After coming out of retirement, the niche rapper Ghost Mountain has released his first solo project, October Country. Despite the years of hype behind this project, it represents a new low.
Ghost tries to showcase his versatility and a variety in his sound, but he falls flat. It seems like Ghost is trying to blend industrial with the already dark, distorted, and grimy form of hip-hop in which he got his start.
The track “Damien” is a good example of this overproduction, as the song itself is decent in theory. However, it’s ruined by the insane amounts of distortion. It almost builds a protective layer around the rest of the song, to the point where “Damien” sounds like a construction site more than a song.
Another shortcoming is that Ghost is essentially going to the heavy and grimy “witch house” trap fusion from which Ghost and fellow artist Semetary originally gained popularity. But this sound was cool five years ago and has now lost all value and creativity.
One of the only highlights throughout this entire album is Ghost’s attempt at doing an alternative rock sort of grungy song, which he honestly executes fairly well. Despite the song still being fairly average, “Hovel” is a standout piece on this project. It possibly shows a safe path for Ghost to experiment with, as long as he does not overproduce it.
