Ghost Iris: Slitting The Throat Of The Universe
“We’ve always been about contrasts,” says GHOST IRIS frontman Jesper Vicencio during his video call with Distorted Sound. “We like super heavy stuff and super clean pretty stuff as well. It’s like smelling a lovely rose on a sunny day while being kicked in the face.”
It’s a fair description. Their latest album Comatose is both beautifully melodic and violently heavy. With roots in djent and metalcore, it’s a soaring and emotive record that also has an ample supply of bowel-shaking riffs. Sugary-sweet guitar melodies give way to thunderous breakdowns and larynx-wrecking roars, all in tightly constructed songs with hooks aplenty. The Danes have made a cracking album and Jesper knows it too. He beams from ear to ear and looks genuinely happy to be able to talk about their music in depth.
“This is our fourth album and this is only my own personal opinion, but I think they all have their own distinct type of sound. I feel like it’s much rawer, we went for a much more raw mix. It’s got more ‘basic’ kind of riffs, it’s got more ‘live friendly,’ more hard hitting, power chord type of riffs. It’s a super cliché but I think it’s the best work we’ve ever done, but that’s what every band says when they release something new,” he laughs. “I sincerely feel it’s the best we’ve done and miles ahead of anything we’ve written before.”
It’s also notable because unlike so many other bands, GHOST IRIS seem to be getting heavier as they go along. The widely accepted cliché is that metal bands mellow with age, but there are some dark lyrics lurking in Comatose and it has a much nastier vibe than their previous material. Jesper‘s quite happy to accept that, but when it comes to digging into the meanings of these tracks, it’s all up to the listener.
“I’m just one single person out of eight billion, or however many we are now, and I always explain how I see the world through my lyrics. With art in general it’s a matter of interpretation, it’s all subjective. You can interpret lyrics and art however you want. One example I always remember is Dee Snider from TWISTED SISTER. He did an interview in a Court of Law with the PMRC, Tipper Gore found sadomasochistic undertones (in a TWISTED SISTER song) but really it was about his guitarist’s throat surgery.”
That said, one track that he’s particularly keen on is ebb//flow, where GHOST IRIS commit the cardinal sin of metalcore: writing a song with no harsh vocals on it! Although in this case, that wasn’t their original intention. “When you come to the studio you have a lot of ideas and sometimes you have what we call a ‘studio ready product,’ but when you hear it through the speakers, new things pop into your head. There’s this power chord, hardcore section, we said ‘shall we just do what everyone will expect and do growled vocals? Nah, fuck it,’ and we did all clean vocals. We’ve never done that before and we made it up on the spot.”
Inevitably, talk turns to the pandemic and the challenges of writing and recording music when the world has ground to a halt. Having been working on these songs since before it even started though, not being able to play live is Jesper‘s biggest issue. They have an album release show on May 7th, their first gig in eight months and you can tell he’s itching to get back in front of an audience, even if the lockdown restrictions mean only forty-three people will be allowed in. That love of the stage may also be why they haven’t tried their hand at livestreaming.
“We have considered it but so far it hasn’t really come together. We can’t have just us four there, we also need sound engineers, camera guys and so it hasn’t happened yet. We’re very much a live band, and of course you can play live on camera, but we’re all about the show and the energy and people need to feel it. It would be like a watered-down version if we did a live stream.”
The past year may have been frustrating, but there’s been benefits of doing everything via the Internet. Their confidence in the new material emboldened them to reach out to Mark Hunter of CHIMAIRA and he was so impressed, he agreed to make a guest appearance. Jesper is a very vocal fan of turn of the millennium metal bands like KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and SHADOWS FALL, so having one of the heroes of that era is a dream come true. The only downside is that the story behind it is so unremarkable; they just asked him. “Nicklas, our guitarist, is a big fan of CHIMAIRA, so he wrote to him and he answered. It was that simple. He tried it and it worked.”
As the world starts to open up, things look positive for GHOST IRIS. They’ve got a terrific album, are making friends in high places and are raring to go once the pandemic restrictions lift. Play their cards right and the world could be theirs. But with everything he’s learned so far, what advice would Jesper give his younger self? He laughs as he answers. “Don’t take so much offence. If somebody writes something just remember, all people have their own walk of life and their own journey. Do not take offence and don’t assume too much. But in regard to music, I would just say ‘stop playing music, you won’t make any money and you’ll be poor the rest of your life!’”
Comatose is out now via Long Branch Records.
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