Stabbing Westward Releases on COP International:
Chasing Ghosts [Album] • Ghost [Single] • I Am Nothing [Single] • Hallowed Hymns [Halloween Cover EP]
As the anticipation grows for the brand-new Stabbing Westward album Chasing Ghosts to be released – the band’s first new LP in more than 20 years – the four-piece gives another taste of the new music with their latest single, “Ghost.”
Fans who buy the physical or digital edition of the single will be gifted with several additional tracks including remixes of “Ghost” lead by Stabbing Westward frontman Christopher Hall and Assemblage 23 along with a reworking of early hit “Why,” from 1996 RIAA Certified Gold album Wither Blister Burn & Peel.
“Ghost” is from the new album Chasing Ghosts which will be out March 18, 2022 via COP International Records. It features 10 tracks that showcase the industrial rock band’s characteristic sound with a modern sheen that picks up right where they left off with their last full-length in 2001. With the new tracks, Stabbing Westward has not only managed to stay true to their original sound but also expanded it to fit the frantic new reality of the 21st century.
“Ghost” follows the single “I Am Nothing” that was released in November 2021, with Loudwire saying, “20 years later, [Stabbing Westward] are back in the studio making the same intense electro-goth bangers they were doing two decades earlier. Now, the compressed crunchy guitar riffs, steady pounding beats, and signature wail of singer Christopher Hall highlight a tension that seems to fit perfectly this day and age.”
Chasing Ghosts will feature brand-new songs as well as re-workings of the band’s acclaimed 2020 reunion EP Dead And Gone that finds original founding members Christopher Hall (vocals/guitar) and Walter Flakus (keyboards/programming) honing in on the incredible partnership that once produced a string of hits that dominated alternative radio and film soundtracks, including “Shame,” “Save Yourself” and “What Do I Have to Do?” – and resulted in two Certified Gold records.
To recreate that original chemistry, the band recruited the legendary producer John Fryer to again helm Chasing Ghosts. Fryer, whose production credits include Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, 4AD, Cocteau Twins, and Love and Rockets, originally worked with Stabbing Westward on their best-selling early releases Ungod (1994) and Wither Blister Burn + Peel (1996). Chasing Ghosts was also mastered by Tom Baker who, like Fryer, worked with Stabbing Westward on their early releases and is part of the reassembled production team on the latest album. The current Stabbing Westward band lineup also includes Carlton Bost (guitars and programming) and Bobby Amaro (drums).
With artwork by David Seidman (who has worked with Coheed And Cambria and is known for his ethereal and surrealistic imagery), formats include digital, 6-panel digipack CD, and limited-edition vinyl including a run of 2,000 double-gatefold 180gr black vinyl with an additional insert. Exclusive limited-edition merch will also be announced soon.
The full tracklisting for Chasing Ghosts is as follows:
I Am Nothing
Damaged Goods
Cold
Push
Wasteland
Ctrl Z
Crawl
Dead & Gone
Ghost
The End
In addition to recently being covered in Loudwire, Consequence Of Sound, Revolver, SPIN, Bloody Disgusting and other top media outlets, Stabbing Westward has been receiving rave reviews for their latest material:
The Dead and Gone EP ultimately proves how memorable Stabbing Westward’s industrial rock can be, and it serves as a teaser for a looming full-length album that many are anticipating… they sound just as passionate and exciting as ever.” —Blabbermouth
For both casual listeners and ardent fans of the group, the fire is raging inside Stabbing Westward as the collective enjoys this new chapter in its history.
—MXDWN
Stabbing Westward have done themselves proud with the Dead and Gone EP. It whets the palate and excites the senses, reminding fans that this band are still making vital and fresh new music—and it’s totally worth the wait! Dead and Gone is the promise that Stabbing Westward are back with a fiercely infectious vengeance!
—Cryptic Rock
All images above by Kim Hansen at coldwave 2021
Blending the scathing electronics of underground industrial/rock with the emotive melodies of goth and a decidedly radio-friendly sensibility, Stabbing Westward rose to great heights in the mid-‘90s alternative boom. Formed in 1986 by Walter Flakus and Christopher Hall, the band went from underground cult sensation to the heights of critical and commercial success thanks to such songs as “Shame,”
“Save Yourself,” “So Far Away” and “What Do I Have to Do?”. To this day, these songs remain anthems of heartache, dejection, rage, betrayal, and depression. With two Gold albums and numerous hit singles, Stabbing Westward fell from grace with the 2001 self-titled album amid personal and professional turmoil, disbanding the following year and leaving a void in modern music that was somewhat filled by Hall’s later work in The Dreaming. However, it was the release of that band’s Rise Again in 2015 that the seeds were sown for a reunion. That album saw Flakus once again making music with Hall, with Stabbing Westward guitarist Mark Eliopulos joining The Dreaming onstage in Chicago for a set of past hits. In 2019, Hall and Flakus came together again to release the Dead And Gone EP, the first new Stabbing Westward material in 18 years. Written and produced by Flakus and Hall over the course of three years, and recorded in multiple states and time zones, these new songs capture the very essence of the Stabbing Westward sound. Adding longtime bandmate Carlton Bost (Orgy, Deadsy, The Dreaming) and new drummer Bobby Amaro (Orgy) to the official lineup, the band has also once again recruited the talent of producer John Fryer—instrumental on early albums “Ungod” and “Wither Blister Burn + Peel”—for a new album, Chasing Ghosts to be released March 18, 2022, through a new partnership with COP International.
