Glenn Murawski – Ghosts: Volume II
Glenn Murawski – Ghosts: Volume II – Album Review
Like most times I review this man’s music, I find myself scratching my head, wondering how the heck he got here, or why he’d be seeking out reviews and such when Glenn Murawski is simply gonna do what Glenn Murawski does regardless of what I, or anyone else, has to say. The guy perpetually tells me that he’s about to ‘slow down this,’ or ‘stop making music for the year that’…and none of that ever actually happens. It’s hard to even know where to draw the line between fact & fiction with Murawski anymore; according to him, Ghosts: Volume II is his “first music of 2023” – and yet a simple scan of his page at Bandcamp will tell you that’s not actually true. YES it still counts as putting out music, even if you’re putting out remasters, or new collected works of old songs in a different order & such! I’d accept that MAYBE this is Glenn’s first original material of this year, but even if I wanted to check I’d be scanning through hundreds of songs and scores of records just to verify that information. From what I can see, this dude who has been continually claiming to slow down has actually been pumping out records that seem to keep getting longer…I can see two right now that contain more than thirty tracks each, and that’s just by clicking a couple titles. I could go on…and in the time it would take me to explain this to ya, I have no doubt whatsoever that another new Murawski record would probably show up online. Just call it what it is man…you’re addicted to makin’ music…ain’t no shame in that, but there’s definitely no point in attempting to convince me, or anyone else, that you’re gonna ever really slow down – y’ain’t.
Glenn would be what you’d call obsessive compulsive when it comes to his music career, straight up. And so here we are…for the umpteenth time I’ve written about him on our pages – Ghosts: Volume II.
As far as I understand it, this would be the companion record, or follow-up album, to Ghosts: Deluxe Remastered, which came out back at the end of summer in 2021. You can find that original record, or Ghosts: Volume II online, or yes, even Ghosts: Volumes I & II, before what I’m sure he’ll release as the Ghosts: Entire Masterworks Deluxe Box Set Supreme Volumes I – X over this next year to come. Don’t quote me on that…I don’t know that for a fact, I just know it to be true. You get the point I’m sure; this dude makes more music than anyone on earth and I’ve long surrendered to the fact that I can’t keep up to him. Not much makes me feel worse in a day than realizing I’ve reached the limits of my capabilities.
It’d be rad if I could though…he makes some stellar tunes. I’ve told him before that he’s flooded his own potential audience/market/universe with too many tracks…but he ain’t willing to listen to that advice. For Glenn, it’s always been about going forward at full speed, damn the torpedoes and such…so be it. All I can do is tell him the truth as I see it as directly as I can, like I do with any of ya…as to whether or not you wanna treat that as important information, or just more words on page, is always up to each of you. As much as I enjoy what I hear in Murawski’s music, I still think he’s got major work ahead of him in order to make the songs he creates more memorable than they are. We remember Glenn’s name because we see it online all the time, whether it’s here on our site or on others – but when it comes to the individual tracks or even the records themselves, things get way hazier…I’d have to assume that information is beginning to get lost or causing some eyeballs to gloss over. Take the Pepsi challenge for yourself Murawski…this is how you’ll know what I’m talkin’ about isn’t just me making this stuff up – can YOU name all EIGHTY-SEVEN of your online releases without looking? If not, you get my point. If you can, that’s unbelievable. I’d love to revisit some of the cuts on many of his past records…and to be honest with you, as a fan, I’m more than certain that I’m not alone in that…but there are always new ones to listen to. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s nearly disrespectful to treat his own material this way…but that’s almost what it is.
When you put out a new record, in theory, you should want the whole world to notice, and to hear it. When you’re just moving onto the next, it’s like an indication that it somehow wasn’t special enough, or that we should just ignore it in favor of whatever that next release is. Make sense? Echo? Bueller?
I usually feel frustrated on his behalf as a result of this massive glut of music, because I WANT you to hear it, and sometimes I feel like I feel like that more than he even does. I like ideas like “Haunted Memories” that scan through the radio dial and different frequencies, looking to land on something that might pique our interests, or Glenn’s for that matter. I know just enough about the man’s catalog to know that a track like “Haunted Memories” is among the more unique ideas he’s played around with, though I’d readily acknowledge that it’s definitely not the typical version of accessible either. It’s designed as an intro track of sorts as Ghosts: Volume II reboots the franchise again, and if I’m not mistaken, you’ll hear pieces of his past works floating around in the ether along the way as well. I’m cool to flip through a smattering of different sounds because I dig that kind of strangeness in my own OCD way…but Murawski already knows I’m not the rule in that regard, I’m the exception. The average everyday listener will tolerate this as the intro it serves to be & hope there’s more to come afterwards as the album plays on. It’s a shorter set this time around at seven tracks…which is presumably what had Glenn panicked enough to immediately combine both the original volumes into Ghosts: Volumes I & II so you wouldn’t think he’s slacking, with the entire lineup extending out to a generous count of eighteen.
