Crumbling Ghost
Crumbling Ghost

5
...according to our Mike on 16 September 2011.

As far as I can tell from the press release this band is either from London or Norwich or both, contains members of various obscure British rock bands, and has Matthew Atkins, runner of the Minimum Resource Manipulation label, as its sticksman. The music they're peddling draws from the traditions of British folk music and heavy metal, making a sound that is unmistakeably Anglian in nature. The searing riffs and hippie mysticism can't help but bring to mind bands like Hawkwind and maybe also Comus. It's a playful record, and very tuneful too, with the stomping grooves tempered to a springy bounce on tracks like Aggro Pronto. They have a good sense of how well a riff is welcome for, too. The jams can be drawn out but they never outstay their welcome. There are times when the jangly folk side takes over a bit more than I'd like and it goes a bit Pentangle/Tesla for my tastes, even maybe bordering on some Blyth Power silliness, but even there it's all pretty tight and that, just a wee bit, y'know, pagan-sounding? Before long they pile on the thunderous Melvins-esque doom bass crunch we're back on solid ground though. There's a bit of a Kyuss vibe going on here as well. Yeah, a midpoint between Hawkwind and Kyuss is basically what's going on here for most of this CD, and it's just as good, or bad, as one might imagine that to be. Me? I dig it. Put self-consciousness to one side, light up the incense cones, honk up a bong and get involved.

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Sound clips for Crumbling Ghost by Crumbling Ghost: on CD at Norman Records UK. CD, Withered Hand, WHR009, £8.99.

What their label says...

Influenced as much by Martin Carthy and Pentangle as by Sleep and Electric Wizard, London’s Crumbling Ghost are
an intriguing prospect. Consisting of current/ex members of Huge Baby, Pombagira, Fantaplastic, Among The Missing,
Smallgang and Koresh, since playing their first gig as Damo Suzuki's (CAN) band of sound carriers, they have played
on bills as diverse as Stinking Lizaveta, Roadsaw, Shonen Knife, Mary Epworth, Bearsuit, Invasion, Stereolab and the
Lambeth Wind Orchestra. An eclectic mix of traditional folk, prog-rock space jams and monstrous riffs, their debut album
is clearly unlike anything else out there.

Review Extracts:

Unique is a word that is often overused in the world of music journalism, as a lazy, throwaway description; however, Crumbling Ghost’s gem of a debut
is just that. Signed to Withered Hand Records and living out their ‘lush green meadow’ fantasies in the very un-green London Town; colloquial imagery is
offset by smouldering folk-rock and mid-tempo doom. Relying as much on the folk baroque overtures of Pentangle as the feedback blasts of the Melvins;
the opening blur of ‘The Collector’ plays on the quartet’s unpredictability to fuse neighbouring genres on a whim. For instance, ‘Daytrip to Bungay’ is a
bouncy, two-minute interlude that smacks of vintage prog-rock ideals, as does the bass-led ditty of ‘Aggro Pronto’. Despite its ‘Britishness’ (see ‘The
Man of Burnham Town’ or the tongue-in-cheek ‘Battle of Barnet’) Crumbling Ghost’s fleeting cross-genre dispersion will be sure to capture the attention
of listeners further a field, as well as being admired and envied by home-grown bands. It could be a while before this uniqueness is emulated.

-Chybucca Sounds

In the press release they liken themselves to Pentangle, Sleep, and Electric Wizard. After hearing the album I am convinced the cited influences reflect
the band's tastes rather than directing listeners to bands with applicable commonalities, instead I would point those people looking for similarities in the
direction of kraut-rock monsters, Can, Amon Duul II, or closer to home Comus, Tea and Symphony, and Mark Bolan's Tyrannosaurus Rex, believing
these evoke less typical and yet more exciting and accurate comparisons... Bloody superb stuff!!

-Roadburn Album of the Day/Sleeping Shaman Review

...Here's the refreshing twist to this, the folk-metal is interspersed with some beautiful melodic post-rock instrumental work-outs, awash with sensitively
controlled feedback, that brings to mind a C21st Hawkwind. The Withered Hand Records' blurb announcing the release of the album says that
Crumbling Ghost have recently backed Damo Suzuki's (CAN) live performances which, given the eclectic nature of the songs on offer here comes as
only some small surprise. It is traditional to suggest some helpful 'sounds-like' meta-data reference points, but I'm at loss what to say with this one...
Highly recommended.

-Amazon

This is as rich an album as has been heard in the last forty years from a UK band, a quirky and quixotic ride through a broad and varied musical past.
It would appear that prog is alive and well and doesn’t have to involve a million time changes and a thousand notes per second, it can beat with an
emotional heart and throw melody in the path of musical wankery to trip it up.

-The Ripple Effect

Classic Rock Presents - Prog Magazine

While the name might sound like it belongs to a pub in an episode of rentaghost, this is actually a fascinating Norwich band, who have the balance
exactly right between folk rock, eastern influences and the lighter touches of Electric Wizard.

-Classic Rock Presents: Prog Magazine