Todestrieb Records » Ghast

Ghast Maxi-Single Club Bearer

Todestrieb Records — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:46:58 +0000

Ghast have put out a new Maxi Single entitled Club Bearer. 4 tracks including 1 live recording, the single is limited to 100 copies and can be obtained directly from the band via their Facebook page.

Ghast Headlining at The Unicorn, Camden, London

Todestrieb Records — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:44:20 +0000

Ghast will be headlining at The Unicorn, Camden on February 25th with support from Towers of Flesh and Virophage (with current/ex members of Fen, Desecration, Mulch and Scaldic Curse).

Event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/236344476419425/

Early 2012 Gigs with Ghast

Todestrieb Records — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:45:49 +0000

Ghast have announced two shows for early 2012, more Todestrieb-related gigs listed here.

Saturday 21st Jan 2012 at the Dev/Hobgoblin in Camden, London with Decrepid
Sunday 5th Feb 2012 at the Croft in Bristol with Towers Of Flesh

Ghast Live Line-up for 2011

Todestrieb Records — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:54:20 +0000

Arrrrrrrach – Vocals
Myrggh – Guitar
Andi – Bass
Kz – Drums

We are grateful to Andi from Desecration for joining Ghast on bass for our forthcoming gigs in April and May. This is to allow Myrggh to switch to guitar and Arrrrrrrach to concentrate on vocals only while he recovers from a strain injury.

Darkrecollection Interview with Ghast

Todestrieb Records — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:55:24 +0000

Guatemalan web’zine Darkrecollection has posted a new 2011 interview with Ghast.

1. Dark Recollections: For those not familiar with the beast known as Ghast… introduce the band.

Kz: We’re from Wales. There are three of us in the band. We practice the dark arts.

Arrr: Messy, melancholic aggression performed with the minimal of fuss.

2. Dark Recollections: Tell us about your demos, eps and Cd you have released so far…

Kz: We self-released 3 demos, one a year, 2004, 05 and 06, under the band name Souldust.

Then in 2007 released our first recordings under the moniker Ghast, on a split release with Helvette from Singapore.

Our album ‘May The Curse Bind’ came out on CD in 2008 on Todestrieb Records, re-issued on cassette in 2009 by Sinister Stench Productions, and finally released on double vinyl in 2010 by Flenser Records.

Also in 2010 our new CD ‘Terrible Cemetery’ came out on Todestrieb Records, it is also to come out on 12 inch format sometime in 2011 on Thorn Laceration Records. We are now writing our second full-length album.

what has been the response like for each release?

Kz: The response to ‘May The Curse Bind” was surprising, I didn’t really expect any response at all, but we’ve received high praise for what I consider a rough bag. Terrible Cemetery is following suit, it isn’t as rough and it has still been well-received so far.

Arrrr: MTCB: People seem to like it. Not too sure about TC, not too much feedback.

3. Dark Recollections:why was the named changed to Ghast?

Kz: I never liked the name Souldust.

Arrr: ^ Souldust was a poor name, we needed something half-decent.

4. Dark Recollections: has the line up been the same since the souldust days ?

Kz: No, on the first two demos in 2004 and 2005 we were a four-piece, had two guitar players, Arrrrrrrach and Va. By the time we recorded our 2006 demo Va had left, and we’ve been a three piece ever since.

5. Dark Recollections: what kind of response did your debut Cd receive… how did contract with record label come about?

Kz: Todestrieb contacted us via email after hearing the 2007 split release.

Surprisingly the CD received excellent reviews in the metal media, and spread across the blog downloading sites like a virus.

6. Dark Recollections: talk about your latest release “terrible cemetery” … tell us song with the same name… it has the be the longest song ever..(20 mins)

Kz: Terrible Cemetery is the longest recorded Ghast track. We were glad to record it so we could concentrate on writing new material at rehearsals.

Arrr: TC was a song that would not stop growing, which is why it doesn’t really finish. Thought there would be no more material like that from us, but two songs fr the next album seem to have wormed their way toward 15 minutes.

did you ever think you would write such an epic blackened anthem… is this song ever been played at a show?

Kz: We haven’t played Terrible Cemetery at any of our shows. It might happen one day.

Arrr: I thought about it, but more as a fancy. It happened somehow, not consciously.

