I Am Ghost
Lover's Requiem

Welcome to the dark (but not too much) world of I Am Ghost. Few people know them yet, and many must have wondered: "What does this band's business card say?" Here's the answer.

Origin: Long Beach, California. Label: Epitaph Records (famous for releasing records by Bad Religion, Pennywise, NOFX, and Rancid). Passions: horror films, vampires, Halloween, Stephen King novels. Members: Steven (vocals), Tim (guitar hero), Gabe (guitars), Kerith (violin, vocals), Ryan (drums), Brian (bass, piano, backing vocals). Influences: quite varied; they range from emo to punk/rock, from gothic to post-hardcore. Similarities: none in particular, although the label tries to market them as an ideal group for fans of AFI, Aiden, HIM, and Avenged Sevenfold.

I Am Ghost may seem to many like another media creation, designed to latch onto the ever-growing number of American teenagers in the throes of identity crises and blindly convinced they are listening to alternative music (an audience thanks to which the emo scene has blossomed in recent years, creating a crowd of uninspired bands). Look at the particularly curated and "vampiric" look of the individual members, but do not doubt the sincerity of our friends; you will soon understand that it is merely a metaphor for sincere and refined art. The Californians I Am Ghost, after some years of experience in the underground, debut with the album "Lover's Requiem" (2006), following the successful EP "We Are Always Searching", which heralded their sudden success at home along with the key promotional element for a band in the new millennium, Myspace. However, our guys are far from the mainstream antics of My Chemical Romance and their acolytes and present a fairly original and compelling sound. Yes, it's safe to say that catchiness doesn't always go hand in hand with repetitiveness, lack of value, or lack of artistic skills. And let's be clear, to avoid misunderstandings, you won't find any pop influences here.

Someone might dampen your enthusiasm by stating that it is more than obvious that these six guys are not inventing anything new, but at the same time, anyone can easily see the potential of their proposal made of smart, direct, catchy songs but constantly divided between melody and violence and enriched by particular and never trivial lyrics. If you're curious, get a taste of their sound by listening to "Our Friend Lazarus Sleeps" (the album's opener that follows the funereal choirs of the opener "Crossing the River Styx"), catchy, angry, and melodic just right, though perhaps not inclined to show all the nuances of the band's sound, which will emerge later with ease. The technical preparation of the individual members is also indisputable; all the instrumentalists know how to hit hard and always seize the right moment to launch into solo parentheses. The clean vocals dominate the scene, and the measured scream parts give the songs a sense of gothic damnation and mental neurosis. The alternation of Steven and Kerith at the microphone, as well as their duets, is truly appreciable, but in the end, it is the male singing characterized by the alternation of bittersweet melodies and scratchy screamo that prevails.

The violin embellishes the melodic brackets, also giving a romantic touch to the overall mood (although the volume reserved for its lines is sometimes not very incisive); this is the main factor capable of distinguishing I Am Ghost from any other band devoted to this genre on the market (compared to them, AFI seem like amateurs).

The tracks that stand out the most are the anthemic and allegorical "Dark Carnival of the Immaculate," with its irresistible punk/rock energy, the grotesque and angry "Of Masques and Martyrs," the gothic "The Ship of Pills and Needed Things," the sepulchral "The Denouement," and the melancholic ballad "This Is Home" (where Kerith can finally display her interpretative skills), interspersed with equally valid and engaging episodes.

To conclude in style, all the peculiarities of I Am Ghost's music are wisely summarized in "Beyond the Hourglass," a true gem of this album that in its six-minute duration condenses dark emotions and tamed anger, while also conveying a positive message.

 
"Lover's Requiem": note this title, a good compromise for listening to something not too demanding but at least different from the usual rock bands dominating the mainstream circuits. With all my faith in the future placed in this lineup, I am almost entirely sure that I Am Ghost are not destined to remain just a fleeting star of the so-called "extreme" U.S. scene and that, with the right support, we will see them one day alongside far more renowned names when we finally leave behind all those second-rate groups that will succumb to new trends in a few years, miserably falling into oblivion.