Hailing from Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom, Ghast plays an exceptional brand of black/doom metal. More than that, it’s ferocious, raw, and highly addictive. Take for example the track “Crawl, Blighted & Afraid” from Ghast’s debut album, May the Curse Bind. It’s so good, in fact, that Darkthrone’s Fenriz named Ghast the “band of the week” after hearing the album.
“Crawl, Blighted & Afraid” opens with a full-on snare and riff attack, and with beautiful guttural vocals. Then the tempo takes a turn at the 2:00 mark, before finding an incredible, god-like groove that’s impossible to get out of your head. Here, have a listen for yourself:
Ghast – “Crawl, Blighted & Afraid”
But Ghast isn’t stuck in 2011 with their debut album. Just this past August 18th they released Dread Doom Ruin. From that album, the band offers the closing track, “Scorn and Death” (check it out in the player at the top of the page). This is a ride cymbal journey into vocal wails of anguish, and through a series of transcending riffs and crash the track eventually slows to a melancholic pace. Surprisingly, the same riffs from the top of the track come back with a counter-intuitive effect to black or doom metal and make you feel uplifted and positive about the future. Even the vocals have a sense of hopefulness. Where “Scorn and Death” leaves you emotionally at the end is open to interpretation.
If you want more of Ghast’s Dread Doom Ruin, Cvlt Nation is streaming the album via SoundCloud. If you like that, do the band a fucking solid and order the album: MP3 – $5.94
Ghast Is:
Arrrrrrrach: Vocals & Guitar
Myrggh: Bass
Kz: Drums
Rock Hard \m/
