Photo by: Saara Kujansuu
Official press release:
20 Buck Spin pulls back the sheet to reveal another freshly-slabbed acquisition to the label’s macabre 2018 release schedule, welcoming Finnish death metal horde Ghastly to the roster. As the outfit’s grim Death Velour LP is confirmed for release in April, the track “Velvet Blue” has been issued alongside pre-orders for the record.
Boasting seven pulverizing movements in under thirty-eight minutes, Ghastly’s Death Velour was mastered by Damian Herring of Horrendous at Subterranean Watchtower, and features art and design by Riikka Pesonen which is intended to summon the early style of Scandinavian bands and labels of the style. Those loyal to the works of Morbus Chron, Execration, Autopsy, Dismember, Tribulation, Nihilist, Carnage, Soulside Journey-era Darkthrone, and others of similar ilk are advised not to miss Death Velour.
Like discovering a forgotten relic of mysterious brilliance from the early Finnish death metal scene, Ghastly’s Death Velour is a phantasm of blinding light onto the foreboding darkness of this mortal coil.
Stream Death Velour’s fifth track “Velvet Blue” here:
20 Buck Spin will issue Ghastly’s Death Velour on CD, LP, and digital formats on April 20th; find physical pre-orders HERE and digital HERE.
Death Velour track listing:
1. “The Awakening”
2. “Death By Meditation”
3. “Whispers Through The Aether”
4. “The Magic Of Severed Limbs”
5. “Velvet Blue”
6. “Violence For The Hell Of It”
7. “Scarlet Woman”
While Finland’s Ghastly may be a new name to many, those who delve deeply enough into the death metal underworld will recall the band’s debut album Carrion Of Time released a few years back on cult death metal tastemaker label Me Saco Un Ojo (Morbus Chron, Undergang, Phrenelith). A few years have passed, and the band now resurfaces with their masterfully-executed second album Death Velour.
While there’s no question Death Velour is a pure death metal album, Ghastly could hardly be confused with most of the current bands making the rounds. The nightmarish hallucinatory sound Ghastly invokes conjures the horror of rotting in incomprehensible obscurity, passing into oblivion guided by a many-colored specter of strange origin across the Styx. An air of psych-induced weirdness and shrieking dread permeates the decomposed palette throughout the album’s cryptic duration.
Ghastly is:
Gassy Sam – vocals
Johnny Urnripper – guitars, vocals
Ian J. D’Waters – guitars, bass, drums, vocals