Stabbing Westward Save Themselves By Chasing Ghosts
Stabbing Westward resurrects their sound with Chasing Ghosts, without relying upon the ghosts of their past musical success. Instead, they scare up new dimensions and sounds, making Chasing Ghosts their best and most ethereal yet hard-hitting record yet.
I must have seen Stabbing Westward in concert at least 3 or 4 times in the 1990s. The majority of the shows I caught were at the late great Charlotte venue Tremont Music Hall. I say the majority because the first time I saw them in the Charlotte area was when they opened for Depeche Mode at…wait for it…Carowinds Amusement Park. Yes, that really happened. Back in the 1990s, Carowinds hosted such acts as Depeche Mode, Stabbing Westward as well as Screaming Trees, Goo Goo Dolls, and Spin Doctors. I was at that concert as well. It’s funny to look back and realize that Dark Mark Lanegan actually played with the Trees at an amusement park.
Anyway, Stabbing Westward played Carowinds in support of not only Depeche Mode, but their first major-label release, Ungod. Later on, I saw them at Tremont in support of Wither Blister Burn & Peel and Darkest Days. Each time I saw them they were amazing live, perfectly recreating their highly produced album sound each time. Over the course of multiple albums, the duo of singer Chris Hall and keyboardist/programmer Walter Flakus have proven to be their chosen genre’s equivalent of a Lennon/McCartney. Heavy guitar-driven, industrial, and electronica-tinged music fueled by Hall’s (dark) fear and (self) loathing lyrics carried Stabbing Westward to the top of the 90s alt-rock/industrial heap and kept them there until they disbanded and Hall went on to front The Dreaming. Thank the dark industrial gods they decided to reunite and revive Stabbing Westward, their best, and most worthy, project.
Stabbing Westward was one of my late brother’s favorite groups, and he actually got me into them. I wish he were still around to hear their reunion and comeback album Chasing Ghosts. He’d love it, and I know he and I would share many cherished memories of those shows from the 90s while rocking out to the new songs. Chasing Ghosts is everything that Stabbing Westward fans, and fans of this genre of rock, could ask for from the band. Harkening back to the type of songwriting that made Wither Blister Burn & Peel such a great album filled with chart-topping singles, Hall and Flakus tap into that aforementioned dark fear and self-loathing that serves more like a plunge into a purging catharsis as well as wallow in a bit of filth therapy than a soundtrack to debase oneself to. With song titles like “I Am Nothing,” “Wasteland,” and “The End” it might be easy to write off the album’s compositions as throwaway, immature emo-trash. The song’s compositions and Hall’s simple, yet honest and introspective, lyrics elevate it above such a milieu though.
Stabbing Westward meld together loud, hard-hitting, but never jarring, guitars, programming, bass, and percussion better than every other industrial rock act with perhaps the exception of only Ministry and NIN. What Stabbing Westward does better than both Ministry and NIN though is unabashedly drift into late 1980s electronic goth elements that oftentimes launch and form the sonic chorus of many of their songs. These choruses are rounded out with heavy industrialized guitar riffing that drive home Hall’s emotional delivery and give it a type of gravitas that it would lack as if they were simply lyrics upon a page. Hall’s lyrics might seem trite when extracted from their musical context but are pure poetry when combined with the band’s sleek, but hard-hitting delivery. This is particularly evident in the standout track “Cold,” one of the album’s perfect ready-made singles that flies in the face of anything “alt” rock on today’s contemporary alt-rock SiriusXM radio stations. Everything on Chasing Ghosts is the definition of a true alternative to mainstream music.
Right in the middle of all this hard-hitting industrial-strength rock, Stabbing Westward drops the masterful track “Push.” Filled with a swirling calamity of atmospherics that calls to mind misty moors and storm-swept beaches, “Push” veers powerfully into what can only be considered a masterful arena rock chorus that allows some blue-tinged light to penetrate the mists. A slow grind that never grinds to a halt in the listener’s ear, like some of the tracks on Darkest Days had a tendency to do, “Push” keeps the listener engaged until the very end. The atmospheric guitar solo about two-thirds of the way through brings it all home. I can’t wait to hear this song fill up every inch of any arena Stabbing Westward happens to play over the next decade or so.
The aforementioned “Wasteland” delivers some more atmospherics, but slides into yet another riff reminiscent of their breakthrough hit “ Nothing” and its follow-up “Save Yourself.” I was really hoping that there wouldn’t be a song that attempted to recycle that riff, as great as it was, yet again. To Stabbing Westward’s credit, only a longtime fan with an attuned ear will hear the similarity between “Wasteland,” “Nothing,” and “Save Yourself.” “Wasteland” is actually a much superior track to “Save Yourself.” It’s there though and I can’t fault the band for slipping into a little nostalgia themselves.
The best thing about Chasing Ghosts though is that it isn’t a nostalgic album from a legacy band. It sounds vital and unique, much like the majority of Stabbing Westward’s music always has. Indeed, the excellent “Control Z” indulges in some more of that ever-powerful arena rock sound but mixes in the type of guitar and electronica that shouldn’t be allowed to exist alongside such rousing choruses. The breakdown in the middle of the song, which is a brilliant mix of electronics and heavy guitar, is brilliant sounding and really solidifies “Control Z” as being the most engaging track on an album full of engaging tracks. Fear and self-loathing never sounded so good and as surprisingly uplifting. I’m sure if he has access to music wherever he is, my little bro will be headbanging, dancing, and hopefully freaking out the angels he’s hanging with, just like he always did on this mortal plane.
Find Stabbing Westward Online
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stabbingwestwrd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stabbingwestward
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDSEWAjgbzSaEIdbeCOJWXw
Stabbing Westward’s Chasing Ghosts is available through COP International Records.
