Marianas Trench

Increasingly people are saying that the album is dead. With Phantoms (604 Records) Marianas Trench prove that the reports of its death are greatly exaggerated. “I think we’re going to see more artists just releasing singles,” says Marianas Trench’s Josh Ramsay, “but that doesn’t inspire me.”

What does inspire Ramsay is creating a self-contained universe for the band’s songs to exist in. On Phantoms, a house possessed by the spirit of lingering loss whose inhabitant is driven to madness by the ghost of a former love. The band drills down into the consequences of that loss deeply on lead single, ‘I Knew You When’ – a track that showcases Ramsay’s staggering vocal range and the band’s ample musical chops in equal measure.

Like past records, Phantoms finds the Vancouver-based four-piece pushing their musical boundaries relentlessly. From the jaw-dropping a cappella opener, ‘Eleonora’ to its unapologetically epic closer, ‘The Killing Kind’, Phantoms sheer emotional weight and brutal honesty will leave a lasting mark on listeners. “It’s about messy, real-life love with consequences; a relationship that takes years to build,” Ramsay says. “And Phantoms, I think, will allow people to connect on their own stories to the ones that we’re sharing.”