#gastir

Gaahl has always been something of an enigma within the world of black metal, and not just for his openness about his homosexuality in a scene that has a notable handful of homophobes and neo-Nazis crawling throughout it willing to express varying degrees of hostility. His involvement in the legal debacle surrounding the rights the the Gorgoroth name arguably put him at odds with more within black metal’s industry than his sexuality or his laughable embodiment of black metal by the documentary “Metal: A Headbanger's Journey” did. Regardless, the man has been an interesting figure in black metal and outside it, whether he be representing its insularity to outsiders in no-infamous interviews or in his foray into the world of high fashion. Gaahl’s ventures in and out of black metal brought him back to it after parting with Gorgoroth and subsequently with its offshoot, God Seed, and his longtime bandmate King ov Hell. Gaahl’s return to black metal finds him starting over with a clean slate and artistic freedom with Gaahls WYRD. After the release of a live recording comprised of performances of Trelldom and God Seed songs, GastiR - Ghosts Invited is the first proper studio release under the Gaahls WYRD name, and the album definitely sets out to be as intriguing as the former Gorgoroth frontman is as a cultural figure.

The album spans the more traditional stylings of black metal and the more perplexing integrations of ambiance and ceremonial chants, often within the same track. The song “From the Spear” features quick guitar work that tends toward the genre’s more technical side that hearkens back to early 80′s classic metal guitar playing, but it sandwiches this eerie segment of clean, but barely melodic chanting that feels rather foreign. Gaahl’s more theatrical incorporation of an interchange of hypnotic summoning clean vocals and traditional black metal vocal harshness continues to be one of the album’s shining qualities. I like the meeting of blackgaze and low register vocal invocations on the subsequent “Ghosts Invited” too; the unexpected combination provides an interesting mood dynamic. “The Speech and the Self” is another example of Gaahl’s vocals taking center stage and carrying the otherwise run-of-the-mill instrumental. and the grand, lengthy “Carving the Voices” feels like an awestruck walk through a giant, otherworldly cathedral with its andante pace and religious chants.

The album has moments that weigh more on the traditional side of the black metal scale, like the opening track, “Ek Eilar”, the sinister riff-based ripper “Through Past and Past”, and the dark scriptural insanity of the song “Veiztu Hve”. And these moments do well to reinject some needed fierceness into the album’s run. Some go over more uneventfully than others, but even as Gaahl returns to more familiar territory, it never feels like it gets lazy.

The album closes with on a ceremonial and tangibly conclusive note with the spiritual hums of “Within the Voice of Existence”, which drops the black metal elements to allow the album to bow out in clearly intentional fashion. It doesn’t really add or subtract from the rest of the album’s experience as a whole, but it does feel fitting as a close to an album that crafts such a uniquely fixating vibe through its mesh of the conventional and the unusual. GastiR - Ghosts Invited does indeed live up to Gaahl’s eccentric reputation as much as any black metal album can do without being too overt about it, and it is Gaahl’s performative and creative contributions to it that help it achieve that goal.