Album review: GHOSTS OF MEN – Exhale
Regent Street Records [Release date 21.05.21]
No psychodrama queens, Ghosts of Men are as comfortable as any rock band can be in writing about mental health. It’s hardly a selling point, but on this their second album, they undercut the inner turmoil that’s been suffered by many, many people during pandemic lockdowns, with the sheer bravado of performance and the smart, sensory underload of their songs. It’s a provocative, stripped down approach that’s full of challenging notions. But it engages quickly, and the duo’s emotional investment rubs off.
Fuelled by a fuzz bursting riff and the pounding percussive thud of an insistent bass guitar, the minimalist vigour of ‘Trouble’ and ‘Tell Me Why’ confirm that you can’t be the future without looking back. It’s as elemental as the booming blues heaviosity of the White Stripes, and is powered by the same barely controlled intensity of the Black Keys.
This stuff – and we should include the pulsing ‘You Can’t Help Me’ and the funky ‘It’s Okay’ – is edge of the seat listening. You expect them to go careering off the rails at any moment. And yet each carries a commercially appealing melodic core, recalling the way in Zappa and Beefheart leavened the controlled chaos with great tunes, back in the last century.
That said, standout track might just be the rapped up ‘Hold On’ (featuring Samantics), a song that seems to flow with the logic of a nightmare. It’s where the darkness meets the light. ***1/2
Review by Brian McGowan
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.
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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024
ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)
Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)
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