Static Ghost
Breaching Flesh
Verboden Records
Olympia-based industrial act Static Ghost has become something of a regular live presence in the Pacific Northwest, bringing a stomping mixture of body music, rough-edged production and bracing energy to the stage. The ease with which audiences latch on to Static Ghost’s material is almost certainly thanks to its immediacy and lack of pretense, qualities that were matched by the one-man-project’s recorded output which has largely emphasized mid-tempo grooves and a healthy dose of the aggression for flavour. New release Breaching Flesh follows that same path, but with an added emphasis on atmosphere and arrangement, adding nuance to the sturm and drang that has defined the project up ’til this point.
Which is not to say that Static Ghost has mellowed out at all; songs like the album’s title track still hinge on tightly wound bass and discordant synthlines and samples, the uneasiness of the distorted vocals pairing well with the reconstituted screams and shouts embedded in the mix. Where things really start to take shape though is in the places where those same elements are tweaked to create different moods. “Virus” has a rhythm that feels very natural for the band, but makes a point of playing up the foreboding pads in the background and switching up the transitions between sections, with a resulting unease that suggests hostility more than it enacts it. Similarly, the stop-start progression and chirpy acid of “Burnt Evidence” and the minimalist hiss of “No Future” still have plenty of groove, but draw out their builds rather than barreling towards their conclusions, allowing more potent grooves to build.
Where the projects ambitions and Breaching Flesh‘s execution clash are in the production, which maintains its DIY-charm, but sometimes detract from the dynamics and textures being brought to the material. First proper song “Identity” could almost be mistaken for early period :Wumpscut: with its medium-tempo and the breathy synths behind its heavy drums, but certain details become lost in the mix, obscuring details in favour of impact. Elsewhere, the clacky bass sound of “Choked and Strained” and the eventual filter swept synthlead feel strangely anemic, as though their bodies have been hollowed out. It’s not an issue for every song on the record, and can probably be chalked up finding their way around the expanded toolset. When things all fit together as on closer “Seeing Self”, Static Ghost balances the forcefulness of their live show with plenty of mood and character.
