6/10

Take the down-trodden and impending doom of any garage-influenced metal band and fuse it with a shoegaze approach to songwriting, and you have GHXST in a nutshell. The band's recent EP 'Nowhere' drips heartbreak and depression like blood from a savage bear attack, and gives an overall feeling of dread throughout. But rather than send you into a fit of despair, this New York-based three-piece have managed to turn their chosen sound into an incredibly captivating premise.

While it may reek of early 90s grunge, with varying pace and atmosphere, GHXST have managed to curate a very contemporary sound that fits the despondent mood of today's youth. With its unending distortion and echoed vocals, the threesome end up sounding like a band of dozens, and creating an EP that looks to immerse you in its self-depricating sense of woe.

It is certainly a release that has come from a band with a clear sense of what they are looking to create. The pace and feel of this EP never falters from beginning to end, but its lack of variety does live it feeling somewhat underwhelming by the end as it never really builds to anything and finishes far too abruptly.