7. Dark Recollections: have you had any offers from record labels outside of European Union to release your Cds?

Kz: Yes, several. ‘May The Curse Bind’ was released on 12 inch records by Flenser Records from San Francisco.

8. Dark Recollections: Tell us about some of the shows you have played… what bands have you played with, fan reaction t yer musak?

Kz: We finished up last year with a short UK tour with Skaldic Curse, Primitive Graven Image and Throes. We played all over Britain last year, and this year is looking to be the same.

Arrrr: Live, we usually get a decent response. It feels as though people appreciate that we get on with the job- no frills.

9. Dark Recollections: would Souldust demos ever by released on Cd?

Kz: That’s highly unlikely, it would have to be a limited run if so. I don’t think the material is strong enough to justify asking someone to spend money buying it.

Arrrr: I fucking hope not.

10. Dark Recollections: have you had any offers to play outside of the U.K

Kz: There has been talk of us playing overseas, I hope the talk does lead to us doing it. I’d like to see how people in other countries react to Ghast.

… if you could pick the perfect touring line up.. what bands would you tour with?

Kz: Hopefully bands I could bare to listen to every night.

Arrrr: I have no idea, I like watching all sorts of music. If it was straight BM, I would rather they could jam a bit, or let aggression and passion overshadow finesse, so I could enjoy them every night.

11. Dark Recollections: do you go to metal shows much… if so, what are some of the bands you have seen play, or bands you wish you had seen play?

Kz: I see bands play often. I wish I could see bands play in a good venue, at a reasonable volume, not over-crowded, no waiting at the bar and a comfortable seat and low table if required.

12. Dark Recollections: any merchandise available from you…(list items, prices, etc)

Kz: We have shirts.

13. Dark Recollections: any last words, comments, thanks for the interview

Kz: Thanks for your continued interest, and thanks for the interview.

Arrrr: Ta!

Ghast – Grave Cult Woe (Live, Bristol 2010)

Todestrieb Records — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 08:14:10 +0000

New Ghast Interview

Todestrieb Records — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:26:25 +0000

Ghast are going to be the most monolithic of the bands featured this week, the ones exerting the slowest bone crushing pressure as opposed to the treble heavy lashings of many of the other bands. Theirs is a style that owes as much to Doom as Black Metal, but as we’ve already seen, Black Metal is as much about the personal intentions and headspace which the music is recorded in, as the sound that eventually pours from the speakers. Their lyrical themes encompass realms of fantasy, but also dreams, wakefulness and hypnogogy, and paranoia – all good dread Doom topics, but imbued with an essentially black metal oriented spite, as bassist/vocalist Myrggh elaborates “Black metal is the most negative form of heavy metal; it emphasises the sound and aesthetics of fear, death and evil. Black metal works for me because it allows me to externalise these feelings and gives me something tangible I can point at, rather than allowing them to fester internally. I suppose that, to a great extent, is the purpose of art.”

Amen to that.

Guitarist/vocalist Arrrrrrrach, is slightly more abrupt with his assertion that their form of Black Metal simply involves “Atmosphere and aggression”
Amen to that.

The savage bleakness and minimalism of their sound sets them at odds with almost the entire wave of current bands I’ve come across. Environment playing as large a part in the genre’s sound as it does, is it because of their location in the industrial town of Swansea, under the rugged mountainsides of the Welsh countryside that engenders such a gritty morbidity.
Drummer Kz: “That is something you can’t escape, music is made by humans, and humans react to their environment. Some Black Metal bands make a big deal of this, and to others it is simply obvious and not worth pointing out.”
Myrggh: “You could argue that black metal should be against nature and should deny environmental influences. Look at early Mayhem: its more about striving towards the death of everything than appreciating the forests. I wouldn’t argue that though. Environmental influences? Yeah, why not”
I pose the notion of a distinctly British Black Metal sound developing around the country, to which Kz: is quick to refute “No, although there maybe a cheap computer sound that you could associate with some current British Black Metal, but overall, I think bands are doing different things.” So do they not feel there are any unifying elements or themes simultaneously, or co-operatively, stimulating many bands across the country, other than a coincidence of a lot of interesting music emerging that is garnering attention, or is that again, simply a convenient media editorial fabrication?

