GosT – Possessor album review

Ever since SURVIVE infiltrated the metal world, signing to Relapse after members Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein composed the Stranger Things soundtrack, we’ve seen the underground dominated by the accelerated rise of synthwave. And while the bigger names in the scene sound much more like a cult 80s sci-fi movie, GosT’s Possessor is like The Exorcist – in more ways than one. What starts the record and permeates throughout are news reports and first-hand accounts of Satanism, sacrifices to the dark lord and ritualistic murder. It’s cheerful stuff. But where the likes of Perturbator and Carpenter Brut dole out the member berries for a bygone era of futuristic soundtracks, GosT takes you back to the first time you heard Slayer, and the overwhelming feeling of horror and suffering that came with it. Glued together with an industrial stomp, Possessor is way more aggro than its peers; the percussive, gabber-like stabbing of Garruth genuinely makes your eyes hurt and the intense feedback whirring of Legion harks back to Aphex Twin’s Come To Daddy. But GosT isn’t just for electro fans; there’s a connection to the rock world, somehow managing to merge Cold Cave sensibilities on Sigil with Agoraphobic Nosebleed-style hyperpercussion on 16 A.M. This is music that wants to hurt you, but not without toying with you first. You’re subjected to harrowing death rattles, pained moans and jarring, brain-blurring glitches – it’s the sound of Satan being wrenched out of your blackened soul. At times, it can get a bit overwhelming, never giving you respite from the audio-violence, but the blood-drenched, spirit-ruining scene GosT has painted is impressively dark. Much scarier than most bands playing “the devil’s music”.