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Released on March 16, 2015 via Ritual Productions
Ghold are a two piece doom band based in London, who make their noise through bass, drums and vocals. They haven’t been around long, they formed in 2012, but they have risen through the ranks at a staggering rate. They’ve shared the stage with the likes of Ufomammut, Yob, Stephen O’Malley, Conan, Dragged into Sunlight and Årabrot and they deserve every ounce of this success as they are an incredible live act. Their two EPs and demo were more than decent but here they are with their first proper album Of Ruin, which is out soon on Ritual Productions, a label known for its flawless consistency and focus on rock music that’s rooted in spacey experimentation. Let’s get stuck the fuck in.
First off, let’s get the elephant out of the room… Ghold love The Melvins and you can feel the influence throughout the entire album. There’s nothing wrong with that, The Melvins are the blueprint to a lot of great heavy music in 2015 and rather than watering down like most, Ghold have honed it in, turned it into an art form and have built upon it. I suppose you could be listening to an album by The Melvins, but a REALLY fucking good one.
As soon as the dramatic vocals kick in during ‘Saw the Falling’ you are swept off into an ancient world and you stay there until the end of the final track. You can’t understand a single world of the vocals but the harmonies Aleks and Paul achieve are incredible, they sound like Monks who were banished to another planet for an eternity with nothing to do apart from compose chants about what they see in the skies. It’s like they are connected on some divine level, which you can also feel in the musicianship, everything just works together so well. Sometimes with a two piece there can often be lack of diversity, but that’s certainly not the case here. Of Ruin carries constant time changes and subtle twists, which keep it sounding fresh. During ‘Partaken Incarnate’ they are having a thrash metal scream one minute before charging into a primordial battle the next.
Of Ruin is one hell of an achievement, Ghold are heavy as anything, but the magic comes from their relentless drive to keep you guessing and do something original. It feels like something bigger than any human could understand, the devastating sounds of the bass and drums mixed with the vocals is reminiscent of two Gods arguing about what the weather is going to be like tomorrow. If you take an epic sound of this nature and throw in more surprises than anyone could fully comprehend then the result is going to be something very special… and that’s exactly what’s happened.
