Album Review: Ghost Bath – Starmourner (Nuclear Blast)

Ghost Bath are back with their third album, Starmourner, released on April 21st 2017 via Nuclear Blast. With two excellent songs released as singles already it promises to be their most epic yet!

12 songs long & coming in at a whopping 71 minutes, the Minot, North Dakota band take the listener on an epic journey through the celestial skies.

Opening with a soft piano melody, Astral sets up the sense of wonder that is present throughout the record. It leads into one of the strongest songs on the album, Seraphic, a comparatively short song by the rest of the albums standard. From the opening guitar melody through to the thumping drums you know you’re in for a treat from the moment Nameless’ intense roars & screams pick up.

This is blackened metal played fast & heavy but with upbeat riffs & some of the genres best hooks. Any concern that this might be a bit self-serving is blown away in a flurry of intense & catchy metal tunes.

Ambrosial follows with an exciting combination of shaky melody & subtle growls. It builds fantastically before erupting into some of the heaviest Ghost Bath riffs on the record. While not as instantly pleasing it still ticks many of the right boxes!

Amazingly for such a lengthy album it flies by. Etheral’s beautiful melodies that near bring you to tears. The stunning riffs that keep Celestial moving forward (possibly the best song on the entire album & a contender for best Ghost Bath song ever). Angelic’s light acoustic melody giving some time to breath. It’s song after song of just incredible atmospheric black metal.

By time Thrones hits with it’s video-game like riffs, satisfaction has set in. It really is an incredible track, uplifting but with that Ghost Bath blackened style.

If there are any points that don’t hit as hard it’s the rock style beat & riffs of Cherubim, sounding a little at odds with the rest of the album while the penultimate song, Principalities just doesn’t excite in comparison to what we’ve heard already.

Starmourner ends on the gorgeous Ode. A piano driven song that is seems almost like a video game finale. The end credits rolling, the hero returning home to a warm welcome but his face is etched with the lines of battle. It caps off a journey that is filled with so many great riffs, so much great melody, such emotional roars & screams…just so many great songs.

This is the best album Ghost Bath have released & a serious contender for album of the year.

Ghost Bath – Starmourner Full Track Listing:

1. Astral
2. Seraphic
3. Ambrosial
4. Ethereal
5. Celestial
6. Angelic
7. Luminescence
8. Thrones
9. Elysian
10. Cherubim
11. Principalities
12. Ode

Starmourner is available now via every major streaming service as well as from all major music selling stores. Check out the band over on Facebook & Twitter for more information & tour dates!