We often associate rawness with being unfinished: both in terms of meat and music. Why would you choose to give paying customers something that isn’t like what everyone else is serving up? Obviously, pure health and sanitation reasons aside, sometimes the customer doesn’t know what is best (don’t tell Corporate that). Marble Ghosts take that idea and run with it. The Greatest Divide is far from shy or soft; instead, these Canadians have released something that feels precision-picked from generations past without relying on nostalgia. For starters, their brand of hyper-melodic hard rock/metal takes influence from just about all distorted music since the 70s, though that breadth doesn’t mean this is poorly mixed. Instead, they sound like the kind of band that would open for Alter Bridge, Soundgarden (RIP), or Shinedown back in the 90s: expertly composed music written and performed by humans and delivered in a package that refuses to hide the blood, sweat, and tears required to make it.
Guitarist Adam Hansen shares why that was essential for Marble Ghosts:
“The little imperfections and real takes are what gives an album that bit of magic that you hear on a lot of old records. I know from a production standpoint I just wanted it to sound raw. With Dylan’s vocals, he wanted us to keep in every single breath he took, so it was clear the vocals were performed and not pieced together. We wrote the songs jamming in a room together, not at a computer desk. We wanted that to translate to the album.”
That chemistry was not accidental:
“[We] met through musician forums on Facebook and a website called BandMix. We all previously played in other local bands that sort of fell apart and were looking to start something a little more serious. I had some demos sitting on my nearly broken laptop from when I was studying music production in college over five years prior. After hearing Dylan sing, I knew he was the right fit for these riffs, so I sent him over the tracks, and we just started kind of piecing things together as a band. What makes this band exciting and somewhat unique is the genuine musical chemistry we have when writing together. It’s a lot of fun! We all have vastly different influences, and I think you hear a bit of everything in our music.”
The Greatest Divide is out now and you can order it here. Follow Marble Ghosts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for future updates.
Photo Credit: Lisa Thompson
