EP Review: GHXST – ‘Nowhere’

By Emily Puckering
By January 22, 2015 EP, Reviews

This generation’s music taste strongly consists of catchy melodies and repetitive lyrics that are easy for anyone to listen to, but not necessarily being enjoyable doing so. The progressive genre of music is being crumpled up and thrown to the side whilst the minority, with their mainstream and popular productions, take their place.

ghxst nowhere

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Helping the progressive genre slowly make its way back into the music scene is fresh NYC based band GHXST. With their first EP ‘Nowhere’, due to be released on the January 26, 2015, the New Yorkers offer a rocky progressive sound combined with grunge and metal that is sure to be an eye opener to any listener’s ears.

Mixing Nirvana like grunge with a brooding White Zombie metal vibe, GHXST provide heavy bass lines, thick guitar riffs and splashy drums in order to create this “noise”. This is, however, not to be perceived negatively. This noise also maintains melody and essence whilst abiding to the high volume that the metal and grunge genres require. Shelley X’s vocals allow the band to maintain a calm sound whilst using extremely heavy instrumental noise; a bonus for metal fans with an additional taste for progressive music.

All songs on the EP are dominated by two main sounds; raw scratchy guitar riffs and splashing drum cymbals provided by Chris Wild and Nathan La Guerra, and there’s someone of a ‘samey’ sound on a couple of the tunes, but if it ain’t broke, eh? Plus, it works for AC/DC.

Songs ‘Slow down’, ‘Nowhere’ and ‘Keep me awake’ use diverse tempos that fluctuate throughout, whilst delivering a grungy underground vibe. Mixing things up a tad, two songs on the EP ‘No Luck’ and ‘In Deth (Interlude)’ use male vocals speaking a script. By using none melodic script, the band demonstrate their progressive roots which, we feel, makes a small change to the remainder of the songs on the EP; intriguing the audience in a more effective way.

GHXST have provided an unusual and edgy sound that breaks the already tested barrier in grunge and metal, but a sound that isn’t everyone’s cup of bleak….doom-filled tea.

rating-31161

2 Comments

  • zayzayzay911@gmail.com' Lacey Biscuits says:

    This review seemed to be by someone unfamiliar with the genre, writing a review for the sake of writing a review. One minute you say the sound from song to song comes across samey, then call the sound “intriguing” and “unusual”. Also, calling something “progressive” three or more times over and over confirms a lack of understanding of the genre, as you are struggling to find any fresh or in depth descriptors, anchoring yourself on the same one over and over. Maybe just use the thesaurus tool next time. I give this review a try again out of ten

  • zayzayzay911@gmail.com' Lacey Biscuits says:

    This review seemed to be by someone unfamiliar with the genre, writing a review for the sake of writing a review. One minute you say the sound from song to song comes across samey, then call the sound “intriguing” and “unusual”. Also, calling something “progressive” three or more times over and over confirms a lack of understanding of the genre, as you are struggling to find any fresh or in depth descriptors, anchoring yourself on the same one over and over. Maybe just use the thesaurus tool next time. I give this review a try again out of ten. This review will not recieve moderation as it would tarnish the image of a language student who is using review blogs to bolster a vaguely interesting portfolio

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