Stabbing Westward Chasing Ghosts 180g 2LP

Stabbing Westward found '90s alt-radio success with such songs as "Shame", "Save Yourself", "So Far Away" and "What Do I Have to Do". The band returns with their fifth studio album, 2022's Chasing Ghosts, produced by John Fryer and mastered by Tom Baker.

To recreate that original chemistry, the band recruited the legendary producer John Fryer to again helm Chasing Ghosts. Fryer, whose production credits include Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, 4AD, Cocteau Twins, and Love and Rockets, originally worked with Stabbing Westward on their best-selling early releases Ungod (1994) and Wither Blister Burn + Peel (1996). Chasing Ghosts was also mastered by Tom Baker who, like Fryer, worked with Stabbing Westward on their early releases and is part of the reassembled production team on the latest album. The current Stabbing Westward band lineup includes Carlton Bost (guitars and programming) and Bobby Amaro (drums).

Says Walter Flakus, "It seems like we've been working on this album for a long time, trying to get it just right. With the help of John Fryer and COP International, everything fell into place. We are so excited for the world to finally hear the album."

Adds Christopher Hall: "It's great to be back and working with John Fryer and Tom Baker again was awesome and felt like making a pure old-school Stabbing Westward album. I was so excited to have the opportunity to go back to the very roots of SW by working with John again. John really helped us develop our sound on our first album and then help us take a huge leap forward with our second album. Even though this is our fifth full-length album, after such a long break it feels like a new beginning and it's very cool to have John at the helm once again."

The album features artwork by David Seidman (an artist who has also worked with Coheed And Cambria and is known for his ethereal and surrealistic imagery).

Pulsing beats, spooky synth, lyrics about alienation and emotional pain with the occasional crushing guitar riff, it's all here. Their first full album in twenty years finds Christopher Hall and Walter Flakus worshiping at the altar of Trent Reznor. But just like their hero, they've grown up over the years. Despite the lyrics, Stabbing Westward sound more confident and self-assured than ever. They're even brave enough to step way outside their previous comfort zone. The album centerpiece is 'Push,' a seven-and-a-half minute stadium-sized electronic rock piece that could have come from Sleep Token. Chasing Ghosts desperately needed to recognize this new style to avoid sounding like a 90s throwback and they do it spectacularly. Christopher Hall unlocks his inner rock god and gives one of his best performances ever.

Stabbing Westward have produced something way above expectations. Not that I expected the album to be bad, but that I expected them to settle for their original sound. Instead, they have combined it with utter ether, creative electronica, and superb song structures to create an album that stands tall with the best we've heard so far this year.

Chasing Ghosts is Stabbing Westward's most focused and potent statement to date, an unexpected feat that arrived decades later than expected. It's what fans have been waiting for for over 20 years.