomy and sludgy part with mellow, but dark, clean guitar passages, and the vocalist makes use of both grungy Alice In Chains-like clean vocals and death growls. And, I must say, it works extremely well – this is music you can really lose yourself in. My personal favorites are probably 'Traces of Liberty' because of its heavy sludge-boogie main riff and 'Breakwater' with its use of atypical and slightly dissonant chords.

In all its heaviness, Until Fear No longer Defines Us is very successful in evoking dark and depressive emotions in the listener, and I really appreciate how Ghost Brigade accesses these emotions, no just through sheer metal doom and gloom, but through importing some of the best element from the more depressive strands of alternative rock from the 90s.

While stylistically quite different from Opeth, Ghost Brigade generate the same type of dark atmosphere, as Opeth, and I think that fans of both Paradise Lost style gothic doom metal, depressive alternative rock, melodic sludge metal and melodic metal will appreciate Ghost Brigade's brand of dark rock.


Track Listing:
1. In the Woods
2. Clawmaster
3. Chamber
4. Traces of Liberty
5. Divine Act of Lunacy
6. Grain
7. Breakwater
8. cult of Decay
9. Torn
10. Soulcarvers

Added: July 21st 2011
Reviewer: Kim Jensen
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 3819
Language: english

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Ghost Brigade: Until Fear No Longer Defines Us
Posted by Jeff B, SoT Staff Writer on 2011-07-21 16:46:48
My Score:

Until Fear No Longer Defines Us isn't a cheery album by any stretch - as a matter of fact, the amount of melancholy and dark atmospheres make it a rather depressing listen... but a damn impressive depressing listen, to be sure. Ghost Brigade manages to capture this melancholic atmosphere with perfection through powerful compositions, professional arrangements, and fantastic vocals. Until Fear No Longer Defines Us is the third full-length effort from this Finnish melodic sludge metal outfit, and certainly an album I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys the genre. If you're searching for something that's extremely melodic, yet still thought-provoking, challenging, and crushingly heavy, this is worth a look.

The music on Until Fear No Longer Defines Us is a mix of sludge metal, doom metal, progressive rock, and melodic metal. The extremely melancholic atmosphere and softer clean-vocal sections also lead me to think of modern alternative rock. Ghost Brigade is first and foremost focused on atmosphere, and whether it be on softer songs like "In The Woods" and "Chamber", heavy songs like "Traces of Liberty", or epic tracks like "Breakwater" and "Soulcarvers", the music is always melodic and quite beautiful. The main asset of Until Fear No Longer Defines Us lies in the sheer strength of the compositions, but the other aspects of the album certainly don't fall by the wayside either. Ghost Brigade consists of extremely gifted musicians with a knack for conveying plenty of emotion through their respective instruments, and the production is also warm and highly professional.

I was very impressed by this effort from Ghost Brigade, and I currently consider it to be one of the finest metal releases I've heard this year. Seldom do I come across an album as emotional and beautiful as Until Fear No Longer Defines Us, and hopefully this remarkable feat will put Ghost Brigade on the map for metal fans worldwide! 4 stars and a warm recommendation are well-deserved. If you like your sludge metal to be on the more melancholic and eclectic side, it's hard to go wrong with this stellar album!



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