Customer Reviews

Chasing the Ghost

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If Tim Burton remade the film 'Alice In Wonderland', 'Chasing The Ghost' would be the soundtrack. With its slow, melodic pace and electronic dissonant sound evoking a near trance-state, the listener is progressively hypnotized with each successive track moving you deeper and deeper into a dreamy, surreal world of multi-layered shadow.

KaRIN is not so much singing, but whispering to us to follow her on a journey down the rabbit hole. It has a somewhat disquieting affect, as though someone else is listening in and she doesn't want them to hear.

All -10 tracks- work well together as they seamlessly weave there way through the ever-shifting darkness. I particularily enjoyed -track 4- 'Dreamsleep', -track 5- 'White Rabbit' (great cover of the Jefferson Airplane classic) and -track 8- 'Monochrome.'

So turn out the lights and sit back and enjoy. No need to light any candles, the Cheshire Cat will arrive shortly and his glowing eyes and wide, mocking grin will provide all the illumination necessary.

For the longest time I've been wanting to express my feelings towards this extraordinary record and have failed miserably at every thwarted attempt. There's simply no just way to articulate how wonderful it is for me to have this unparalleled masterpiece in my collection (I actually feel honored) and even now I'm at a loss for words. At this point, depletion has taken over and I'm at my lowest low with frustration but I'm determined to take a pathetic shot at praising Collide's most accomplished effort to date because this truly is a work of art.

I've owned 'Chasing The Ghost' for well over a year now and its been in heavy rotation ever since. It's hands-down my favorite album and nothing's come remotely close to outdoing that position. Many people describe their music as erotic and I'd have to agree with them. KaRIN's voice is like a dark siren call that's seductive and distinctly alluring as her ethereal singing style caress the senses with poetic lyrics and beats laced with trance-like quality.

As much as I love their debut, 'Beneath The Skin', and their latest release, 'Some Kind Of Strange', 'Chasing The Ghost' is lifetimes ahead of them both and far less alternative. Collide's remix excursion with 'Distort' apparently set the groundwork for a more electronic-based sound that fuses guitars and drums with a dancier EBM flow that's incredibly hypnotic. Collide (a two person group: kaRIN - voice/lyrics, and Statik - "noise") may never garner the inconceivable attention and recognition they deserve but, in my eyes, they will forever remain one of the world's greatest Goth bands. The melodies are all unforgettable and they never cease to draw me in deep as they run with remarkable consistency. And while every track is beyond amazing, none other has surpassed the trip-hop of "Razor Sharp" as my all-time favorite Collide song.

This is sure going to be hard to exceed.

I was fortunate enough to receive a promotional copy of this album before the release date. Some people might argue that five advance days mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, that it hasn't had enough time to soak in.

I would argue that five days of nonstop listening is more than enough.

I think I should clarify that I'm a huge Collide fan. Goth music in general doesn't cut it for me, but this duo's unique electrogoth sound moves me like no other. So I have to mention that I have a slight bias toward this album before even hearing it; although I know Collide is far from perfect, and I've criticized some work in the past, I had a feeling from the start that Chasing the Ghost will be good.

Statik's extensive production work with such groups as Love & Rockets, Powerman 5000, and Eve 6, among others, leads to a very crisp sound quality. It fits the music, which is itself less raw and jagged than on past albums. Even though Chasing the Ghost dares to experiment more with guitars and exotica - creating a wider, more general appeal - the mellow/dance element remains a dominant force. kaRIN still has the voice of an (as the cover art suggests) angel, and my wish has come true - her voice is brought to the front of the mix, giving it a larger role than on Beneath the Skin.

I must admit, I love Collide's earlier output and was hoping for something along those lines, but this more emotional and musically sophisticated release, while not quite in the style I expected, made my jaw drop anyway. Great artists are those who can reinvent themselves, after all, and Collide has done just that without losing an iota of appeal.

As I said, the dance elements are still there, and are especially present in the wicked, percussive groove of "Transfer." But Chasing the Ghost has much softer moments, as in the trip-hop influenced, crooning nuances of "Razor Sharp." And "Ocean," one of the most dynamic tracks on the album, combines laid-back 'verse' segments with atmospheric and vocal-driven choruses; it's sure to be a hit.

The louder/noisier moments do not dominate the album, by any means - Chasing the Ghost still remembers Collide's mellow roots. Nonetheless, tracks like "Dreamsleep" have occasional bursts of grinding guitar activity. No, it's not like P5000 - the riffs on "White Rabbit" are tasteful and muted; they only flesh out the track, not mar it.

However, the best moments on the album are by far the exotic ones. "Halo" comes to mind immediately - it uses a sitar (the Indian equivalent of a guitar) to back up kaRIN's vocals, and the sweeping string/electronics combination is unforgettable.

Collide claims that making this album was a torturous process. I can believe it. The pure emotion infused within each track, the precise timing and placement of the songs, the impeccable vocals - these all reflect love and effort, two qualities that cannot be faked.

Although this statement may not carry as much weight as I would like after only three albums, I have to say it: Chasing the Ghost is the best Collide album, by far. It's well worth the wait and the money. I only hope Collide continues to raise the bar with each release, as it evidently did with this one.

Normally I dont write album reviews, but this is a truely remarkable album. There should be a warning sticker on the cover saying that it is more addictive than crack cocaine- yes, boys and girls it is that good.

If you like-Faithless, Sisters of Mercy, Massive Attack, Delerium, Portishead, Garbage or Curve you will more than love this.

The CD combines an absolutly gorgeous female voice with stunning soundscapes and grooves which hit you in various ways.

