Tag Archives: singer-songwriter

ALBUM REVIEW: 40 Watt Sun – Perfect Light

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Having left their Doom Metal roots behind on 2016’s Wider Than The Sky (Radiance), 40 Watt Sun completely doubles down on slowcore with their third full-length album. In fact, Perfect Light (Svart/Cappio Records) might even be a little softer than its predecessor with nary a trace of fuzz or distortion to be found. It often feels more like a slow-motion singer/songwriter record, especially with the Jerry Cantrell-esque twang throughout. I suppose it’s only fitting when you consider that guitarist/vocalist Patrick Walker is the only returning band member, having recruited an entirely different cast of musicians for this effort.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Jerry Cantrell – Brighten

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The albums that Grunge legend Jerry Cantrell has released across his solo career and his mothership Alice In Chains always seemed to have an intertwined relationship. 1998’s Boggy Depot and 2002’s Degradation Trip seemingly attempted to fill the void left in the wake of Alice’s hiatus and Layne Staley’s passing while Alice’s comeback albums with William DuVall on board essentially felt like Cantrell albums with extra riffs. This symbiosis turned cyclical with 2018’s Rainier Fog, which shared quite a bit of noticeable commonality with Boggy Depot . So where does Brighten, his first proper solo album in nineteen years, fit into this dichotomy?

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ALBUM REVIEW: Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine Of Hell 

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Emma Ruth Rundle seems to have become an artist with a licence to shift around stylistically as much as she wants while still maintaining, and continuing to build, her devoted fanbase. Last year’s revered collaboration with Thou — May Our Chambers Be Full  (Sacred Bones) was dense, heavy, aggressive and complex. Whilst everything Rundle turns her hand to shares a certain delicate and fragile emotional openness, Engine Of Hell (Sargent House) in most other senses explores the opposite end of the Emma Ruth Rundle sonic spectrum. 

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Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!) Surprise Drops a New EP – “At War With The Silverfish”

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Acclaimed artist and author Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!) has dropped her second solo release of the pandemic with At War With The Silverfish EP, released on her own Big Scary Monsters label. The seven-song effort follows along the raw, stripped-down nature of 2020’s essential Stay Alive release, and recorded in halves between at Grace’s TinyQuietStudio in Chicago and at Electric Eel in St. Louis, and mixed by Marc Hudson, her bandmate in Devouring Mothers. The EP is available to stream on all DSPs. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Amigo The Devil – Born Against

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There are many ways unironically describe the last year or so of human life in a manner we can all appreciate. A lot of us use sarcasm and deflection as a means to cope, and it shows. We may become numb to our own reality based on a lot of loss and sadness, and the mass psychotic break the world seems to have suffered. If you are here reading these words, hopefully,you are looking for an escape from the mundane in some good music. Music is here for you, both as a hug to say “it’s gonna be OK,” but also to commiserate with someone who has been there through the muck, just like you. Danny Kiranos, a.k.a. Amigo The Devil has found a foothold in our musical diet, a needed figure to tell the unpleasant truths about that muck and mire we need to learn from, or just relate to. He asks us to look with him and at ourselves too. He does this to a bold effect on his new album, Born Against (Liar’s Club Records, Regime Music Group).

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ALBUM REVIEW: Damon Johnson and The Get Ready – Battle Lessons 

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Since leaving Black Star Riders, Damon Johnson (ex-Alice Cooper, Brother Cane) has focused on his solo career, with his new album Battle Lessons (Double Dragon Records, Straight 8 Entertainment) with The Get Ready his second solo album in three years. Produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Rush, Mastodon) and joined by drummer Jarred Pope (Tom Keifer) and bassist Robbie Harrington (Steve Vai), Battle Lessons is a hook-filled slab of melodic Hard Rock. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Anna Von Hausswolff – All Thoughts Fly

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Anna Von Hausswolff is a singer-songwriter who has always embraced a progressive attitude to creativity. Never unafraid to straddle genres as diverse as metal, Krautrock, and dark pop, and always remaining elusively undefinable, she has made waves over the past decade with her four previous albums and numerous illustrious collaborations. As well as following her own unique musical path, Von Hausswolff (to name just a few of her achievements and endeavours): runs a record label, has guested with Wolves in the Throne Room and Swans, has supported Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and has hosted visual art exhibitions.Continue reading →


EXCLUSIVE STREAM: Gregg Sgar – “Signs (Acoustic Reimagined)”

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New Jersey’s own award winning singer-songwriter Gregg Sgar has released a new version of his previous single “Signs (Acoustic Reimagined)” here at Ghost Cult. Recast as a more contemplative, yet still fiery take on the track, the newly cast song features a focus on Greg’s amazing voice and ability to deliver a heart-breaking phrase across his impressive multi-octave range. “Signs” follows his previous single “Don’t Go Outside” which showed off another side to the artist as well. The acclaimed producer and songwriter was the winner of the prestigious 2018 John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and you can hear why on this track.  

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EXCLUSIVE STREAM: Shawn Perry – “Six Feet Apart”

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Ghost Cult is bringing you the premiere of a brand new song from Shawn Perry – “Six Feet Apart”. This ode to love in the time of the pandemic is a funny and fun summertime jam. Check out the single and the visualizer here!

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