“RedruM” sounds neat, all murdery & whatnot. I don’t know that it quite does enough from start to finish in order to make that lasting impression on us in terms of any one part of the song, but as a vibe overall, it stands a chance. Like, with each spin through Ghosts: Volume II, when “RedruM” came on, I’d be like, “oh right – it’s that track again.” As to whether or not that’s the desired reaction Murawski is going for…your guess is literally every bit as good as mine at this point. He’s got a great grip on how to establish an atmosphere, moods, demeanor, and tone…so like I’ve said in the past, depending on where he wants to put his music, like in terms of soundtracks for film or video games etc., there are plenty of places where it’ll make sense to include. As to whether or not a track like “RedruM” is gonna end up on the playlists of the people out there, that’s probably more of a stretch, though of course, not impossible. He’s ever the big fan of the build…I like the way that “RedruM” starts, but sure, I’d readily acknowledge that this track’s main strengths are withheld from us until the final minute when it all comes together.
I like the warped way that “In The Temple Of Azazel” seems to morph itself into place throughout the course of its first eighty-seconds or so. Haunting and eerie, that’s enticing to me…and maybe even more-so than the beats & melodic aspects of the song that followed. Actually…I feel like I’m pretty sure about that. For myself personally, I would have liked to see Glenn build further on what we hear at the very start, but “In The Temple Of Azazel” seems to head into a decisively different direction later on after the intro is finished. I’d probably be alone in thinking that though…there’s much more for people to grab onto after the intro is done. When the organs come into play, that’s when things start to grab my attention again…and I do like that eventually, those spooky intro sounds come back into the mix too. It’s a bit like different layers of a cake with different flavors…sometimes it tastes like everything should be eaten together, other times you find yourself clinging to your favorite pieces of it…the sound of “In The Temple Of Azazel” somewhat works in a similar way. I had spins through it where it felt like it all belonged, and others where it felt like Murawski was forcing the merger of two majorly different ideas.
“Gathered Around The Campfire” displays an almost lighthearted vibe in comparison to what you would have experienced so far in the music on Ghosts: Volume II. It does contort itself a little bit into a more cohesive kind of sound as it plays on…but if anything, it serves as more of a reminder that ghosts likely come in many different forms, and that not all of them necessarily need to be completely malevolent. I’ll admit though…this track kinda loses me a little bit…I’m not really sure of what the tie-in to the title would be when I listen to it. Not that every song we’re ever gonna listen to needs to conform to a title or what it might imply, but usually that’s an important clue used in the realms of instrumental music. Like, if “Gathered Around The Campfire” had stayed drifting along in its ethereal atmosphere as it does throughout the first ninety seconds or so…maybe I could see it being called what it is. As the extra layer of digital sound comes in to claim the melody and be the dominant aspect of the song though, that’s when I felt like “Gathered Around The Campfire” got away from Murawski more than he’d probably want it to. Whereas I could eventually find myself feeling like things were paired well enough on “In The Temple Of Azazel” just prior, it never felt like “Gathered Around The Campfire” was able to mesh these two main pieces together, and the latter of’em seemed like one of those parts that would feel like it was a good idea at the time, but later be recognized as overtly dominant, and not the track’s main strength.
