ALBUM REVIEW: A Feast For The Sixth Sense – The Ghost Next Door

In 2015, Californian four-piece THE GHOST NEXT DOOR unveiled their self-titled debut album, which was an overwhelming critical success, gained the band a devoted legion of followers, and enabled them to play mesmerising live sets across the US. Now, in 2019, the collective are back with A Feast For The Sixth Sense, a follow-up release that has been eagerly anticipated for some time. The quartet, fronted by Gary Wendt, former member of San Francisco groove-metallers SKINLAB, pride themselves on putting together a unique brand of alternative metal, backed up by cast-iron songwriting, that takes from a whole range of musical genres, driven by chunky guitar riffs and dark melancholy, and succeeds in both surprising and fascinating the listeners, which this offering, comprising of ten distinctive tracks, is an exact reflection of.

Opening number Deadworld is a progressive, doom-laden affair, with intense atmospherics, grungy undertones, and distorted vocals containing a multitude of grit. Keeping with the intensity, but going at a much faster pace, is Fodder For The Meat Grinder, with both the guitars and drums going at breakneck speed, and a louder, more brutish vocal delivery, however, there are light melodic intervals throughout to break the heaviness up into manageable segments. Third song Doubt is pure classic doom metal, with an overriding sense of creepiness playing a constant presence, which, with the thick distortion, makes for a rather unnerving listen.

Event Horizon follows this with an effective mix of pulsating riffery, thunderous drumming, and soaring vocals abundant with aggression, whereas American Nightmare and Behind The Mask tackle lyrical content based on current world issues and corrupt governments, but both have a different sound, with the former being delivered in a style that is reminiscent of the likes of METALLICA at their peak, and the latter sounds more like a fusion of ’90’s grunge and Bruce Dickinson-esque vocals.

LCD has a real atmosphere to it, with a cracking lengthy guitar riff, layered vocals, and a combination of intensity and melody that sits just right, whereas I Am Become Death is a track of two halves, the first half being mainly melodic and going about at a leisurely pace, until the music completely changes direction at around the two-and-a-half minute mark, becoming highly-charged and anger-fuelled, it’s almost as if somebody took a cattle prod to the band members and ordered them to play faster. Finishing off proceedings are two lengthy numbers, The Sacrifice Person, and Stop Here On Red, which both show the Californian quartet at their most experimental. Whereas The Sacrifice Person is a rather melancholic number, peppered with heavy, loud intervals, Stop Here On Red sees the band’s sound verging at times towards indie rock, most notably with a guitar solo that could have come from Johnny Marr.

Even though it doesn’t reach the heights of similar-sounding releases that have come out recently, A Feast For The Sixth Sense is an offering that sees THE GHOST NEXT DOOR building on their self-titled debut album with better crafted compositions, stronger sonic elements, and just the right amount of musical experimentation. Resulting in the collective doing more than enough to satisfy both their existing fanbase, and the new followers they will most likely acquire from this.

Rating: 7/10

A Feast For The Sixth Sense is due for release February 8th via Ripple Music. 

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