Empire Of Ghosts
Second albums can often be difficult, but it seems that Leeds-based Ghost Of The Machine haven’t lost the harmony that informed their debut and have delivered a superb follow-up. Bandmembers Charlie Bramald, Scott Owens and Stuart McAuley tell Prog about Empires Must Fall and why they certainly don’t mind comparisons to Marillion and Genesis.
Words: Stephen Lambe
Ghost Of The Machine are a huge melting pot of influences and genres.
Images: Scott Owens
Ghost Of The Machine have created something of a stir in the prog community since their formation at the start of 2021. Some rapturously received live performances preceded their award-winning debut, Scissorgames, in 2022 and a clutch of scene-stealing UK festival appearances. Now they’re back with a terrific follow-up, Empires Must Fall. It’s a powerful and rewarding album, brim-full of melodic ideas, revealing its real treasures on repeated listens. It also continues the narrative that began on Scissorgames.
“There was an ending point to that story, where our character, Hope, who you see on the front cover of both albums, has liberated herself from a tyrant,” explains singer Charlie Bramald. “But it was a violent act that helped her achieve that, so there are consequences. She ends up in prison, where she transforms herself into a godlike figure, much like the tyrant that she destroyed on the previous album. She creates an empire made of light into which she brings all the people who would do terrible things in the future. But the question is: if those things haven’t happened yet, is it justice to prevent a crime that hasn’t occurred? It’s a little bit like the Tom Cruise film, Minority Report [laughs]. She starts a revolution which ends up in war, and this leads finally to the end of this cycle of tyranny and the simple act of holding out a hand of forgiveness.”