Ghost Bath – Rose Thorn Necklace | Album Review

Unapologetically bleak, ugly and grotesque but somehow absolutely beautiful. Masters of misery Ghost Bath are showing yet again how despair and depression can conjure up the most striking art.

If you find yourself craving darkness, depression and despair in your music, it’s hard to go wrong with Ghost Bath. After four albums soundtracking a thoroughly bad time, you could be excused for wandering where can Dennis Mikula really take this vision now, and if his misanthropic brand of negativity really has much more to say. Thankfully there’s still so much life left in this project, and Rose Thorn Necklace is arguably the most ambitious release yet.

Merging the immediate despair and chaos of the singles already released, the title track and the brilliantly named ‘Well, I Tried Drowning’ with the more introspective, intense and inconsolable, but no less affecting tracks such as ‘Thinly Sliced Heart Muscle’ and ‘Needles’, listeners are presented with an album that not only deserves but demands attention, and repeat listens. The compositions are in a word, stunning, weaving black metal’s ferocity with post-rock’s emotional breadth in a way that feels both suffocating and transcendent. Each track unfolds like a cry into the void – raw, unfiltered, and dripping with a sense of genuine human suffering that’s hard to fake.

The sonic textures shift seamlessly between blistering aggression and haunting serenity, capturing the duality of pain and beauty in a way few bands can. Mikula’s vision remains uncompromising, yet there’s a newfound clarity in the songwriting—a sense that every anguished scream, every tremolo-picked melody, every moment of silence serves a purpose. Rose Thorn Necklace is not just an album, it’s an experience, one that drags you into the depths only to show you the fractured reflections of light still glimmering beneath the surface.

Further forays into more gothic and electronic territories add depth and texture to this release, it offers a welcome release from the intensity of the heavier parts without sacrificing the emotional core of the sound. Quiet, loud, soft and hard dynamics playing off against each other to build that intensity with a clear and absolute purpose. Some may find this overwhelming, there is a lot going on all at once, which creates a weighty experience but listeners who put the time in, are greatly rewarded with something that shows beauty in the ugly and grotesque, light, albeit only slightly, in the darkness and comfort in despair.

Rose Thorn Necklace ultimately stands as a clear testament to Ghost Bath’s evolution—more layered, more daring, yet unmistakably true to the harrowing aesthetic that’s always defined them. There’s a maturity here, not in the sense of restraint, but in how confidently  chaos and control, savagery and subtlety are juggled. It’s a record that builds on everything that came before, expanding the palette without ever diluting the essence. Make no mistake—this isn’t an easy listen, nor is it meant to be. It’s a dense, emotionally exhausting journey, casual listeners or those doing something whilst listening may struggle to find any real connection. For those willing to sit with it, to feel every jagged edge and mournful swell, Ghost Bath have crafted something genuinely powerful, and it’s an album that’s as punishing as it is rewarding.