This new ZYCLOPS video really exemplifies social distancing. Seriously, “Ghost” focuses on a lone figure in the woods, much of it cast in green à la night vision. The song matches, haunting as the best post-metal does with eerie melodies and devastating passages.
The former sets the mood as the visual accompaniment sets the scene. A couple of minutes in, the sludge spews forth as the humanoid in question appears and disappears, flashing like a specter. The song plods along underneath hypnotic yell-singing. It’s enough to put your in a trance, only to be violently shaken out be crushing chugs as the song crescendoes. Actually, multiple figures appear at that time, but thankfully they do seem to be six feet apart.
Guitarist/vocalist Ryan Pankratz recalls contacting video crafter Neil C. Barrett a few days after their Texas home locked down. He delivered on the bare bone idea of “humanoid figure in the woods.” Below, Pankratz explains how perfectly that goes with the track’s lyrical themes.
“The track is basically themed around a suspicion/declaration that there’s someone/something out there, something well aware of us, our kind, our intentions and basic nature, that does not want to be found. It could be God, Aliens, Yeti, etc. Imagine a higher power, a life form more advanced or maybe just more aware. Would it want to be found? Try as we might as humans to dissect every molecule of our existence, there are just some things that will evade our collective knowledge and pursuits. It could be right behind you—in light glares and shadows. They would know where you won’t look, and I think they would stay there. And watch us unravel.”
Buy the Inheritance of Ash EP here.
