Yesterday's Ghosts

Many years ago, when some of my school friends learned that I had never seen The Lion King, they told me that I had never had a real childhood. Apart from being a silly statement (it's The Jungle Book that defines your childhood anyway), that kind of putdown leaves you feeling sad and a little awkward. In the first place, you probably agree with them to some extent, suddenly asking yourself why you never watched the film, but also feeling foolish because you can hardly go and watch it in your mid-teens or early twenties without being laughed at. So you go all quiet for a while and lose a bit of your personality until your friends forget about it, when you can finally be yourself again. And it's the moment between being made foolish and regaining your confidence that Yesterday's Ghosts reminds me of.

Hailing from Macedonia sure hasn't prevented these guys from sounding like Norway's Green Carnation, a comparison which makes itself pretty obvious as soon as Marc Durkee opens up his mouth to sing, since he sounds almost exactly like Kjetil Nordhus, if a touch tired and confused. The rest of the band tread close to Green Carnation's A Blessing in Disguise album, though without the sharper hooks or sense of broad horizons, mostly sticking to a fluid and tranquil gothic doom sound that My Dying Bride or Draconian have produced in their gentler moments. Much of the album sounds weary, as if the band were nearing the end of a journey, smooth slow guitar playing guiding the movements river-like towards the stillness of the sea. Twin guitars wind melodies round fairly simple beats, keeping a constant intensity from passage to passage and song to song, which sometimes makes the album feel dreamy or drifting, which is either to its praise or its detriment depending which kind of music you prefer. There are one or two heavier moments, when the guitars shudder and chug, though these don't impress strongly. On the other hand, there are 'Beyond Repair' and 'The Death of Hope' at the end of the album, which are sparser and gentler; the vocals pick up slightly from their weariness, so that - when paired with the clean guitar of the introduction - these moments give off a Katatonia vibe.

I'm in two minds about whether these traits are positive or negative for Yesterday's Ghosts. Firstly, the gentleness of some of the music, particularly towards the end of the album, means that the listener won't keep their focus throughout the whole experience, since there isn't a powerful sense of drama and nor does the mix give much punch to the instruments. As a 25 minute album (surely this should be an EP?), this is very grave indeed, because losing attention in such a short space of time clearly implies a lack of quality ideas and captivating performances. It's true that there is quite a lull going on inside the album, yet there is also plenty happening just under the surface of the calm mix. The guitar melodies are really gorgeous at moments, probably at their best during the first two songs, which have the pick of riffs too. 'Desolate Chambers' starts to move around the middle of the song, though it doesn't quite maintain the energy of the good ideas to push forward, often returning to sections that fill space instead of actually seeming necessary. I know there are some people who will love the drift and glide that this kind of music produces, but in my opinion, it's not consistently interesting.

What frustrates most from my perspective is that These Winds Are Not Hope have the potential to make a very good gothic doom album and seem to have arrived early at the album stage, instead of taking time to craft the songs or gather a full set of strong numbers. This is a very short album from a new band, so to make it work the quality must be very high and the songs captivating from start to finish. We don't get that here, with too much calmness to create the drama and emotion necessary, especially from the vocals. This band certainly can make some worthwhile material, they just need a little more time.