The blackened souls of Finland’s Ghastly are due to release their third full length release Mercurial Passages in late May. If you are clawing at the window for a (un)healthy dose of lo-fi death metal, then you are in luck, Ghastly have released the first single from their new album. Parasites presents you with that aforementioned shot of dirty, disgusting, painfully delicious death metal.
Taking clear influences from both early black and death metal, the old school feel of Parasites follows a pattern of a recent resurgence in old school death metal. With modern metal taking strides past complexity that takes guitar string count to new heights, there’s always a place for throwback death metal.
All the elements that made GHASTLY’s praised Death Velour album a rarified jewel return in full splendor on Mercurial Passages; the memorably eerie slow burn buildups, the frantically vivid outbursts of speed, and dramatic trance inducing doom fragments that create a hypnotic psychedelia akin to being lost in infinite labyrinthine corridors perpetually folding in on themselves. Death metal for altered states of consciousness and mystifying wonder, rather than corporeal rot and earthbound materialism.
An album to be consumed as a contemplative whole, Mercurial Passages burrows into the deep recesses of the psyche exposing the dark subconscious to the edges of madness.
Mercurial Passages was recorded and mixed at Parasite Dune Studios by Ian J. D’Waters and mastered at Redmount Studios by Magnus Lindberg. As with its predecessor, Mercurial Passages is graced with hauntingly cerebral artwork from Riikka Pesonen, whose visual elegance provides the perfect accompaniment to Ghastly’s sinister eccentricity.
Mercurial Passages will be released from 20 Buck Spin on May 28.
Mercurial Passages track listing:
1. Ouroborus
2. Out of the Psychic Blue
3. Sea Of Light
4. Perdition
5. Parasites
6. Dawnless Dreams
7. Mirror Horizon
Ghastly is:
Gassy Sam – Vocals
Johnny Urnripper – Vocals
Ian J. D’Waters – Instruments
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