Darkness swallows the light
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Aurielle Zeitler released her album Earth + Death on December 1 under the Ghost Marrow name. Zeitler returned to the Ghost Marrow project over 11 years after her first untitled album under the name, this time with seven songs that are extremely strong in message and feeling.
The Ghost Marrow name comes from Zeitler’s bone marrow disease and her music reflects the unexpected struggles that life bring. Throughout the Earth + Death album, emotions are extremely palpable and the message does not get lost in the music. The combination of synth-heavy melodies with a dark and unsettling ambience certainly conveys the feelings that Zeitler is aiming for.
“Sung / Conflict” kicks off the album on an extremely strong note. The distorted sounds of the track are muffled, almost feeling underwater, until Zeitler’s soft vocals become the focal point of the song. Among the lyrics, Zeitler asks “what is perfect?,” which leaves the listener with a question in a completely different context than normal due to the sounds. It feels like a much deeper inquiry about life than a simple question.
Sonically, this track never makes major changes to its sound, maintaining the eerie and mysterious tone from start to finish.
The third song on the project, “Might of the Small,” immediately begins with Zeitler’s extremely strong vocals, a contrast to many songs on the album in which the vocals enter much later in the song’s runtime. Past the midpoint, a different, new voice enters the project. This alternate singing voice Zeitler offers is much darker and scratchier. It’s something that belongs in the hardcore genre, yet it feels very fitting for this song and album as a whole.
Soon after, Zeitler’s normal voice enters back into the song. Quite honestly, these contrasting vocals feel like the angel and the devil on each shoulder. The storytelling in this song, in this album, is very well done.
“Earth + Death,” the title track of the album, incorporates some very cool elements. Despite much of this album being heavy on ambience, the vocals take over most of this song. There’s even some call and response elements with Zeitler’s voice and the noises that follow, which is all overshadowed by static sounds that become louder and louder after each entry. It creates quite an unsettling vibe that the listener is supposed to feel.
Despite being only seven songs deep, the total runtime of the album is over 44 minutes long. This is largely in part to the 10-minute closer, “Microcosm,” which sorts through a variety of sounds. The darker voice from the aforementioned “Might of the Small” enters this track as well, screaming at the listener before being followed by the lighter voice of Zeitler, all of this occurring over a chaotic concoction of instruments.
One of the lyrics from the darker voice is “no one escapes,” which is shouted at the listener, again, creating an unsettling feeling that is meant to be felt. The song ends with a chaotic state of loud, thunderous instruments clashing into a void of music.
Despite the album’s closure, listeners are left with a lot to take in from this project. There are not many lyrics, but it offers a lot to say about life.
While it has instruments and vocals that feel otherworldly, the Earth + Death project feels very human at the same time, leaving so many emotions to be felt through every listen.
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