Band:	Rishloo
Album:	Living As Ghosts With Buildings As Teeth
Style:	Alternative metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	December 09, 2014
Guest review by:	Eternity'sChild

01. Great Rain Beatle
02. Landmines
03. Dead Rope Machine
04. Dark Charade
05. Salutations
06. Radio
07. Winslow
08. Just A Ride

Rishloo is an incredible band, managing to put out really high quality albums. Even the break from 2012 to 2013 didn't hold them back from releasing once again a stunning record that even tops their previous albums. Living As Ghosts With Buildings As Teeth marks their most mature output to date, filled with musical diversity and complexity.

This album is just impressive in every way. The "metal" tag is quite arguable, though there are some moments where it might be suitable. They still have the same proggy and at times quite atmospheric sound, but still you can definitely hear that they improved on so many levels. The songwriting is much more diverse: the mood and/or atmosphere of a song could shift in such a beautiful and unexpected way, it's just incredible.

Take "Dead Rope Machine" for example, which in the middle of the song suddenly gets really aggressive, but once you've accepted the change, you find yourself in a completely new, soft, and atmospheric part that develops beautifully until the song reaches its end. This last section of the song brings me to the next standout point: the vocals. They were always quite good, but on this record Drew really shows all of his talent. Therefore it is quite logical that there is a lot of emphasis on his well-developed singing skills. Living As Ghosts With Buildings As Teeth features with "Dark Charade" also the band's first song over the 10-minute mark, which is just one of the so many really nice tracks of the album. Another specialty of this record is that it is extremely consistent. Not only am I not able to evaluate my favourite song off the album, I can't even pick a top 3, top 5, whatsoever.

Although everything sounds great to me, obviously it's not for everybody. I can imagine that it is too complex at times and therefore not memorable enough (not because the songwriting isn't memorable, but at times you get bombarded with loads of different melodies and moods). Also it is a quite a soft album in general and therefore it's very likely that especially on a heavy metal website not everyone is as impressed as I am.

In conclusion this is one of the very rare albums that in my opinions deserve the word "masterpiece." It probably is not for everyone and sometimes you're not in the right mood for music like this, but if you are able to dive in and enjoy the album, you can proudly say that it was not "Just A Ride" into Rishloo's newest effort, but also a great musical experience.