A sludgy seven-minute piece, Incarnate offers a powerful first glimpse into Ghostsmoker's debut album, Inertia Cult. The band has created their distinct identity, blending hard hitting sludge and blackened doom with stoner rock and post metal influences to create a brutally heavy and gritty soundscape.
Following their 2022 EP Grief, the impending Inertia Cult takes a collaborative approach to songwriting, resulting in tighter song structures, crushing riffs, and a deeper exploration of atmosphere and mood.
Incarnate exhibits the rising band's evolution, balancing massive instrumentals with haunting, ambient sections, while the edgy vocals amplify the tension, drawing into a world uniquely their own.
"Incarnate is about being stuck in a loop of despair and not being able to move forward through your grief and trauma,” says Brunning. “During the very early stages of writing for the album, my brother passed away suddenly which had a significant impact on the lyrical themes on the record. Our drummer Brayden’s father also passed away while we were in the studio recording the album, and the rest of us rallied together to finish the job in dedication to our friend who was going through such a painful time in life, and his father, who was his biggest supporter. The above, the hurdles of everyday life, relationships failing, new ones forming etc all ultimately fed into making this album what it is."
Inertia Cult will be out on March 21st, 2025 on Art As Catharsis.
ZR