Phonebook Eater
7/10
A sense of hope, among nothing but shadows is what can be easily sensed by listening to "Until Fear No Longer Defines Us".
Ghost Brigade is a sludge metal/melodic death metal band from Finland, and “Until Fear No Longer Defines Us” is their third studio work, after two mediocre albums. But with this album there is a definite step forward towards a wider audience and towards a more mature sound, and has been praised particularly by fans of the genre, as one of the finest metal releases of this year.
Sludge Metal is a genre that has been pretty active, and has had tons of bands that incorporated it’s style in these recent few years. The more Atmospheric side of the genre is also very frequent in music, like it is in this particular case; there is a dark, guitar-driven atmosphere that often includes repetition. The moods can go from very light but very melancholy, to very heavy and distorted, with powerful growl vocals. While the calmer, cleaner moments resemble quite a few elements of Alternative Metal, the more brutal ones are nothing but strong Sludge Metal and Prog Death Metal. This formula is what might have turned some metal purists off, and it’ll probably do the same to whoever isn’t very much into Alt Metal. But the truth is that no matter what you think this band has talent, they write great, even catchy, melodies, and overall have a good musicianship and noticeable style.
As the album cover clearly suggests, the album has moments of rage and darkness, but also sad-sounding ones. The nature of the album itself can compared to a weak man who has an extremely tormented past and present and somehow he finds the strength to overcome all his dark fears and finally become a strong human being. It might sound corny to some, but a sense of hope, among nothing but shadows is what can be easily sensed by listening to this album as a whole.
The more delicate moments are extremely melodic, but still end up being somewhat beautiful, like the intro for the album. But mainly, UFNLDS is made of ten dark and sludgy songs with a good feel of alt metal, like I mentioned. Tracks like “Clawmaster”, “Traces Of Liberty”, “Divine Acts Of Lunacy” are good examples. But the band doesn’t avoid experimentation in their tracks; the longest of these songs, the near to nine minute.“Breakwater” incorporates many elements of typical Atmospheric Sludge Metal. “Grain” is one of those songs that also reminds of the most traditional ASM, because of it’s slight build-up.
“Until Feat No Longer Defines Us” is a very good album for Ghost Brigade, that shows promise and a hopeful bright light. I won’t guarantee that fans of the genre will dig it because of its straight-forwardness, something that usually does not belong in Sludge Metal/Prog Metal. However It seems like this didn’t bother anyone. An album I would recommend to anyone who’s into metal.