Does Prophecy represent Gost’s big return to form? …maybe? It’s difficult to say, seeing as ‘form’ has taken on different guises throughout the satanic synthwave of James Lollar. If you’re after his best, that’d be 2018’s Possessor, an album that might as well have been instrumental in metal’s adoption of synthwave as its new, impressionable friend in the late 2010s. For something more representative of what Gost would become, though, that’d be Rites Of Love And Reverence in 2021, for as much of a step down as it was. With compositions that weren’t memorable and full vocals on almost all of them that didn’t help, it was something of a brick wall in Lollar’s easily-mapped journey to becoming a ‘proper’ metal artist.
That seemed to be the plan, anyway. Like it or not, synthwave’s symbiosis with metal was a trend, and it’s hard to begrudge Lollar for digging his heels in for some longevity, especially when it’s only the scene giants that even seem to make ripples. But there’s also a way to do that that doesn’t involve razing everything to the ground in the erroneous belief that that matters. Prophecy, then, stands as an interesting case. It’s absolutely one of the better Gost albums in a while, but in just as long, it may also be the one that’s the least sure of itself. Going back to Possessor, there was a fearlessness to that album in its style and build that saw it easily rise to the top among its field. Prophecy, meanwhile, tries to replicate that for something similar, with emphasis on ‘tries’.
It’s a case where it’s both hurt and helped by that one comparison, though in rather different ways. To start, it’s great to hear the intensity dialled right the way up again, thanks to likely the heaviest palette Lollar has ever used. Black-metal is squarely in its line of sight this time, not just in tacit admiration but fully doing it. When the title track kicks off, it’s basically sidelined synthwave wholesale for an industrialised grind where sparks fly off and metal is hammered under the maniacal percussion. They’re spot-on metallic instincts, and do leave the floor open to show a push-pull between themselves and electronic music that’s always been a selling point of Gost. That can be found on the shattered edges of Death In Bloom that’ll fall away to reveal what’s almost a breakbeat progression, or the explicit mashup of Decadent Decay which may be the best song here in terms of showing off its dynamism. It’s supposed to be heaving and oppressive, and Lollar is able to wring a lot of utility from that.
…to a point, that is. Chances are you’re supposed to be stunned by the punishment dished out and the ‘black-metal and synthwave collide’ rhetoric that Gost’s slasherwave has morphed into, while conveniently ignoring how much of weight its electronic backbone lays down. It’s more an issue with synthwave itself than Gost’s usage of it, but it gets pretty tiresome to face the same slow, heavy lockstep and chugging synths within it time and time again. There are instances where it almost feels reused, and when it’s the main focus like on Temple Of Tears or Shelter, they’re among the cuts with the least overall value. And yet, the whole point seems to be that it’s heavy and clattering and thunderous, enough for Gost to enrapture a listener-base with the flickers of something novel. They are there, sure, but rarely at this end of his repertoire.
It’s there where ‘trying to recreate Possessor’ finds Lollar running into a wall. The reason Possessor was so thrilling was because it felt natural, like it was the culmination of influences and ideas solidifying into something genuinely new. Prophecy, on the other hand, seeks to engineer the same results, and that simply doesn’t work. You can tell by how poorly it’ll disguise its seams, as fragments of sound—metal, electronic or otherwise—are clipped together, not without care but seldom in a way that’s as white-hot as it believes. Add onto that the same industrial lockstep serving as a framework for ideas to hang upon, while simultaneously taking up the most space whenever it’s present, and there’s a polarity formed that’s constantly swirled around, of succumbing to the abyssal maw while also being able to fully tune it out. The ‘background music’ quality that sometimes infests Gost’s work isn’t sated by the odd heavy passage, it seems.
And yet, it’s also not unworthy of praise, almost to the same magnitude. There’s an inherent coolness factor to all of this, and to how Gost arranges these particular mixes and compositions to emit the evil intended of them. The bells that solemnly ring across the title track are a perfect example, as are the water drips and errant piano strikes to set the mood of Through The Water. ‘Camp’ is overstating it, but there’s a similar vibe at play, not in the least when Golgotha finds itself opening with a voicemail stating “The number you have dialed, 777, has changed. The new number is 666”. Prophecy can absolutely build an atmosphere at its most effective, even through its obvious but effective means. Vocals might as well be an extra instrument to facilitate the ‘correct’ portrayal of black-metal—they’re almost universally impossible to parse, likely by design—though relayed as a leering, heavy-breathing sneer on Decadent Decay acts as a succinct pinnacle.
Moments like that are such a boon to Prophecy as a whole, as proof that Lollar still has some intuition with Gost outside of some preordained pattern to follow. Perhaps like Gost itself and the dichotomy it’s created, Prophecy constantly seems caught between independent creativity and the magnetic pull of past successes, without fully submitting to either. At least that makes it relatively interesting, which is a quality that Gost should have by default now. That does make it easier to recommend than what’s otherwise on show—it’s a bit long and bloated, and rarely seeks to alleviate those feelings. But it’s also the kind of album that, in the wild, could set a mood like no one’s business; think a particularly full-on Halloween party, or a BDSM dungeon. Even if Prophecy can’t stretch to the heights of Gost’s best, trying to is still at the forefront of its mind.
For fans of: Perturbator, Carpenter Brut, Mayhem
‘Prophecy’ by Gost is released on 8th March on Metal Blade Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
