It should go without saying at this point that the Australian scene is nothing that should be taken lightly. Every year it seems to be the case that the land down under finds new ways to surprise and deliver names across virtually every given style of metal with quality being the constant thread that holds them all together in such a form that is nigh on compelling. Even then, there’s always room for a new name to rise out of the woodwork and really catch us off-guard in a scene already overflowing with insanity. Having but one EP to their name before now, it’s with their debut album that Ghostsmoker makes an explosive entrance.

While every sound has something to call its own that no other sounds can boast, there just isn’t much out there that can compare to when an uncompromising slab of raw intensity finds its way before us. Of all the styles that can deliver that, the melding of sludge and doom effortlessly make some of the most captivating and overwhelming works of such a concept with Ghostsmoker doing that more than enough justice with everything that’s summoned within the six unyielding tracks of “Inertia Cult”. Raw in its approach with a nuanced songwriting that has far more to offer than simply being able to be felt in the deepest parts of your chest, it’s in their first full-length that Ghostsmoker well and truly goes for the throat in every instance with terrifying result. Nobody is safe in this forty-one-minute offensive upon all that is good in this world. It’s punishing in the most bewildering form with the very sky thrumming in reaction to the power of “Inertia Cult” and the earth quaking before such awesome might. Not so much as a shred of power is lost throughout the whole of the record, and it demands to be experienced in full lest you miss out on what could likely be one of the works of sludge-doom in the first quarter of 2025 that could very well be considered essential.

Where raw heaviness is considered, it still takes quite a bit to bring it to life in such a form that delivers on such a promising platform. It takes a particular level of talent and finesse so that it doesn’t become an untamable beast that cannot be contained with power wasted in many different instances. For all that Ghostsmoker delivers, “Inertia Cult” is the epitome of terrifying competency with the results to match. Australia is already overflowing with names that hold untold levels of potential, and Ghostsmoker more than earned a place in that conversation with everything that was pulled off in this massive album.

“Inertia Cult” releases on March 21st!

LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Inertia Cult” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Ghostsmoker on Facebook here.