With two EP’s (Cerulean Blue & Seeping) and a debut CD (Selling Insincerity) under their belt the American outfit Abigaíl’s Ghost fronted up for a live performance at RoSfest 2009. During this event (held at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside PA on May 2) they also performed various songs that would appear on their second release, D_letion - an album that came out one month after they had performed at the festival. So it must have been strange for a lot of people to hear songs such as Romantique Life, Cinder Tin and Annie Enemy for the first time. But the real fans of the band in the audience must have heard them often enough during other concerts. They enjoyed these tracks as much as the other band’s favourites such as Cerulean Blue and Waiting Room. The people unfamiliar with the band did see an act that was very much influenced by Steve Wilson and his band Porcupine Tree. Most of the same driving guitar riffs and the vocal melodies here showed who was responsible for their musical inspirations. The keyboards touched by Brett Guillory don’t have a large role in the music created by the band here. The guitars rule on most of the tracks and dominate the music performed by Abigail’s Ghost. Most of all, lead singer, Bones Theriot plays a big part in the sound of the band. He managed to come up with some fine guitar solo’s from time to time. Monochrome is a great example where we hear and realize Mr Theriot is not just a gifted singer. The other guitarist in the band, Randy LeBoeuf, had his work cut out for him, playing some strong rhythms on his instrument. Together with the other strong rhythm section (John Rodrigue on drums & Kenneth Wilson on bass) they kept the groove very much alive. The 80 minutes of footage of the live show was well covered, and as you will see, shot in both colour and black and white. The film crew did not forget to take fine close ups of all the band members; something which is advantageous when you watch a concert done by a progressive rock band these days. With the expectation of the quality of sound such a band like Abigail’s ghost produces to be of a highly professional quality you will be pleased to hear they’ve succeeded to reach that mark on this recording. So I’ve got no real negative remarks to add to this release. The photo gallery looks fine and shows pictures from the sound check and the performances on stage during the live show. The 'behind the scenes' footage is difficult to find because it is an extra hidden feature. You have to scroll over Randy's face before you can watch the rough and unedited footage. But it's a real cool surprise for the fans and worth watching. Just a side note for those of you who are big fans of Porcupine Tree - you might enjoy and appreciate this release yourself because the music certainly played by Abigail’s Ghost makes certain references to that band, and in my book, that is not such a bad thing. *** Henri Strik (edited by Paul Watson) Where to buy? |
