Vanden Plas Official ‪‘The Ghost Xperiment’‬- ‪Awakening

Singer Andy Kuntz has a stage background and has previously played parts including Judas, Che Guevara and Nostradamus. For this album, he has created the character of Gideon Grace and tells a story parapsychological experiments and the battle with dark forces and demons which threaten to destroy him. So not a ‪Steel Panther‬ album then.

This is the first instalment in the story with a second instalment to be released in 2020. There are six substantial songs spread over the album. Each is a finely crafted prog-metal epic of technical precision and the most obvious point of comparison is ‪Dream Theater‬. Because of the narrative, it’s better listened to as a continuous piece but I can recommend ‘Cold December Night’ and ‘Devils’ Poetry’ if you want to dip a toe in.

If you are prepared to invest 45 minutes of your time on a pre-Halloween musical ghost story, you could do worse than sit down in the dark with this in your headphones. Mulled wine optional but definitely preferable.
IM