Published by Alessandro Violante on October 17, 2018
The umpteenth dive into the past, in the never forgotten, and never enough celebrated, ’80s. However, European Ghost don’t simply copy that formula, but also put their mark on their music, as they do in their sophomore album entitled Collection of shadows, released by French label Unknown Pleasures Records.
A quite different album if compared to their eccentric debut Pale and sick, a positive element which set apart their music from that made by other copycats, although their approach can be surely recognized in this sophomore album Collections of shadows.
The roughness and the “experimental” side of their music belong to the past, here the musicians focus on a post-punk music having few embellishments, yet sounding quite modern, also thanks to the mastering made by James Aparicio (who has also worked with artists such as Depeche Mode and Spiritualized, among others).
The mind of the project, and the author behind its “freshness”, is once again Giuseppe Taibi, well supported by the quite dramatic and sometimes frenzy vocals of Cristiano Biondo, and by the old school guitar riffs and synthlines of Mario d’Anelli.
Collection of Shadows is a tormented album, its lyrics have deep meanings and are powerful, sometimes desperate. Melanchony and pessimism clearly emerge while listening to the songs and reading the lyrics.
Leopardi’s nihilism and Pascoli’s grim melanchony are references specified by the band itself, influences floating along these ten songs of a relatively short and easy-listening album for the aficionados of the genre.
There’s an alternation of faster and slower, and even more reflexive, songs. Suspended in the void, Acid man and My hibernation are quite fast with their anxious and dark sounds, as well as their heavy rhythms. The use made of drum machines is what defines the most European Ghost’s personality.
The slower songs are what the “Gothic sounds” fanatics search for, an up-to-date version of ’80s lesson, which never ceased to inspire several bands, European Ghost also. Melody always plays an important part in their songs, giving them an ever more melancholic mood.
Can Collection of shadows be defined as the album of their “maturity”? Undoubetdly, considering what has been done before by Taibi’s band. Here there’s a quite different formula, and that works well. The European Ghost isn’t the phantom of a past war anymore, but a shadow floating towards the present and the past, searching for its space, its dimension.
Collection of shadows talks about the passage from youthfulness to maturity, from the “experimentation” of different approaches to something more “regular”, classic and straight to the point. What should be expected from European Ghost? We hope for something always different, for an ever changing ghost. That’s a good starting point.
Label: Unknown Pleasures Records
Rating: 7