Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The sound of celestial balance being tilted may escape our ears, but the effect on our senses as we understand that Even Angels Fall, that cherubs, spirits and guardians can just as be prone to temptation as any human, that they may also tumble in the vacuum of enticement and lure, can be devastating, the fall is such that the noise rings out around the world and the shock wave is carried through our own souls.
Following up on the critically acclaimed 2017, Impact, Ghost Avenue return to the centre of the listener’s world with the brutally cool Even Angels Fall, and with the promise of temptation and craving coming across in each desired tune, the power of seduction has once again been realised and the possibility of being aurally kissed to the point of ecstasy is as high as the smoking hot angels on their perch.
If Impact was enormous, then the thought of Even Angels Fall must be seismic, the crater left behind by the previous album, the meteorite that musically slammed itself into the Earth, is but a rabbit hole compared to the indentation left behind as the celestial slammed into cavity left behind.
The first album to revel in the ability of new guitarist Thomas Eljarbo, and one that was finished during Norway’s own lock down against the Corona- virus pandemic, it seems that not even events can stop a great album from being brought to life, and with great truly satisfying tracks such as Wasted Generation, A Violent Disturbance Of The Peace, Northman, Still Craving and the album’s title track, Even Angels Fall, all lining up to help entice the winged messengers and other worldly essences jump ship and give us the sounds we are desperate to feel.
Lyrically sublime, the full range of topics are explored, and whilst such themes may not be anything new to those that see music only in the effect of the mass produced and money spinning three minute song, to those with weightier matters on their mind, the songs themselves are heated, full of exchange and debate, verging on anger, rage and guilt that the system is not only broken, but we helped snap it in half, the beads we were offered not worth the land, air and sea we parted for them.
An extremally incisive album, Ghost Avenue know the impact on our souls when we understand that Even Angels Fall.
Ghost Avenue release Even Angels Fall on August 7th.
Ian D. Hall