Arrrrrrrach: “I’d say that when we started, we made a conscious decision to be more miserable and rough than everyone else, so it’s fair to say that my/our perceived lack of these elements in the scene was something that helped shape what we are.”

Myrggh: “People often complain about journalistic tagging, or labels, but we need them to allow us to place things in context. Its how we make sense of the world – create stereotypes, make assumptions. It’s impossible to singularly attend to every new piece of information (i.e., including new bands you’ve heard). Therefore label of UKBM is inevitable and necessary. Perhaps there is some motivational effect in feeling part of a scene, which facilitates the creativity of bands within it, but also causes a herd mentality amongst newer bands. Look at other scenes in their early days – bands start out sounding different, but as a scene is increasingly identified a ‘sound’ develops. If there is a particular sound, we’re not part of it.”

So is there nothing recognizably British in Ghast’s music, or would that even be something important to them?
Kz: “We don’t try to sound like a British Black Metal band, we are aware of sounding like ourselves, however I can also recognize a British Doom sound in some of our material.”
Arrrrrrrach: “I mean, I think we listen to a lot of British music, older northern death doom, trad doom and all that sort stuff, as well as stuff from elsewhere that was influenced by it. I’m pretty sure there is a distinct British way of harmonizing, which I fucking love and want to continue, but not because it is British, just because it is so mournful.”
Myrggh: “I’m not concerned what other British bands do, as long as it’s not consistently shit. I was concerned about 10 years ago when Thus Defiled used to be considered the frontrunners of UKBM – those were sad, sad days.”
Their new two track EP, Terrible Cemetery has just been released on Todestrieb Records and features one short 8 minute track and one expansive twenty minute saga, incorporating every element they’ve described int his discussion – evil overbearing atmosphere weighing down like a doom claw spread over a ritual anticipating the delivery of its sacrifice. The vocals are pitched just under a hysterical shriek, flung wild and feral into the night sky as the music traverses its dynamically planned course across slow climbs and rapid descents, big bursts of power riffing that casts shadows over the faster, blurred tremelo shredding then down, grinding into blown out bass noise sections where the momentum carries the track forward but everything else seems to stand still. As essential an addition to the UKBM canon as their previous 2008 demo album May The Curse Bind.

Interview by Not for Resale blog.

Free Ghast Tickets for Norwich Gig September 21

Todestrieb Records — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:06:29 +0000

We are offering free tickets for the Ghast gig in Norwich on the 21st of September.
One ticket* each week until the gig.

Entry open to anyone in the area, or able and willing to travel.
Simply send an email to ttr@todestrieb.co.uk with the following subject:
Free Ghast Ticket Draw
No purchase or registration necessary.

September 21, 2010
The Marquee
23 Cattle Market Street
Norwich
Doors: 7.30

GHAST
With support from:
Dead Existence
HellSteed
Thade
Organ Grinder

* The venue do not send out printed tickets. We will pay for your entry – your name will be on the admittance list.

Click here for more gigs

2010 Mini Tour featuring Ghast flyer

Todestrieb Records — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:21:46 +0000

Here is the flyer for the upcoming mini-tour involving Ghast. See more dates here.

Ghast announced for October mini-tour

Todestrieb Records — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:19:20 +0000

GHAST have been announced as part of a UK mini-tour this October. Full details below. The mini-tour falls between dates in Norwich, Newport and Edinburgh. Support the band and catch them at one of the following dates:

21 September – The Marquee, Norwich
1 October – Gifford Arms, Wolverhampton

UK Mini-tour with: Skaldic Curse, Primitive Graven Image, Throes

8 October – The Unicorn, London – Doors: 8pm, FREE entry
9 October – The Asylum 2, Birmingham – Doors: 7.30pm, £5 entry + Towers of Flesh
10 October – The Croft (front room), Bristol – Doors: 6.30pm, £5 entry + Rosicrucian

15 October – Le Pub, Newport, Wales
24 October – Bannermans, Edinburgh, Scotland

These dates coincide with the release of Ghast’s new record – Terrible Cemetery – which should be ready and available during September. So you can order from us or from the band at the gig!

You can see footage from previous gigs in the Video section.

Ghast gig: Sept 21 – The Marquee – Norwich

Todestrieb Records — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:10:20 +0000

Ghast gig news! Illaetabilis presents a night of black doom at the Marquee, Norwich.

