Gokseong ”Whispers from the Haunted Shadows” [Phase B Records]

Gokseong ”Whispers from the Haunted Shadows” [Phase B Records]

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In times of political turmoil and general distress all over the planet, sometimes all it takes to feel better is a hefty dose of punchy, groovy melodic death/thrash metal, beating you into submission.

While this might not be the medication of choice for everybody, Gokseong are here to handle this for those who need exactly that. Using a formula meticulously curated by honored predecessors such as At the Gates and The Haunted in the 90s, further refined by generations of younger bands following in their footsteps, this international duo mixes these recipes with South Korean ancient lore, adding a few extra points to the originality scale. The imagery (as also depicted by some of the artwork related to this release) is pretty horrific and vivid, to say the least.

Now running with familiar motifs, there’s a bunch of Swedish-sounding melodic undertones hovering above a feast of fat, semi-modern guitar riffs on offer, steadily holding their own among the greats, especially in the introductory segments of the respective songs which is a bit of a blessing and a curse; indeed, almost every single track on this album starts off on a strong note, fueling the curiosity for the upcoming ideas, but not all of them manage to keep up the momentum, with a few repetitive patterns too many among the bulk.

The record’s pace is predominantly set at medium speed, punctuated by occasional bursts of thrashing aggression among the groovy backbone. When the tempo slows down a tad more, the response is kind of Bolt Thrower-esque, emitting these familiar rolling tank vibes, only further increasing the strain on already aching neck muscles. A noteworthy strength of the record at hand.

Supported by a pretty gnarly vocalist, who’s also clearly inspired by ATG’s Tomas Lindberg, blessed with the grittiness found in an abrasive delivery similar to Jens Kidman (Meshuggah) and even a bit of Al Jourgensen (Ministry) united in those cords, the performance could not be more fitting for the style presented even though I have to admit that some more extra variation wouldn’t hurt, especially considering the rather whopping length of the record and a pretty dominant presence of lyrics atop the instrumentals. You know, being offered almost a full hour at large, I feel parts like the introduction could have been skipped altogether since the actual opener “Mang Gwi” is a great showcase of what Gokseong is all about.

On the production side, Whispers from the Haunted Shadows does have a few rough edges, with a condensed, vocal-heavy mix and slightly harsh mastering atop a bulky, gritty, and dirty body of booming rhythm guitars, that resembles 00s Ministry and even 90s Godflesh more than it does e.g. The Crown. Pretty interesting choice for a band writing in a genre much closer to the latter group, though it mostly works in their favor due to the inherent heaviness of the former, even if a certain lack of dynamics sometimes makes the individual tracks (especially some of the verses) blend into one another a couple of times.

Chris Brandon and Richard Wilson are both very productive musicians in the scene and one can clearly hear that this is handiwork made by people who know what they’re doing, despite the Gokseong moniker only being held high since 2023. I’m not sure whether this will be a priority among their range of projects, but there is plenty of potential to take this style further steps forward and ride with it in the future: by trimming some of the fat inevitably aggregated over an extensive playtime and perhaps by infusing a few more of these crackling guitar solos plus additional memorable melodic lead guitar backings that already made the highlight songs on here exactly what they are. Giving the material a bit more room to breathe with a slight production readjustment would only increase the enjoyment. I’ll certainly be here to listen to it!

https://www.facebook.com/GokseongMetal

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