Ghost Bath - Rose Thorn Necklace (2025)

Fully going back to their roots, Ghost Bath unleashes another masterclass in melancholy and devastation. The band’s Depressive/Post Black Metal sound made a more prominent comeback in their previous release, “Self Loather”, and now they elevate it with the highly melancholic “Rose Thorn Necklace”. Featuring nine tracks and around 36 minutes of music, this album is very engaging, crushing, and yet walks a very fine line between sorrowful and intense.

Opening with the dreamy atmospheric opener, “Grotesque Display”, the band sets a bleak mood that is masterfully continued with the piercing album title track. The harrowing screams perfectly flank intense tremolo picking alongside a very lively modern Post-Black Metal vibe, similar to Harakiri For The Sky and such bands. In “Well, I Tried Drowning”, the melancholy starts to ooze as the tempo slowly increases, flanked by crafty guitar leads and harsh growls. The atmospherics in this track give “Moonlover” vibes and we are all for it.

Mixing dreamy passages with ravaging intensity, tracks like “Thinly Sliced Heart Muscle”, “Dandelion Tea”, and “Vodka Butterfly”, settle the band in constant turmoil as they deliver some lush atmospheric arrangements, with a doomier and more introspective sections alongside some pretty crafty and straightforward old-school sounding riffs. The band is certainly shaking things around their core sound and they pull it off with some pretty unique and engaging songs. However, just when you think this release is getting soft, they unleash brutal pieces like “Stamen and Pistil”.

Closing with the interesting “Throat Cancer”, Ghost Bath ends this release with a very unique and highly atmospheric piece. Could this be an insight into the future evolution of the band? We sure as shit hope so, as this song is quite chilling and very effective. Overall, “Rose Thorn Necklace” is a release full of excellent ideas and tons of dramatic atmospherics. The band has certainly got their groove back and we hope they continue delivering killer releases and intense shows like they have in the past few years.

Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Release: May 9th, 2025

Genre: Depressive/Post-Black Metal

Country: USA