Collector's Series DIY: Dive:two continuation of that phenomenal & conceptual Echo:one

Release of ‘Dive:two’ double album available in digipack, continuation of that phenomenal and conceptual album titled ‘Echo:one’, which was presented to us by the Belgian power trio Ghost:Whale.

Ghost:Whale is a Belgian group, composed of three members: a drummer, Vicent de Santos and two bassists, Yves Vranckx and Lionel Beyet, the latter, manager, together with his brother Nicolas Beyet, of the long-standing underground label P.O.G.O. Records*, and which originally started as a fanzine. Both bassists also contribute ‘samples’ to the songs, which give them an even more experimental paste, from the first listen to their debut album ‘Echo:one’ that catches you without remission. And they continue to reaffirm themselves even more, in that same conception, perhaps somewhat more produced, with this new sequel titled ‘Dive:two’, which we could call conceptual and experimental doom metal and stoner rock, especially due to the inclusion of precisely more elements. typical of electronic music.

For the song ‘Ghost Whale’ from the first album ‘Echo:one’, they had the collaboration of saxophonist Bruno Margreth, who performs a prodigious progressive exercise with jazz overtones, in case you had not already been caught by the darkness and density of his compositions from this unusual, as well as brilliant, rhythmic base, which also develop melodies that seem to come from the depths of the abyssal sea trenches, lacking six-string electric guitars. Whose particularity, at the end of all, is merely anecdotal, because the genius of their sound, precisely, lies in the magnificent conjunction of the rhythm, like an anvil, marked by Vicent’s drums and the different developments that they create as a attractive dark abyssal atmosphere, watered with songs of powerful and enigmatic cetaceans, which are manifested throughout his works, with magnificence and leaving evidence of the well-known majesty of these marine colossi of the animal kingdom. These fantastic musicians of the four strings and the thickest bass, Yves and Lionel, together with their immeasurable drummer Vicent, do an entire exercise in introspection of the doom and stoner genre, to present us without complexes this unique and phenomenal experimental sound proposal.

Returning to the recently released ‘Dive:two’, it consists of nothing more and nothing less than two CDs and a fantastic artwork, where black predominates and which is by Sisca Locca, who like his predecessor, Mr. Lib , knew how to capture that darkness and heavy cadence, so characteristic of these sound works. And they complement it with their very comic-like pencils and technique and winks to the ‘neo-noir’ style. Where darkness is very present, but the skull of the ghost of the whale always appears, undaunted, claiming his devastated and jaded kingdom. And something will have to ‘say’ either, as a protest of the evil inflicted by man in Fukushima, for the albums at hand renamed ‘Fungushima’ from ‘Echo:one’; or a classic and metaphorical mutant monster, arising from the devastations and excesses in wars and excessive nuclear experiments, as in track 4, on CD 1 of ‘Dive:two’, titled ‘Godzilla’.

The titles ‘Dubwhale’ I, II and III, allude to that phenomenal mix between electronics with sounds more rooted in doom metal or stoner, which make up CD 2 of this wonderful digipack, also available in free download in digital format, starting October 4, 2024 and that they plan in the near future to release along with new mixes and songs on vinyl, perhaps for January 2025. We will have to be attentive and receive the good news of the coming year, with whale songs , better than a mermaid.

CD ‘Dive:two’ It is a co-production between the following labels:

P.O.G.O. Records (Belgium/France) http://pogorecords.bandcamp.com

Collector’s Series DIY Records (’Spain’) http://collectorseriesdiy.bandcamp.com

Forbidden Place Records (USA) http://www.forbiddenplacerecords.com

Romantic Songs Recordings DIY (Spain) http://romanticsongsrecordings1.bandcamp.com

Syrup Moose Records (Canada) http://syrupmooserecords.ca

Bitume Prods (France) http://www.bitume-prods.fr

Urgence Disk Records (Swiss) http://www.urgencedisk.ch / urgencedisk@bluewin.ch

More links related to these albums, where you can navigate and lose yourself in their dark seas:

Ghost:Whale, Bandcamp: http://ghostwhale.bandcamp.com

Regarding the labels participating in the debut of this conceptual and hypnotic saga ‘Echo:one’, the following labels participated:

FRANCE/Belgium: