A few years ago, I wrote my first “official” review on Life As A Ghost’s Drifter. I felt that Drifter was a very solid release, but it had a few filler tracks and it was just missing something overall. When I found out that this five-piece post-hardcore group from New York was going to be releasing a new EP titled Perception in a few weeks, I was eager to hear and review it. The EP opens with sound effects and distant drumming on “S[k]in Deep.” Things start to pick up about 30 seconds in when the whole band comes together for an effective “first” impression. Then comes my favourite part; the clean-vocal chorus of “I should have known this is where you wanted it to go / I can’t breathe / I’m ready to explode” was immediately ingrained in my head. By the time the chorus came around a second time, I was already singing along at the top of my lungs. The second track, “Bear Trap,” is similar to “S[kin] Deep” in that it is solid from start to finish, but the clean vocals and instruments during the chorus truly steal the show.
“PRCPTN” starts off promising, but it doesn’t ever build up to what I was hoping for and it doesn’t have many redeeming qualities aside from the chorus. Life As A Ghost gets back on the right track with “ReVersions” – which is my personal favourite track. For the most part, it’s much slower than anything else on the EP, but it contains some really calming and ambient guitar parts that bring some more emotion to the table. Perception comes to a close with another very impressive track in “Foreign Tongues.” This track has a little bit of everything: groovy riffs, harsh screams, catchy gang-vocal-ish cleans – and even some perfectly placed piano parts that create a very eerie vibe and passionate yells to send the listener off with an emotional note.
Admittedly, Perception could easily slip through the cracks if it were not for the clean vocals. Because the clean vocals are such a big factor and used so frequently, though, Life As A Ghost actually benefits from this. I’d like to hear a few more “wow” moments instrumentally in the future because the members obviously have some great ideas (see “ReVersions” and “Foreign Tongues”). With that being said, Life As A Ghost is already doing some very good things that remind me of old My Ticket Home and Woe, Is Me material at times.
