Ghost Iris – ‘Blind World’ (Review)
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In any saturated genre, you need a band to pop up and stir the pot from time to time, or you risk facing the inevitable downward drag of too much unchallenged mediocrity. Since Ion Dissonance and Animals As Leaders put out Cast The First Stone and The Madness Of Many back in November, I’ve not heard a lot of exciting new tech-metal – but now that Valentine’s Day is on the horizon, I’ve wound up falling in love with an album you need to get on the moment it sees the light of day.
Ghost Iris’s Blind World drops via Long Branch Records on February 17, and it is so fucking full of some of the best riffs I’ve ever heard, I can barely even believe it. I’m deadly serious, serious-as-cancer serious, so I’ll even repeat that bold but easily backed up statement.
Some of the best riffs I’ve ever heard.
Ever.
Seriously. This is simultaneous-stroke-and-brain-haemorrhage serious.
Blind World does have a couple of downsides, which are worth quickly getting out of the way. First, it raises the bar so high that it’s almost unfair on the vast majority of up-and-coming tech bands out there – and secondly, Blind World is definitely a transitional album. It’s the halfway point between Ghost Iris’s first album, 2015’s Anecdotes Of Science And Soul, and whatever comes next.
I have a feeling, though, that that next stage is going to wind up becoming Ghost Iris’s masterpiece.
But fuck it. Back to those riffs.
I have to be honest here – by the time Gods Of Neglect was over and I was halfway into Save Yourself, I was laughing out loud, in the best possible way. It’s insanely rare for me to have such a deep and immediate reaction to any new music at all – I’ve written about around a thousand bands at this point, and for every article on here there were countless other submissions that didn’t make the cut for various (usually time-related) reasons. I am light years beyond jaded – but albums like Blind World and bands like Ghost Iris are the reason I remain excited about new music.
The fact is that the best music in the world wasn’t all written in the past. The future holds plenty of incredible discoveries. Music isn’t done with us yet.
I know these are big words, but Blind World backs them up time and time again. Threaten to burn my house down if I don’t pick a favourite song, and I’d go with penultimate track After The Sun Sets – perfectly balanced, and in possession of for my money the best riff of them all at the 2:30 mark. Closer Detached would come a close second, again for balance-related reasons. There’s a sense of vulnerability there which is pretty rare on Blind World, which brings me to my closing point.
The only other criticism I can level at Blind World is a minor one that highlights its place as Ghost Iris’s transition album. It’s as heavy as God’s balls, but there’s plenty of room for expansion in terms of dynamics and structure. I’d love to hear more soft sections, and some full-on prog epics that push past the six-minute mark.
That kind of thing, though, is what I’m hoping to hear in the future. For now, I’m more than happy with Blind World.
If you could give a riff diamonds, I’d be robbing a bank right now.
TMMP RATING: 125% (100% + 1% per year I’d end up serving in prison if actually caught robbing a bank in the USA. I should really have remembered that the Snooper’s Charter exists before Googling that)
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