Ghast ‎"Terrible Cemetery" CD

Recorded in one day, August 15th 2009, at The Compound (Salute, Hateful Abandon).
Track #1 was originally recorded as Souldust in 2006.

"Oh goodie, another black metal band with ridiculous names trying to wish they lived in Norway in the 90's." That was my first thought when I first saw this band on Encylopaedia Metallum. That is, until I turned on their EP Terrible Cemetery and my view on the band was totally changed after the first riff. No joke. Seeing how it is only 2 songs, and there is now way to summarize this EP, I will review each song.
The first track, O Akhea Rheon has a good slow riff to start out with, very doom-oriented from the sound of it. Hint of cymbals. Then the old school black metal vocals kick in giving the dread feeling of the riff a nice angsty feeling that can be found in many a black metal band. Especially when the vocals get strained and makes almost like a cracking sound in the scream. It was here, at a minute in, that I fell in love with the blackened doom act known as Ghast. A slight change in the riff, adding more negative energy to my speakers. Then a little after 2 minutes some more variation kicks in bringing in more black than doom and the melancholy of this unholy band really starts to be felt. So I ask myself: "How can this get better?" With more doom of course! Which is exactly what they brought in, followed by more black metal. The riffs are so masterfully crafted that I really cannot do anything but tap my feet in anticipation for the next 'act' of the song. That act was indeed better than I had hoped, being a bass heavy piece (and I love bass a la Cryptopsy) and leading into a little more aggression for the rest of the song.
The second track, Terrible Cemetery, starts out with a lovely disturbing atmosphere with slow drums and bass followed by those shrieks that Arrrrrrrach and Myrggh do so well. Some parts of this track actually remind me of the band Silencer (Swedish depressive black metal) for some reason. When I first saw that the track was 20 minutes long, I excpected to get bored a few minutes in, expecting it to drone on and on like a lot of doom metal bands do when they try to hard. However, I was again happily surprised at the fact that I stayed interested. I like my music to provide an atmosphere and provide background noise for whatever I was doing, which this did perfectly. I was always litening to it, and conscious of what was happening in the song, but I didn't have to think about it too hard and I could do other things without getting bored with the track. If you really pay attention to the guitar work behind the other sound, hopefully you will find the wonderfully sad riffs of Arrrrrrrach. One of those doom riffs that leave you feeling slightly despondent but they still sound somewhat upbeat. It is a sound like nostalgia, for lack of a better word. The fact that the three men of this band were able to bring about EMOTION in their music is also another plus. I can tell that this band truly crafts their music and they do it very well.
I will be very anxious for this band to release something else in the near future, or at least looking into their other bands, and I would advise my fellow metalheads to do the same. It is rare that I hear an album now a days that just makes my jaw drop, but this would be the one. It is perhaps one of the best EPs of the year, in both the genres of black metal and doom metal. The interviews I read on their website were fantastic as well. Ghast, you have given me hope that metal is still alive in this world. Thank you.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...