Ghastly’s Trippy Death Metal Dives Deep Into Madness In this month’s edition of Blast Rites, we speak to mainman Ian J. D’Waters, plus more of this month’s best metal
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CREDIT: S Kujansuu
Death metal and psychedelic rock may seem worlds apart, but the two are actually riding the same psychic wavelength more often than not. In fact, I’d argue death metal has carried the mantle for psych for well over three decades. Both push guitar music to induce cerebral intoxication and overdrive – aided by copious volume – which can seem suffocating and freeing all at once. Psych’s trippy visions of boundless cosmos elicit the same heady pleasure of death metal’s visual fortes: dripping, melted skin, godly beings crushed into dust, endless wars begetting endless wars.
GHASTLY, RED FANG Among Gimme Metal s Top Tracks of the Week
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GHASTLY – Parasites
While Finland s Ghastly risk getting swept up in the river of death metal revivalists, there s something utterly nefarious about their approach to the genre. They definitely inject more atmosphere than most into their Death Velour LP (out on 20 Buck Spin); parts of it have crept with a humid-swamp moog exercise punctuated by percussion/silence right out of an Argento score. But when they come roaring up with full flight, you get a dismal yet powerful punch in the gut with well orchestrated riff-n-rhythm moves and suitingly terrifying vocal attack.