Ligeia - Your Ghost Is a Gift (Cover Artwork)

Ligeia

Your Ghost Is a Gift (2006)

Ferret


With bands such as Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Unearth, and All That Remains all coming from New England, it's only fitting that Ligeia make the same strides as the previously mentioned bands and rise to popularity. The comparison doesn't even end there, as the band's full-length is produced by Unearth's Ken Susi, and they signed to Ferret Records like Killswitch Engage did for their own debut. So the question is, is the next New England buzz band worth the hype?

Ligeia's sound can be described as the mainstream equivalent of a Poison the Well / Mikoto hybrid. Ligeia effortlessly blends chaotic metal with hardcore breakdowns and clean, melodic singing. At the heavier portions of the song, the metallic sound is easily reminiscent of recent Poison the Well. The use of harsh shouting and clean, melodic singing is used in a style similar to Mikoto and is stronger than a lot of similar bands. While the lack of originality can be spotted from a mile away, Ligeia manage to keep themselves up to par with the metalcore genre.

On tracks such as "Beyond a Doubt" and "Heart Attack," the band blends crunchy and distorted metal riffs with melodic guitar lines and hardcore breakdowns. None of the areas really excel to the top of the line, but the mix of styles at least keeps it interesting. Keith Holuk's singing is also dead on and keeps the songs from being generic. The only fault with the clean vocals is how you can easily make out such poor lines as "Happiness, I heard / is a heart attack."

Ligeia's main marketing point is their location, and it's hard to argue with that. While they can't get it all together to be on par with Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, or Unearth, they at least manage to craft a release that is somewhat memorable and better than a majority of the releases by new bands playing this genre. With time, I could easily see this band exploding and follow the same path that Killswitch Engage did. But if they're going to go down that road, some work will definitely be needed to help Ligeia establish their own sound.