UMUR
"Ghost Ship Octavius" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by US progressive metal act Ghost Ship Octavius. The album was independently released in March 2015. Ghost Ship Octavius was formed in 2012 and is a three-piece on this album consisting of guitarist/bassist Matt Wicklund (God Forbid, Himsa, Warrel Dane), drummer Van Williams (Nevermore, Pure Sweet Hell, Ashes of Ares) and Adon Fanion on vocals (also guitars, bass, and programming). The band is helped out by several guests playing guitar solos. Among others Jeff Loomis (Nevermore, Arch Enemy), Chris Caffery (Savatage, Doctor Butcher, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Jon Oliva's Pain, Metalium), and Mattias Ia Eklundh (Freak Kitchen, Freak Guitar).
Stylistically the music on the album is US power metal, which means that even though it´s quite melodic and anthemic too, it´s generally more harder edged than many of the Euro powel metal acts. It´s not purely a US power metal release though, as it features many softer Euro styled power metal elements too, and also influences from traditional heavy metal and progressive metal. So stylistically the music is a bit of a melting pot, although the final result is quite consistent in quality and style.
The musicianship is generally of high quality throughout the album. Lead vocalist Adon Fanion delivers a skillful and passionate performance, although his voice and vocal style is pretty standard for the genre. It suits the music fine though. Drummer Van Williams is quite busy throughout the album. He is quite an adventurous drummer, and especially his use of double kick drums is quite unusual for power metal (more rhytmic breaks than the ususal double kick drum pedalling away). Matt Wicklund delivers loads of powerful and melodic riffs, while the many guest guitarists play one blistering solo after another. In fact the guitar solos featured on the album is one of it´s greatest assets.
The material on the 11 track, 54:22 minutes long album is quite strong too though, and the band are obviously skilled composers with many great ideas. At times the music becomes a bit too predictable and generic, but those moments are few and far between. The diversity of the material is a great asset and the listener is treated to both very melodic sections and quite heavy and raw ones too. Ghost Ship Octavius use keyboards in the music quite a lot, and it works well within their soundscape. It´s all packed in a powerful, clear and very well sounding production, which works really well with the music, and upon conclusion this is a high quality debut album by Ghost Ship Octavius. With a slightly more distinct sounding vocalist they could have made a real difference on the scene, but they are still pretty great as it is, and the album deserves a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating.