Love Ghost – Gas Mask Wedding
If you’re familiar with Love Ghost (and you should be, we’ve reviewed his albums here and here), you already know what a personality Finnegan Seeker Bell is. The enigmatic frontman/musician/songwriter/content creator is always pushing boundaries – whether that means writing songs about death and drugs; bounding from genre to genre without a care in the world; or just generally having a fuck-it-all attitude toward life – Bell’s devil-may-care attitude belies his genuinely prolific songwriting output. He’s back with another full length; to our knowledge, his second of the year. He’s calling it Gas Mask Wedding – here’s a little bit about the album from Bell himself:
“These songs are about finding intimacy in the middle of chaos. I wrote songs about loving something that could destroy you – because that is the world I live in. If you live in this world too then welcome to the wedding.”
Right away, Bell’s chameleon-like tendencies show up on “Car Crash.” Stripped down and barebones, Bell takes to the piano and just lets it rip. If you recall Bell’s spicier moments, this is a real head scratcher… But in the best way (and in a way that only Love Ghost could), he turns it around and concludes things on a dark and scary note. Even so, beyond the gritty exterior, Bell is clearly a man of many talents. Later on in the album, “Angelic” taps into this same, crushing energy. Glassy-eyed and near sociopathic in its delivery, “Angelic” serves to break your heart, whereas the barebones “Spirit Box” continues with the otherworldly subject matter. If this is your first introduction, then we echo Bell’s previous sentiment – welcome to Love Ghost’s world.
Bell is a bit more “comfortable” (for lack of a better word) smashing emo and grunge tendences together alongside left-field flavors that never cease to impress and surprise listeners. “Fucked Up Feelings” is an archetypal Love Ghost song, exploring R&B and trap influences without ever really abandoning those sludgy, emotional roots. Elsewhere, “Hallucinations” taps Reverie for a guest verse, tinged with rap, but anchored by a giant, power-chord driven chorus that keeps it united with the rest of the album. “Scar Tissue,” too, digs deep on those trap drums, evoking Wicca Phase Springs Eternal with its innovative matchup of alt rock and trap.
Ultimately though, Gas Mask Wedding is at its best when Love Ghost leans into the hyper-polished emo-grunge that he does best. “Sand Castles” is our vote for album favorite – featuring Smashmouth’s very own Zach Goode, “Sand Castles” could very well be a ’90s anthem (“Falling Down” could be too!), built around a guitar riff that could sit comfortably on any Everclear or Better Than Ezra single. With lyrics that touch on the fleeting nature of sand that crumbles in your hand and the ever-popular concept of the importance of the location of California, “Sand Castles” feels like the perfect song to help fade out summer, even if it’s surrounded with Love Ghost & Co.’s masochism. Speaking of loving pain, we’re giving special honors to album closer, “The Masochist” – fleeting, but heavy, LG sings longingly about his love affair with pain overtop of a slinky guitar riff. One final spotlight goes to “Worth It,” LG’s third collab with The Skinner Brothers – with its chorus-laden guitars and longing vocals, “Worth It” sounds like it could be the next The Story So Far or Hot Mulligan single, mashing up heartfelt pop punk with post-punk laced emo vibes.
One quick, final shout out highlighting the lost art of skits. Bringing me back to my preteen days of enjoying the unhinged skits on the Marshall Mathers LP, Finn includes “Hair Dye” and “A Message From Finn” which, while not on the same page at all conceptually, these skits help to bring this album together with a deeper look into the entity of Love Ghost. It’s a personal touch, and it’s those little details that help Gas Mask Wedding feel like less of a concept and more of a biopic.
Gas Mask Wedding is available now (September 26th, 2025). Follow the forbidden YouTube link below to see the music video for “Car Crash,” or, check it out via Spotify or Apple Music.
Categorised in: Album Reviews
This post was written by Nick Sessanna