Ghost (Pol)

The Lost Of Mercy 

Thrashing Madness 2014

Not to be confused with the Swedish traditional metallers of the same name, this Ghost is the old school Polish death lords.  Once again Thrashing Madness casts a light on a long lost gem of Polish underground metal.  Originally released in 1994, The Lost Of Mercy is a treasure trove of ancient sounding death metal.  Sounding like a cross between classic NYC and early Swedish style death metal, Ghost unleashes a stormcloud of gloomy, rotten, and uncompromising death.  Alien gets the album underway with its hammering beat which relents into menacing grooves that maul you with their heaviness.  A devastating wall of speed rolls out accompanied by guttural vocals.  Then the track drops into a low-end groove that wallows in morbid gloom.  Chugging, dragging rhythms march along before exploding into ghastly aggression on Cross Of Stone.  Once again, the fabric of the song has doomy morbidity sewn into it.  Burly undulations form the initial stage of Extreme Reality.  The song drives forward with a grim brutality before unleashing an all-out barrage of vehement riffs only to collapse once again into thoughtful meanderings.  Buzzing guitars drift into midtempo  rhythms that bludgeon you in slow motion before being washed away by streams of rapid drums and manic riffing on Fight For Your World.  The finale of the album is the venomous Bestial Rites.  The guitars sizzle and whirl slowly before being overwhelmed by volleys of bombastic drums and merciless speed.  The tempo shifts downward into an abyss of meaty decay before a hellstorm of furious riffs and fiery leads erupted all over your ear drums.  Tacked on to this album is the Renown demo from 1998.  It shows a bit more maturation from the band but in a somewhat rawer form.  Elements of Incantation, Immolation and Grave abound within Ghost's songwriting and serve to create an enjoyable slab of classic era death metal.  Lost Of Mercy is not essential but certainly worth your while if you enjoy death metal done the old way and done right!