Music Review: I Am Ghost – Lover’s Requiem

Anyone who reads about the Long Beach, California goth punk band I Am Ghost (IAG), will read about their similarities to contemporaries A.F.I. and more notably My Chemical Romance (MCR). Granted similarities do exist. However, I Am Ghost considers themselves part of the epicore genre, whereas MCR and A.F.I. lean more toward an alternative, less hardcore sound.

I Am Ghost seems destined to head into Coheed And Cambria territory, but for now IAG is content with droplets of both goth (surprisingly enough with the album closing “Beyond The Hourglass”), and opera-like rock epics (the album opening “Crossing The River Styx”).

To be fair, they don’t label themselves as epigoth, but epicore, and the band certainly has a much more hardcore tone than A.F.I.’s last album Decemberunderground. It’s interesting how the band includes two vocalists, Steven Juliano and Kerith Telestai, because each gives the band a different feel. Juliano bounces back-and-forth between MCR frontman Gerard Way (“Lover’s Requiem”) and Panic At The Disco frontman Brendon Urie imitations (“Killer Likes Candy”). Telestai doesn’t sing quite as often, but her voice reminds of Evanescence lead singer Amy Lee.

Lover’s Requiem has much musical variety and can shift genres almost seamlessly. Their strength lies in hybridizing tracks like “The Ship Of Pills And Needed Things” and “We Are Always Searching,” with the former having duet-style vocals, and the latter having a really addicting violin melody by Telestai.

“Our biggest obstacle is trying to incorporate the ideas that are floating around in all six of our heads,” Telestai explains in the press release (the rest of the band including Brian Telestai – bass/keyboard, Gabriel Iraheta and Timoteo Rosales – guitar, and Ryan Seaman – drums, all share writing duties). This is definitely a plus with regards to mixtures like “Killer Likes Candy.” But you might salivate with the band’s potential in the more gothic direction that “The Denouement” offers, sort of like Midnight Syndicate meets Trans-Siberian Orchestra.