You see? A lot of y’all just think I’m talkin’ out of my ass as far as the predictions I make…but here we are, arriving at “Ghosts III.” If YOU want to believe that this ain’t an indication of Murawski already gearing up to make another chapter in this anthology, to quote from one of my favorite movies of all-time, “you can be, and are, wrong.” Probably my favorite cut of the bunch when it comes to the melody at the core of it all…it’s like merging the worlds between sounds you’d find in a horror movie & a lullaby, and combinations like that are quite often as creepy as they are beautiful, as fascinating as they are terrifying, and I felt like “Ghosts III” got in a lot of that good stuff into the mix here. I’m probably gonna be the guy to say he went a step too far in the final phase of this track’s building over the course of its final minute or so, or perhaps didn’t find quite the right piece of the puzzle to raise the stakes or our heart-rate for the finale, but I still found this track pretty enjoyable overall. It’s a relevant cut in the way that the beat works with the music…it has that modern edge to it that is actually pretty darn addictive in a low-key Prodigy type of way, or like the title somewhat suggests, would be similar to the vibes you’d find laced throughout the series of Ghosts albums that Trent put out in his Nine Inch Nails instrumentals. Great definition in the parts you hear throughout the third minute of “Ghosts III” too as the sound spreads out…Glenn’s got some really solid ideas here. The main hooks might be a bit on the repetitive side for some to a degree, and I’d understand people if they felt that way…but I feel like they’ll hold up.
“Blood Rites” would probably be close to the top of my favorites for the sound selection and its main melodic hooks as well…but I’m a little less jazzed on the methods of Murawski for this particular track. You’d probably have to be the kind of person that has listened to the majority of his catalog to really know it, but “Blood Rites” is very much reliant on what you’d almost consider to be his somewhat standard approach he takes to creating music. You might consider that to be his signature style of songwriting too…and that’s fine, you’ll get no objections from me on that, I’d agree with that as well. Adding in layers and saturating the idea…it works, don’t get me wrong. I feel like there are a few tones in this track that clash a little bit, but that could very well be what he wanted. I keep trying to hint that it can be a lot like listening to completely separate ideas being forced together, but I’m long past the idea of me being a strong enough voice to talk Glenn out of doing whatever he wants to do. My favorite parts of “Blood Rites” are very much found towards the start in its first ninety seconds, where the sound is much more spread out. To me, that’s the most intense parts of this song, where you’ll find the whole vibe contains more definition from the melody on the surface to the low-end at the bottom. After the layers are added into it…I dunno…like I said, I’m still listening…but the larger this song seemed to become in scope and sound, the less impact it seemed to have. Sometimes less is more, as they say.
Inspiration comes in waves and different forms. I’d be the first to tell you that the Ghosts series of Glenn Murawski has a whole bunch of great ideas & eerie vibes, and I’d certainly encourage the guy to continue running with it…but I feel like the methods/approach to the writing didn’t always match up to the overall ambition this time around. As in, the ideas appear fresh and inspired, but the means to get them recorded, and how they’re played, reveal Glenn a bit more stuck in the mud than we normally find him & relying more heavily on what he already knows has worked in the past for his music. Don’t get it twisted y’all…I write these reviews and I know exactly how they sound – it might seem like I’m tougher on Murawski than most in many ways I’m sure, but that’s only because I genuinely give a shit and I know he’s capable of tapping into a whole other gear that’s far beyond anything he’s yet to put out. At the end of the day, I’ve got nothing but love for the guy and only wish the very best for him. It’s my job and responsibility to push him towards his full potential, like I would do with all of you, and if that means some tough love/hard assessments in the process, then yes, I’m always prepared to be THAT guy. Plenty of other folks out there online that’ll happily rub nuts and tell him that everything is awesome if that’s what he wants…I’d assume at this point he’s actually returning to this soapbox on the internet because of the reason I yell about other shit that genuinely matters. “Macabre In Perpetuum” is a decent ending…like a musical metaphor for the album itself, there are pieces here and there that work brilliantly, and others where repetition of sounds or within the approach seem to bog it down a bit more than perhaps he would have wanted it to. The quality of his production has been stellar throughout the majority of this record, and that might very well be where the main focus was for him this time around…we all make different tunes for different reasons. I think he’s gotta watch the adding too much aspect in his music, or not allowing for enough space to let each element he’s adding in shine like it should…and on tracks like “Macabre In Perpetuum” at the end of this record, I think he’s gotta be more conscious of how to get the best out of the main hooks he’s got in the song. I’m more stoked about the direction of Ghosts: Volume II than I think I am about how it all came out in the end, but as always, I remain a fan that’s convinced of his greatness.
Sooner or later, with the amount of attempts this dude makes with his music, that next breakthrough will come, and Glenn Murawski will reach an entirely new level of his creativity he never knew existed. I’ll be the first one in line to cheer him on when he does.
Find everything ya need to listen to Ghosts: Volume II at this multi-link here: https://songwhip.com/glennmurawski/ghosts-volume-ii
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