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Ghost Machinery: Evil Undertow

Melodic Heavy Metal

4.5/5.0

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Pure Legend Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 11.11.2015

Here's a band that may give you some Eighties deja vu. Finland's Ghost Machinery returns with their third long-player, Evil Undertow, on Germany's Pure Legend Records. The band features two members from Stargazery, Pete Ahonen who handles both vocals and guitars and Jussi Ontero who doubles up on drums and keyboards.

Ghost Machinery

The Ghost Machinery sound is straight forward. Essentially, theirs is melodic heavy metal infused with hard rock groove. Melody and groove are likely the two largest elements here. That and strong vocals and vocal arrangements from Pete Ahonen, who has a melodic, slightly gruff, presentation. With these things, it's even fair to say GM wraps their melodic metal in an AOR wrapper.

When I mentioned the Eighties angle, some might hear a little mid-period Rainbow in the Ghost Machinery sound thanks to the keyboard additions. Mostly there for atmosphere and accent, they have a bright and pleasing sound that embellishes each arrangement. In No Easy Way Out, they offer not only texture but groove to the sound as it works with the bass in the opening.

Another choice feature of the album is Ahonen's guitar work. He's a traditional fret performer, his riffs adding to the harmony, his solos fiery without being grossly technical or pandering neo-classical. Of additional interest is Ghost Machinery's efficiency. They pack a lot music into their tunes. With a few exceptions, everything fits into the three to four minute range, with the album clocking out at the length of your traditional vinyl LP. But if you get the limited edition, which I would encourage you to do, you get two bonus tracks, putting the album over 50 minutes. Fundamentally then, Ghost Machinery's Evil Undertow is solid and entertaining hard rock groove infused melodic heavy metal. Recommended. Favorite picks: Kingdom Of Decay, Go To Hell, No Easy Way Out, Arms Of The Stranger.

Ghost Machinery - "Arms Of The Strangers"

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Ghost Machinery's Evil Undertow is solid and entertaining hard rock groove-infused melodic heavy metal. Recommended.

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