YOUR WANDERING GHOST

The new Ethersens album "Your Wandering Ghost" is a moody dark journey into the despair and loss experienced by Laurent Mora, lead vocalist for the band. The personal trauma is conveyed in the way he sings with passion and at times wracked in pain, and this emotional edge enhances the overall experience. The guitars blaze with a ferocity at times particularly on assaults such as the speed blasts of Reflect. The concept of the album involves the tragedy of a relationship, conveyed in powerful songs such as This Is Where You and I Part Ways, Livin' Memory and Mourning Light, one of the highlights of the album.

There are some peaceful passages of mournful guitar such as the outro of Waking Disorder and in particular the opening cut of the album Two for One Mind. The atmosphere is rather bleak in these moments but causes one to reflect on what we have and we may lose along the way. I like the style of the band, in particular the way the raspy vocals integrate within a dirty guitar sound. The guitars of Mickaël André and Johan Bourrut ring out consistently and the music does not rely on killer riffs and lead guitar finesse, but an overall saturated sound that is raucous without becoming overbearing.

Perhaps the theme is better conveyed in the lyrics to the closing song, "To Live Is to Forget", "Everything comes to an end, so now we can't forgive, everything clings to a new start so now I can't forget, a lifetime is way too long." Overall the album delivers the type of Avant metal that has great appeal, without all the lead breaks and choppy cleverness, but rather is soaked in heartfelt emotion.