If the album artwork doesn’t freak you out, then the music of TV Ghost‘s sophomore LP, Mass Dream, surely will. Playing like the soundtrack to a horror film (and not the Scream 4 kind of horror), scary is not even the appropriate term to define this record. Rather, pulsating, anxious, aggressive, despondent, haunting, gothic; these are adjectives that all seem to make their way into at least one of the eleven songs here.

With an ethos so indubitably of progressive punk and with a madness that only lead singer Tim Gick knows how to exert, TV Ghost take a more imperturbable approach on their sophomore effort, though it certainly doesn’t seem like it. For starters, at more-or-less the same tracklist and more than twice as long, Mass Dream is not as immediate or balls-out as its predecessor, Cold Fish. It’s certainly as heavy, throbbing, and excruciatingly dark, but also a bit less lo-fi and more textural, though it’s hard to determine if it’s easier on the ears. With songs so destined to inspire mosh pits, like “Sleep Composite” and “Doppleganger”, Mass Dream is one of those LPs that’s impossible to listen to while standing still.

Gick takes his time getting the point across here, over sinister and ominous backdrops (“The Inheritors”) and eerie, mysterious jams alike (“The Degradation Of Film”). Though the extent of Mass Dream‘s musical demeanor does not come off as intensely unique or contrastive from other progressive punk rockers out there these days, Gick’s overly emotional vocals help TV Ghost stand out. His voice works like an opera of its own, assuredly sounding tragic to the ears. Thanks to his impassioned, fortuitously pained lyrics, Mass Dream is a record best heard when depressed, angry, or when one is possessed by the unshakable urge to scream.