| Prophecy, the new full-length from slasherwave phenom GOST, is out today on Metal Blade Records!
GOST exists in the dark crack between black metal and the most shadowy end of electronic music. Since the release of the Radio Macabre EP at the start of 2013, and the remorseless digital nightmare of their Skull debut album six months later, Texas-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, and main-brain James Lollar has become an increasingly singular force in music. Far more aggressive and sinister than the synthwave he’s often grouped with, GOST is a harsh and unique digital nightmare that takes the listener right into the heart of the abyss.
Prophecy serves as Lollar’s most exhilarating and dangerous sounding work to date. It’s a record that perfectly reflects the horror and grim anxieties of a world beset with religious and political overreach, and progress, “being rolled back to the fucking 1950s.” Prophecy was recorded by Lollar alone in Texas during a burst of creativity at the end of 2022. Following the experimentation and more melodic touches of 2019’s Valediction, the record also acts as something of a return to older roots, to recapture the spirit of GOST.
From the industrial scrape of “Death In Bloom,” the doomy “Decadent Decay,” and the demonic pulse of “Golgotha,” Lollar welds together elements of pulsing synthwave, the otherworldly nastiness of black metal, and the pound and snarl of Ministry at their most unhinged to create a whole that sounds genuinely dangerous, somewhere between metal and a rave in Hell.
Notes Kerrang of the release, “The world his music inhabits is nocturnal and sinister, bathed in crimson neon; while its electronic beats might point a bony finger in the direction of the dancefloor, the environment it portrays is more ritual than rave…Prophecy continues in this established trajectory, with Satanic soundbites and Biblical artwork conjuring an end-of-days vibe altogether in keeping with the horror movie synths reverberating throughout.” Writes Metal Temple, “the melody creeps through the darkness, each note tinged with a sinister edge. The storm outside mirrored the turmoil within, as the keyboard danced under the musician’s fingers. The music told a story of shadows and secrets, drawing the listener into its dark and stormy depths. If this is Satan coming back to move us forward, I say welcome him with a smile.” Observes The Metal Pit, “Prophecy is rife with drum and bass, dubstep, dark industrial metal, classic techno, and much more. It is a journey into the dark and evil side of life done with electronics and some guitars and live drums. GOST recreates the metal-ness with synths, distortion, and a helluva lot of grandiose sound design.” Adds Distorted Sound, “It’s not a comfortable ride, but it is an electric one.” |
