Ghost Orgy

I don't normally review albums based on streams (I prefer the physical CD) but I must have been in a funny mood when I got the email. An extract from the mail:
Unflinching before today's anachronic encumberings, archetypes of discord undulate among platitude and retort, through dreams merged to ebbing beyonds
How could I ignore that? Well, easily, but it brought a smile to my face. I hope the band don't really talk like that. I don't think the barstaff at The Beech would understand them asking for 'a chalice of your most-evil smelling concoction to thrust us further into the darkest chasms of our wretched souls'. If they did they would give them the Carling.

From the pictures on the website i wondered whether this was going to be an Evanescence take off (good looking female singer in Gothic garb) but surely writing like this could only come from Dark Metal Overlords .The start leaves me in confusion - back to the avant-garde 80s with a sound and construction like Art Zoyd and not the metal feast I was expecting. The sound of viola in the mix brings me comfort (perhaps my favourite instrument). The Metal soon becomes apparent and actually has some elements that remind me of Tilt and Solar Race and even Neurosis - the heavier side of the alternative faith.

Heavy, technical stop-start rhythms and in-your-face guitar (no solos). The killer punch for me has to be the viola from Elena Doroftei (sounds like she knows Berio's Sequenza VI). It isn't just an added texture but an integral part of the sound and lifts it above any competition. So nice to hear the instrument used that way and played with real technique.

This is a fine example of Art-Goth-Metal sure to appeal to those who like their music heavy and brooding. Of course it's over the top, lacking any obvious humour, and you have to go to their website to see the pictures of the band in their dark magnificence - everything is perfect for the genre and then some.