Information
Band: Ghost Kommando
Title: Paramount
Year: 2012
Country: Solothurn, Switzerland
Label: Death Fiend Productions
Contacts: apokalyptron.blogspot.com
Author: Bosj
Tracklist
1. The Ravages Of Time
2. Paramount
3. Blood And Smoke
4. Baptized In Ashes
5. Katharsis Till Death
6. Spirits Move Mountains
7. Persistence
8. The Tower
LENGTH: not available
From a rib of deceased Bestial Torment, which you can find deeper information about here, sprouted a few years ago a project named Ghost Kommando, in the persons of Reverend Void (voices and lyrics) and Karnov (instruments). Following some minor release, in summer 2012 we are finally listening to the debut of the duo, "Paramount".The proposal of the two Helvetians is quite particular: their structure is a dirty, rotting and fairly traditional black n'roll, 101% lo-fi: everything plainly enjoyable, wrong notes and out-of-tunes included. The real force of this debut, though, is the mixture of the aforementioned b'n'r and a melancholic post-punk sound. I'll explain the point, forgive me if I start from a distant point: back in 2007 a big-nosed French guy had the idea to move the center of mass of his black metal project towards the shores of post-rock, with guitars as sweet as lollipops and atmospheric spaces as wide as deserts. From that point on, some souvenirs from another world have been enough, and the blackgaze subgenre, as it is trivially called today, was born. Well, "Paramount" tries the same formula, but instead of My Bloody Valentine, here we have Joy Division. So here come melodies sounding like those written in the end of the seventies, clean vocals parts and never too fast rythms.
Now, I do not want to be misunderstood, Ghost Kommando will never ever have the commercial implications and fanbase of the above mentioned french one: they do not have and do not want to have its refinement, instead of emerald springs Void and Karnov talk about raped gods, wars, armageddons and so on. Way far from being a commercial experiment, "Paramount" is a honest album, enjoyable and pretty interesting, made it clear that the listenere must be familiar with dirty recordings, the black metal imaginery and low fidelity in general. Draw your conclusion, but draw it fast, since following the tradition like any other small label, Death Fiend Productions limited this release to three hundred copies only.
