ALBUM REVIEW: Hangman’s Chair – Saddiction


This review is going to break from the normal narrative we normally use here at Ghost Cult, where we steer away from how we feel personally about an album and try to stick to objective facts since Hangman’s Chair is one of my favorite bands. If you think that this will be a gushing love letter only fueled by my fandom, let’s correct that notion. My favorite bands are held to a much higher standard. My expectations here are exalted since I am emotionally invested in them. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – Wild God


It can not be said that Nick Cave’s career has not aged gracefully. Sure, The Birthday Party feels like another life, but with each album released in the past two decades, Cave has successfully moved towards filling the gap Leonard Cohen’s death would leave. Wild God (Play it Again Sam) continues to uphold his legacy while carrying the hopeful shimmer of a life not met with the kind of tragedy Cave has known. After the death of his son, he is moving past the kind of grief that haunted some of his more recent work. Even at 66 years old, Nick’s vocals have held up, even if the title track is more spoken than sung. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Pallbearer – Mind Burns Alive


Five albums into their career, the fact Pallbearer was once a Doom Metal band has faded into the haze of the atmosphere that dominates Mind Burns Alive (Nuclear Blast Records). Of all the metal sub-genres, fans of doom metal are the most forgiving when it comes to a band outgrowing the confines of the genre. Perhaps this is just Brett Campbell’s beautiful singing voice distracting you from the lyrics, which are as equally as bleak as those on the previous album. There might be a marginally more optimistic tone to “Where the Light Fades.” These depressive expressions are a thread of continuity tethering this bands’ entire body of work. Continue reading →