Hungarian instrumental progressive rock band Ghost Toast released their fifth studio album Shade Without Color!
Promo pic by Tamás Varga (Brownhand)
Hungarian instrumental progressive rock band Ghost Toast released their fifth studio album Shade Without Color on March 3rd 2022 via Inverse Records.
Listen to the album on:
Youtube: https://youtu.be/vTskK5ogLQs
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3hy3Nmp
Bandcamp: https://ghosttoastband.bandcamp.com
Apple Music: https://apple.co/3pyK36x
The band comments:
"Even though the ongoing war in our neighboring Ukraine definitely tones down the euphoria around our new release, we believe that the theme and intended message of the album is painstakingly accurate, as the poem inspiring the album's concept and title (Hollow Men by T.S.Eliot) was based upon exactly the inhumanity of war. The members of Ghost Toast condemn the aggression of war and are compassionate towards the innocent victims and all Ukrainians who have had to (hopefully only temporarily) leave their homes and country.
Shade Without Color is the follow-up for our 2020 album Shape Without Form. The majority of the songs were written at the same time, and we intented it to be a sort of a „double-album”, in which the two would come out at different times. Both titles come from T.S. Eliot’s poem The Hollow Men and both albums mostly deal with the subject of emptiness, the process of becoming empty – only to an extent which suits an instrumental material, of course.
The basis of thought behind the album is not the actual state of emptiness, it’s rather the things leading up to it – like personal fate, tragedy and weakness; the subject of authority; technology becoming impersonal; politics, alienated people; the feeling of being threatened.
This emptiness uniformizes, dissolves the individual, leaves humankind disenchanted and hopeless.
We look at both records as an illustration of this theme, this is mostly why we use (again) quotes from movies, interviews, speeches or poems. Our own thoughts and feelings are encapsulated within these and of course, within the music surrounding it. We also attempted though to resolve this mostly dark subject, as we do not believe that mankind’s fate generally would be hopeless and that there would be no way out. Darker parts lead to moments filled with more hope, while in the melodies and themes intented to be more beautiful and soft have a recurring dissonance, indicating this constant battle.
It because of this fact that we would omit writing in too much detail about every song, we believe a matching or an actually used quote should be enough to set the mood and give some ground to the concept behind the song.
Get Rid Of
"People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.”
- George Bernard Shaw
Leaders
"The mistakes (of leaders) are amplified by the numbers who follow them without question. Charismatic leaders tend to build up followings, power structures and these power structures tend to be taken over by people who are corruptible. I don't think that the old saw about 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' is accurate: I think power attracts the corruptible."
- Frank Herbert
Chasing Time
"Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.”
- Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses
Let Me Be No Nearer
"Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom"
- T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men
Acceptance
“Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world. Don't let anything stand in the way of the light that shines through this form. Risk being seen in all of your glory.”
- Jim Carrey
Deliberate Disguises
"- What is the Nothing?
- It’s the emptiness that’s left. It’s like a despair, destroying this world. And I have been trying to help it.
- But why?
- Because people who have no hopes are easy to control. And whoever has control has the power.”
- The Neverending Story - /Film (1984)/
Reaper Man
"All things that are, are ours. But we must care. For if we do not care, we do not exist. If we do not exist, then there is nothing but blind oblivion. And even oblivion must end someday."
- Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man
Whimper
"Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow"
- T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men
Rejtekből
"Ez a ricsaj majd dallá simul át, Addig halottan avagy éberen, Pihenjen a szent láz s az értelem, Míg eltünnek a mai figurák.
Magyar leszek majd hogyha akarom, Ha nem sutáké lesz itt a világ, S fölcsap minden szent és igazi láng Rejtekből avagy ravatalon."
- Ady Endre: A perc-emberkék után
No English translation available for this poem unfortunately.
Endre Ady (Hungarian: Ady András Endre, archaic English: Andrew Ady, 22 November 1877 – 27 January 1919) was a turn-of-the-century Hungarian poet and journalist. Regarded by many as the greatest Hungarian poet of the 20th century, he was noted for his steadfast belief in social progress and development and for his poetry's exploration of fundamental questions of the modern European experience: love, temporality, faith, individuality, and patriotism.
The first single "Get Rid of" is available here: https://youtu.be/bsaigGTjyQo
The second single "Chasing Time" is available here: https://youtu.be/m42gQ0v8b4w
The third single "Leaders" is avaailable here: https://youtu.be/l8C0kNdI-aw
Album cover by Antal Miklós Tod
Line-up:
János Stefán (bass, sound fx, programming, acoustic guitar, keyboards) Bence Rózsavölgyi (guitars) Zoltán Cserős (drums, drum programming) János Pusker (cello, keyboards)
Links: Website: http://www.ghosttoast.hu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ghosttoastband Twitter: https://twitter.com/ghosttoastband Bandcamp: https://ghosttoastband.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ghosttoast_hun