Album Review: Gost - Prophecy
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Prophecy is the sixth album from multi-instrumentalist, James Lollar’s dark synthwave project, Gost. Having been active since 2013, Gost have acquired a number of fans in both the Dance and Metal communities, which has led the artist to guest slots with Mayhem and Katatonia, among others.
Based in the great state of Texas, you can find Gost in a similar musical milieu as Perturbator or Author and Punisher; creatives doing their own thing and picking up a myriad of fans along the way.
This latest record opens with Judgement, a short soundscape that sets the scene for the nihilistic atmosphere pervading the rest of the album. A cacophony of broken narration, sirens, a warped rendition of the US National Anthem and the cries of countless damned souls give way the title-track.
A barrage of heavy electronics and blast-beat drums create a Ministry-like noise, complete with a tolling bell, and what sounds like nails scratching down a blackboard.
Gost revel in the Industrial beats on Golgotha, Deceiver, Obituary and the dense, dark synthwave of Temple of Tears, with Deceiver having a widescreen feel to the huge chord
Both Decadent Decay and Widow Song are sketched with Gothic overtones; the first layering them into the most overt display of electronic black metal on show here, and the second dispensing of its choral opening to adopt a Gothic Industrial tone. I could be mistaken, but is that a glockenspiel I hear before me?
Gost combines both elements on Through the Water, which opens with an awkward piano, as though scoring a nasty horror film. Shelter feels as though there is something missing, as though it’s laying a foundation for something that doesn’t materialise, making it all the more unsettling. Prophecy’s final tune is Leviathan, a grandiose and sweepingly classical track that is interspersed with upbeat and seemingly throw away sections of dance music.
Before that, Digital Death heaps a mass of disparate sounds on top of each other, creating something akin to the pure Harsh Noise of a Morbid Beauty or godNOISEgod.
Gost’s Prophecy feels like it’s part of an evolution of the genre, spear-headed by like-minded artists and creators, and taking musical extremity to new and different places. For me, if you’re still undecided and want to dip your toe into Gost’s waters, give Death In Bloom a spin; its harsh drums and scorching vocals, sit easily besides its dance rhythms and Eighties sensibilities, before giving way to a full-on vicious Black Metal assault.
It's an overture of sorts, and one that gives a pretty accurate taster to the scope and sound of Prophecy as a whole.