September 21, 2010
The Marquee
23 Cattle Market Street
Norwich (MAP)

Doors: 7.30 | £6.50 (on the door)

Tickets can be ordered through the UEA boxoffice.
Note: These are not physical tickets. UEA charge a booking fee of £1.50.

Headlining
Ghast

Support Bands
Dead Existence
HellSteed
Thade
Organ Grinder

Ghast receive more radio airtime on BBC Radio Wales

Todestrieb Records — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:45:46 +0000

BBC Radio Wales have again spread Ghast’s monumental sound through their airwaves. O Akhea Rheon is taken from the forthcoming MCD Terrible Cemetery. You can hear it on the Adam Walton show (originally aired April 4, 2010), the penultimate cut starting at 2hr49.
Direct link on the BBC iPlayer (shows usually stay up for a week).
You can also catch it on the Ghast myspace page.

Ghast Terrible Cemetery Cover Design Sketches

Todestrieb Records — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:20:40 +0000

Here are a couple of compositional sketches for the forthcoming Ghast ep Terrible Cemetery. Artwork created by Arrrrrrrach (as was May the Curse Bind).

Click for Larger Image

New Ghast Song Posted – O Akhea Rheon

Todestrieb Records — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:37:01 +0000

Ghast have posted a new song head over here to listen. This version of O Akhea Rheon is the latest mix direct from the Compound and is scheduled to be released on the forthcoming Terrible Cemetery EP.
Once again Ghast deliver a devastating Black-Doom metal collision, and we can assure you it only gets better with the twenty-minute title track epic!
The band are currently working on artwork. Release should be early 2010.

Ghast London Gig Reviewed In Terrorizer

Todestrieb Records — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:00:32 +0000

Ghast’s September 19th gig was recently reviewed in Terrorizer magazine. Full review below. Photos from the gig here.

Swansea’s doom-tinged black metal outfit Ghast bring an appropriately ominous air to the evening’s proceedings, and their utterly engaging mix of Darkthrone meets hypnotic Blut Aus Nord speed and moments of ‘Monotheist’ Celtic Frost and Burning Witch’s twisted doom is completely mesmerising from start to finish. Like a grotesque demon that’s clawed it’s way up from the bowels of hell, its huge form blocking all light and leaving you no choice but to stare in fear and awe at its hideous and commanding visage. Band of the night by a large margin, and proof if ever needed that you really don’t need to go very far (Wales in this case) to find utterly essential UKBM.

Salute and Ghast Live This Tuesday

Todestrieb Records — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:44:36 +0000

click for larger image

Flyer for the Salute / Ghast gig this coming Tuesday at The Croft, Bristol. designed by Luke Oram.

Ghast – Crawl, Blighted and Afraid – Live 19-09-09

Todestrieb Records — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:44:38 +0000

Ghast – Hexed Under Moon – Live 19-09-09

Todestrieb Records — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:41:35 +0000

Ghast Sept 19 Gig Photos

Todestrieb Records — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:09:14 +0000

A few photographs from the weekend gig with Ghast, Permafrost and Besatt. Including the remaining fluids of Permafrost’s Porcus. Credit: Blackmetalbitch666

Ghast complete new recordings for Terrible Cemetery EP

Todestrieb Records — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:22:26 +0000

Ghast recently returned to The Compound studio (Salute, Hateful Abandon) to record their forthcoming EP Terrible Cemetery. This is the follow up to their debut album May the Curse Bind and continues the distinctive Black-Doom Metal style that characterised the LP. The forthcoming EP will be just under 30 minutes with the majority taken up by the epic twenty minute title-track highlight. This song alone embodies and improves the strengths of Ghast – slow miserable Doom building to a mournful centrepiece that crumbles into Black Metal. All with Ghast’s distinct musical sound, Compound production and wretched vocals.
In addition to the mammoth title track, an older song has been re-recorded which will be the opener: O Akhea Rheon.
If you have wanted to hear more from Ghast after the album, your patience will be rewarded!

Disc format will be handled by Todestrieb Records, a vinyl edition is tentatively scheduled on a separate label – details to be posted when confirmed. All editions will be available in the Distro.

Mixing and mastering will be completed over the next few months, no release date has been set.