Season of Ghosts – The Human Paradox

album by:
Season of ghosts
Version:
CD
Price:
17.21

Reviewed by:
Rating:
4
On 1 January 2015
Last modified:2 January 2015

Summary:

It's a great album - I look forward to hearing more from Season Of Ghosts in the future.

Season of Ghosts - The Human ParadoxSeason of Ghosts is the new band of singer Sophia Aslanidou.  She was born in Venezuela, grew up in Greece then moved to Japan where she sang with Blood Stain Child before starting this new project. Season of Ghosts is a very new project – it only formed in 2013, and their first live show was at the Metal Female Voices Fest in Belgium in October 2014, and now the debut album, The Human paradox is out.
Musically it’s a real mix combining metal, rock, pop, electro and more.  It’s rare that a band merges so many styles successfully (Amaranthe being a great example of how it should be done), but Season of Ghosts have done a great job blending the styles.  I saw their performance at MFVF and was very impressed, although I would like to have seen a real keyboard player doing the electronic sounds rather than it being on tape.  This isn’t as heavy as Amaranthe and is primarily female vocals but it’s likely to appeal to a similar audience with its mix of genres.

Sophia does the vocals for the album and they sound fantastic – a beautiful strong clear singing voice.  On “Quantum – through the looking glass” we get what initially sounds like harsh growling style  male vocals but which are actually done by Sophia, and these growls  contrast perfectly against her clean vocals.

Musically there’s a lot of variety – you’ve got “Genesis – The phoenix syndrome” with it’s fast drumming and the guitars being fairly prominent, sitting alongside songs such as “The Human Paradox” which is a soft song with a piano accompanied by strings and vocals, and songs such as “Quantum – through the looking glass” where the eletronic elements dominate the guitars.  Check out the teaser video below to get more of an idea of what to expect.

Although there are 12 tracks, realistically its only 9 songs plus 3 short (90 seconds or less) pieces of music.  The album does feel slightly odd – more like two EPs than a single album.  That comes from the first half being all the louder and heavier songs, while the second half is more ballad-like.  I’d have preferred a few more heavier tracks and less of the ballads – although the ballads are very good, they do take away the pace and energy.

It’s a great album – I look forward to hearing more from Season Of Ghosts in the future.

“The Human Paradox” is out now on Coroner records

Track listing:

1. Nothing disappears without a trace
2. Genesis – The phoenix syndrome
3. Time travellers
4. Dream; Paralysis
5. The human paradox
6. [Ne]:Mesis – The kiss of justice
7. Beautiful eternal things
8. Dreaming in the gray lands
9. The road to Acheron
10. Quantum – Through the looking glass
11. Reincarnation
12. There and back again

LINKS

http://seasonofghosts.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/seasonofghosts
http://www.facebook.com/SophiaSamaOfficial
http://twitter.com/Sophia_Sama

Season of ghosts

It's a great album - I look forward to hearing more from Season Of Ghosts in the future.

About Ant May

I spend half my life at gigs or festivals and the other half writing the reviews and editing photos, and somehow find time for a full time job too. Who needs sleep - I've got coffee.