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The words Hungarian instrumental prog metal, may, quite rightly, scare off some.  I’m among that cohort.  I’m an old punk and metal fan, and I despise prog, but I’ve been following Debrecen’s Ghost Toast since they signed to Inverse Records.

Inverse are one of my favourite metal labels.  They work with bands from all over Europe and release new records almost weekly.  I’ve found some of my favourite tunes there in recent years. Not least ‘Eclipse’ from their last album, Shape Without Form.  The follow-up is Shape Without Color and they’ve gone even further down the prog rabbit hole on this one. It takes balls of brass to release a 12-minute single to launch your album but, too often, it feels like longer than that.

The band was formed in Debrecen, Hungary in 2008 and they appear to be on a similar trajectory to Liverpool’s Anathema.  They blend instrumental styles from heavy and groovy metal to the tight syncopation and drones of prog.  They’re still capable of rocking out and laying down head-banging riffs, but there’s just a build-up of fluff in between.  There are moments when that indulgent streak becomes overpowering and listening feels like an endurance test.  It becomes ambient music for metallers like 65 Days of Static or Tool.  Hopefully the rest of the album is tighter.

Hungarian experimental progressive rock band Ghost Toast is set to release their fourth studio album Shape Without Form on March 3 via Inverse Records, and have released the first single from the album.

Guitarist Rózsavölgyi Bence comments: " ‘Frankenstein’s’ is mainly inspired by movie scores. The seemingly different, theatrical piano intro and the heavier, odd time signature part are sewn together at the end. This time we wanted to make a music video for a shorter song, and we think this is a very good piece to start the journey what Shape Without Form’s six other songs will offer you.

The music video is about monsters. The ones we create and the ones we are living with on the same planet through the times; whether they are just creations of our imagination or real. The list is not complete of course… History has thousands of monsters, which fact should be food for thought. We used old horror movies and documentary films for the making of this video."

Tracklist:

01. Frankenstein's

02. Eclipse

03. Y13

04. Hunt of Life

05. Follow

06. Before Anything Happens

07. W.A.N.T.