Review THE REVENANTS ‘Ghosts’

With The Revenants, an interesting trio comes out of the darkness into the light of day. The band is the brainchild of guitarist Fabiano Arganese and Marc Ayerle. The two started jamming together one day in Marc’s Klangmanufaktur Studios, without any defined goal or underlying thought. It was only the joy of music that was the driving force. With this creative freedom, the first songs were quickly composed and it was these that awakened the thirst for more.

Arganese and Ayerle took over all instrumental parts – from guitar to bass, drums and keyboards. But what they still needed was a singer with an impressive voice. And if you have someone like that in your circle of friends, why not ask. This friend is Michelle Darkness, known to many from End Of Green, who did not let his friend down. Now grown to a trio, more songs were written quickly and there are 20 of them, which are released these days on ‘Ghosts’, the debut album.

That a debut album is released as a double CD is rather unusual, but it shows the creative versatility of The Revenants.

Musically ‘Ghosts’ has a lot to offer and if you listen to the first three tracks, you get a good impression of the bandwidth of The Revenants. The title track stands in pole position and is a gritty rocker which fascinates on first listen. I can’t get the thought of Nick Cave out of my head and yet the songs is more. The melody line enthralls and especially the transition to the chorus sticks in the mind.

Photo: Olli Forstner

The rather laid back ‘Into the Fire’ follows and it is the grooving ‘Emeraldine’ which brings another aspect of the trio’s sound to the surface. The same goes for the slightly wavish ‘Leeches & Whores’, a track that also shows the genre-spanning inspiration of the trio.

That such a record cannot live without emotional tear triggers is evident with ‘Redemption’. The almost six-minute song opens the door to the world of deep feelings without digging too deep into the cliché box. Rather, it’s an emotional depth that makes the song a beautiful ballad. The same goes for ‘The End is Black’. Here the name says it all. Wrapped in a black sound garment, the song is a soul stirrer, which gains intensity with a subtle piano part.

Disc 2 starts with ‘Los Angeles’ and it immediately becomes obvious that these angels have dark wings. The Revenants stay true to the trademarks on part 2 of their release. There is the dirty rocker ‘Freestreet’ and the throbbing ‘Roofless’ which impress and also ‘Slippin’ Away’ comes with a beat that is hard to resist.

‘Ghosts’ has become a smashing album. On the one hand, this is due to the creative freedom the band enjoys and exercises. On the other hand, it is the emotional and appealing vocals of Michelle Darkness, which gives the 20 songs the depth and emotionality, which each of the pieces needs. One can be curious whether this is just a project or whether we can expect more in the future.