The closest that can be compared to is Curve, who despite my great love for have well and truely been knocked off there perch. Dont pass this album up!

I finally got around to buying Collide's "Chasing the Ghost". I bought their last studio album "Some Kind of Strange" several months ago and liked what I heard. I was quickly reminded of Switchblade Symphony and Curve with its sensual vocals and trip hop-influenced grooves. I had been putting off "Chasing the Ghost" for awhile because I kept finding cds that I really wanted. I finally got "Chasing the Ghost" in the mail yesterday and have been listening to the cd non-stop. I absolutely love kaRIN's sensual vocals. She reminds me of Toni Halliday of the band Curve as well as Lucia Cifarelli of KMFDM/MDFMK/Drill fame. As good as "Some Kind of Strange" is, I find myself enjoying "Chasing the Ghost" slightly more. I was rather blown away with the duo's cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit". When I first listened to the song, I didn't recognize the song but I knew I had heard it before and then I looked on the back of the cd and saw it was the old Jefferson Airplane song. Collide gives a darker edge to the psychedelic classic rock song. I thought it was cool that Faith and the Muse's William Faith and Monica Richard contributes on the album for a couple of tracks. William Faith contributes his guitar playing on "White Rabbit" and "Dreamsleep" while Monica sings background vocals on "Monochrome". All those songs are great songs. kaRIN sounds incredible on all the songs. I particularly loved listening to her sing on "Razor Sharp" and "Dreamsleep", two of my personal songs on the cd. Statik does an equally great job giving the music that dark, sensual, electronic edge. Collide is truly one of the better up and coming neo-goth bands that exists today.

I got this cd without ever hearing a single song of collide. i read about them in a magazine (dark realms) and i just thought "wow, i have to check out this band". i ordered this cd and fell in love. Chasing the Ghost is amazing. It's haunting, it's seductive, it's emotional, making it a great listen. Wings of steel is probably one of my favorite songs on the album. The sounds of the rain and thunder at the beginning of the song are a perfect touch, added to the whole "gothickness" of this particualar song. kaRIN's vocals are beautiful. It really adds to the mood of the whole cd, making it even better and more enjoyable to listen too. Chasing the Ghost is a wonderful cd, and everyone should at least check it out, because if you dont, you are truely missing out on an amazing industrial/gothic band.

For pure computer pop, "Chasing The Ghost" is dang sexy. As another reviewer stated, this album does have possibly the greatest CD cover ever, a less abstract spin on the Dave Mckean style.

kaRIN's (her spelling, folks) vocals are sultry, and the effects don't overwhelm the beauty of her voice. Sounds like confession and afterglow at the same time. Plus, she's singing good lyrics: "Your wings are tired / you can not get there from here / where you aspire / you can not fly there from here." Got it, take the bus.

The melodies throughout the CD are laced with Middle Eastern flavor. Statik gives the whole thing a decadent, exotic vibe. William Faith (Faith and The Muse) lends guitar on the tech-a-delic cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit." If Morocco is one day populated entirely by robots, Collide's music will be their version of Mozart.

Since the songs all have a similar style (light synth drums, gently sung vocals, multiple keyboard tracks), it's hard to list standouts. For that reason, if you like one song, you'll like the rest. There's already a band called Android Lust, but Collide's music exemplifies the term. If you ARE an android, don't play "Chasing The Ghost" if you have to be up early the next morning.

This album is so darkly ethereal and richly textured that I yearn for the poet's ability to paint a vivid word picture of its seductive sound. Sadly, I am not the world reknown poet any review of this album demands, but simply your average music lover, and after musing over it so long my brain cramps, the best I can come up with is something like. "Hey, what do you get when you cross a goth chick with a computer geek?" So you will just have to use your imagination.

Imagine the perfect song for a lovesick vampire. Imagine what moonlight peeking through gathering stormclouds sounds like. Imagine a Hammer horror movie with a Moby soundtrack. Imagine the distant music that haunts the dreams of some half-mad hero from an H.P. Lovecraft story. Imagine the perfect CD for your date with that fair-skinned lovely with the black lipstick and fingernail polish.
Imagine closing your eyes and feeling the sound sweep over you, setting you hair on end and your soul on fire.

Then stop imagining it and order this CD. Wait for a dark and stormy night and slip it in. Set your imagination free on midnite wings...

This cd sticks with me and I come back to it often. Except for the last song, it's a perfect album. If the last song, "Like you Want to Believe", were swapped out and replaced with something more fitting, this would be a 5 star record. As it is, it's still one of my favorites.

Haunting, spiritual and beautiful are probably the best ways to describe this music. The atmospheric tunes and ghostly singing are simply unmatched. It's like Enigma, Enya, Portishead and Tori Amos all rolled into one. My personal favorite tracks are Transfer, Wings of Steel, and Frozen. But all of them have their own charm.

The only reason I don't like the last song, is that it seems more upbeat than the rest of the cd. It's like collide didn't want to leave us feeling meloncholy at the end or something. In any case, you might like it. If you like their later album, Some Kind of Strange, you'll definately like this one. This is one of the most underrated groups around these days.

Now, I don't want to scare under-30 persons away from Collide. I was turned on to Collide by a 20-something person. And, there are some tracks which are a little too intense for my old (58 years old) sensitivities, and I'm not heavily into remixes. It was the covers "White Rabbit" on this one, and "Preacher Man" and "Whip It" on Distort that first caught my attention. But what made Collide a must-have is their variety. You just can't type them. They are so creative, so inventive. So, if some old person comes across this review by accident somehow, give them a listen. And note that you can't get the feel from a 20-second clip. And, young people: don't worry. I still don't like most of the goth I hear.