Earlier this year, prolific extreme musician Ghostemane promised that he would be releasing an array of EPs spanning different genres over the coming month, the first of which being his hardcore record Fear Network. Now, he's changing things way up with an EP of acoustic tracks, Opium. You know how every nu-metal band in the late Nineties and early 2000s seemed to have a soft song to show how "sensitive" they were, when really it ended up sounding like a whack-ass ballad most of the time? This is not that. Instead, Ghostemane's Opium is what all those tracks should have sounded like, incorporating a genuine sense of creepiness and intriguingly twisted songwriting.
Opener "Acrylic" sounds massively Nirvana-inspired but a little more evil, with some grungy guitar work setting a vivid scene. "Pathetic" cruises in the lane of nu-metal, opening up the minimalist playing to add some effects that keep it aligned with mid-period Deftones. The EP closes with "Granada Hotel," which builds up tension and noise as the song shuffles to a close. It's cool to see Ghoste experiment with different sounds even more deeply than he has in the past (the dude has a black-metal and noise project already, among many others), and it'll be interesting to see whether or not any of these tunes make their way into his live set. Check out Opium above, and if you haven't already, read Ghoste's Revolver cover-story manifesto "Through the Frame," in which he breaks down his artistic vision and mission.
