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Evil Undertow

      
         
         
         
     
             
Ghost Machinery are a melodic heavy rock band from Finland formed in 2002 by guitarist and singer Pete Ahonen - the bands first two albums 'Haunting Remains' and 'Out For Blood' released in 2004 and 2010 respectively, with third album 'Evil Undertow' released in 2015...    
             
...featuring eleven songs across forty two minutes. From the opening strains of the bombastic 'Arms Of The Strangers' you immediately get a feeling that this is gonna be one of those punchy, heavy come hard rock albums that'll place a foot into the heavy metal genre from time to time. Great guitar hooks complemented with keyboards and a rock roar vocal performance, 'Arms Of The Strangers' is a sparkling (album) opener - 'Fatal' bringing a heavier atmosphere to 'Evil Undertow', but with an immensely melodic bridge, an AOR style chorus and a foot tapping rhythm rather than a head banging one! The band definitely sit within the realms of heavy and hard rock, the album taking on a sinister ambience with the menacing 'Kingdom Of Decay', the band strolling on by with shoulders back and head held high, all the while pounding the ground and battering every listener with awesome power!    
             
The wonderfully titled 'Go To Hell (It's Where You Belong)' ups the energy and intensity levels, powering forth with blazing guitars, a rampant rhythm and bold, brash vocals, Ghost Machinery planting one foot firmly on the old school heavy monitor to bang heads hard - the sounds of the glorious eighties evolution for metal and rock rising high in the air! The title song 'Evil Undertow' enters the fray with a European power metal sound, the kinda anthemic mid tempo swagger of bands such as Primal Fear, Blind Guardian and Sabaton, the Finnish metallers spreading their musical horizons far, and very wide! The energy level propelling the album since it began has been sky high, the recent anthemic turn in nature remaining front and centre as 'Brave Face' shudders the ground with more bombast than any other song heard so far! And 'Tools Of The Trade' keeps the bombastic thunder rolling on, the head of everyone everywhere rocking gently back and forth. Fans of traditional AOR will lap up 'No Easy Way Out' - the band covering American singer/songwriter Robert Tepper's classic from the "Rocky IV" motion picture soundtrack (released in 1985).    
             
Pounding hard rock returns with a vengeance in the shape of 'Dead Inside', the band hitting harder than ever with incredibly catchy and memorable hooks, your feet tapping so fucking hard you may just crack the concrete beneath you! 'Lost To Love' blends the sounds of bands such as Journey and Scorpions to sparkling effect - the clean and clear vocals, atmospheric rhythms and a cracking sing a long chorus keeping 'Lost To Love' moving along at a classic melodic hard rock pace. And to end the album, 'The Last Line Of Defence' picks up the pace with an electrifying burst of high intensity energy, all the head bangers of the world vigorously banging their heads in delight at the fiery pace - Ghost Machinery, one final time planting their feet firmly in heavy metal territory. And with no ballad appearing on the album, Ghost Machinery have kept the intensity and energy levels rampant all the way from the start right 'til the very end!    
             
Overall, heavy rock with strong hints of AOR that'll have your feet tapping and head nodding in appreciation of a highly infectious array of rock.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Pure Steel Records    
             
Review is also featured at Metal Gods TV    
             
             
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