ALBUM REVIEW: Myrath – Karma


The Myrath sound is an exciting, intoxicating and entertaining one. On Karma (earMUSIC), there’s a dark side to some of the lyrical content (“Wrath of a raging sea …” Demons, oblivion, etc), leaning towards the heavy and the epic, but the overall impression is relatively light, hooky and generally uplifting. Continue reading


PODCAST: Glacially Musical 164: Dolly Parton – “Rockstar” Track-By-Track Review and Analysis


In a new chaser episode, Nik and his co-host Keefy of GhostCultMag review the first ever Rock album from Country royalty and national treasure, Dolly Parton! Following up her 2022 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, she made a double album (actually a triple) full of duets and guest stars such as Rob Halford of Judas Priest, Joan Jett , Stevie Nicks, Chris Stapleton,  Miley Cyrus, Steve Perry of Journey, John Fogerty (CCR), Sting, Peter Frampton, Elton John,  Duran Duran, and Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr of The Beatles!  Continue reading


Almost Honest – Seiches And Sirens


With a name as cheesy as Almost Honest, I expected an uninspiring combo led by the progeny of some aging UK rock star trying hard to forge her / his own identity. This Pennsylvanian trio seems anything but: far from uninspiring, the madcap antics of sophomore album Seiches And Sirens (Electric Talon Records) is an example of Stoner’s potential to be versatile and fluid.Continue reading


Listen To Steve Perry Cover “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”


Steve Perry, the iconic former lead singer of Journey returned with force in 2018, with new music via a new album, his first in more than two decades. Traces was released on October 5 via Fantasy Records (a division of Concord Records/UMG). Now as a thank you to fans, Perry has released a cover of the Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane penned Christmas Classic, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”. The song was made famous by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St. Louis.Continue reading


October 5th 2018 New Music Releases


Check out all of today’s new releases in the music world! Continue reading


Peal Jam, Tupac Shakur, Yes, Joan Baez And More Inducted Into Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame


 

Last night the Rock N And Roll Hall Of Fame held their annual Induction Ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Among the inductees were Peal Jam, Tupac Shakur, Yes, Joan Baez, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Nile Rogers, and Journey with Steve Perry. Geddy Lee of Rush inducted Yes and played with the band in place of Chris Squire who died in 2016. The event also included a special tribute to Prince by Lenny Kravitz, tributes to Chuck Berry by ELO, Shakur, who died in 1996 and the all-star jam. Watch some videos below from the ceremony!Continue reading


Spaceship Playlist – Michael Del Pizzo of Sunflower Dead


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Ghost Cult Magazine asked a bunch of artists “if you were getting into a space ship tomorrow and never coming back to Earth, and you only had one record to listen to or a handful of records to listen to forever, what records would you take with you?”Continue reading


Pallbearer – Foundations of Burden


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If you felt the debut album from Arkansas quartet Pallbearer, Sorrow and Extinction, contained some of the most emotive doom ever, think again. New album Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore) is an adventurous journey through space for the lost, solitary soul on their way to meet their maker.

Weighty, yet melancholic and melodic, much like its predecessor it is shot through with a healthy dose of the best of ’70s radio rock, nonetheless there are noticeable differences here. The first of these is the sacrifice of a small amount of Sorrow…‘s heaviness in favour of a more textured, progressive sound. There is also the addition of harmonised backing vocals which, far from detracting from overall enjoyment, shows the evolution of a highly skilled, creative unit, unafraid to escape its comfort zone.

Opener ‘Worlds Apart’ has a number of movements, flowing from a crunching mid-paced opening into a mid-section of guided atmospherics with the coda of staggering effects-laden leads accompanied by funereal, subterranean riffs, all wonderfully decorated by Brett Campbell‘shoneyed yet soaring vocals. The ensuing ‘Foundations’ begins with complex yet deliberate rhythms, the sound of a burning rocket having developed a slightly woven path of orbit, those deliciously doleful tones seemingly lamenting yet justifying its straying from the line.

‘Watcher in the Dark’ is a mournful titan with an apocalyptic central duel of leads and coruscating riffs rising from a sparkling rhythm section and Joseph D. Rowland‘s MOR-style piano, to a remarkable and euphoric finale. Mark Lierly’s drums are increasingly dictatorial and demand attention, whilst the resonant solo work descends to a languid tone before a moving explosion of sorrow, with Campbell’s towering tones an aching call to the wilderness. Lush synths ease into the evocative, phenomenal, ‘The Ghost I Used to Be’ as Campbell’s voice fluctuates between Ozzy Osbourne and Steve Perry before the riff taking centre stage, orchestrating time changes, leading to an amazing closing solo. Unbelievably, even this staggering behemoth is surpassed by a stroke of genius – the heart-breaking beauty of the brief, delicate ballad ‘Ashes’, a track that would be at home on any Styx record, yet still retains an air of gravity. Closer ‘Vanished’ displays all that power and subtlety, possessing a booming production that heightens the contrast of resonant, harmonic chants and the fulminating power of riff and drums.

Superlatives and panegyrics are thrown around like confetti these days, and mostly for albums that just don’t deserve them. Here is an entity beyond words. The blend of crushing weight and sadness that twines with an almost paradoxical ascension to light throughout this quite magnificent set is sublime and inspirational. If the prog-rock outfit Kansas suffered a year of deep personal loss, down-tuned to hell, and proceeded to embody the grief and subsequent healing in an album, the result would be Foundation of Burden. This willingness to puncture doom’s boundaries and travel outside them surely hails Pallbearer as the most important band of their genre right now.

 

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10.0/10.0

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PAUL QUINN

 

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