Ghost Brigade

Isolation Songs

Don’t be fooled—boring metalgaze this is not | Season of Mist

Ghost Brigade’s formula is so simple that merely describing it is sure to elicit yawns, the Finnish band plumbing the melancholy, contemplative strains of Paradise Lost and latter-day Katatonia, and adding a significant helping of the monolithic riffs of Cult of Luna. Pretty much your typical, slowly meandering post-metal… at least in theory. In reality, though, the sextet brings an elegance to the sound that immediately distances them from lesser talents, infusing their heavy music with a strong melodic sensibility that keeps us riveted.

That heavy/accessible dynamic is executed exceptionally well on the fittingly titled Isolation Songs. One minute the band is teetering towards the atmospheric strains of Sigur Rós, the next they’re channeling Through Silver in Blood, never lingering too long at either end, that graceful ebb and flow perpetual. As a result, never for a moment does the hour-long record even hint at tedium. Crunching, crushing opener “Suffocated,” “Liar” and “Lost in the Loop” play up their aggressive side effectively, while the nine-minute “Birth” steadily builds to a roaring climax. But the real keepers are the album’s forays into cleaner sounds. Led by the simple yet versatile vocal approach of Manne Ikonen, such gorgeous tracks as “A Storm Inside,” “My Heart Is a Tomb” and “Into the Black Light” at times eschew metal in favor of a more alt-rock feel reminiscent of Dredg; but it never feels contrived, those immense waves of distortion always lurking around the corner, keeping those melodies in check. And to think this splendid, confident album is only the band’s second.

—Adrien Begrand

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