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!