By now you’ve hopefully had a chance to listen to Hell Is Empty And All The Devils Are Here, the album Milwaukee industrial hip-hop duo Guerrilla Ghost released April 15. If not, you should change that soon because it’s very good! In fact, the record is so nice, they’re releasing it twice…sort of.
This Friday, exactly three weeks removed from putting out that latest album, a wide range of musicians from Milwaukee and elsewhere in the country will offer listeners remixed versions of those Guerrilla Ghost songs in the form of Reimagined Hellscapes. The ambitious album features different artists taking a crack at each of Hell Is Empty‘s tracks and being given free reign to alter songs as they see fit.
“This was one of our half-thought-out ideas during the recording process that transformed into something bigger with phenomenal results,” Guerrilla Ghost vocalist Bad Graphics Ghost says in a press release. “We had already done an entire EP where we had friends recreate just one single, so what’s stopping us from recreating an entire album?”
This time around, Guerrilla Ghost enlisted aural assistance from musicians from all over the sonic spectrum. Included in this vast and varied grouping of remixers is Chicago post-punk project The Mons, a San Francisco band called Interesting Times Gang, and Michigan rockers Them Teeth. The release also has an eclectic blend of adaptations from Milwaukee-based producers and bands. Some of the Milwaukee-on-Milwaukee remixes actually stand out the most, including Keith Sweaty’s almost unrecognizable transformation of “Guiliani Is My Safe Word,” a moody electronic rendition of “Lilies Of The Field” by Nicholas Elert, and even a grindcore version of “Gatekeeper” courtesy of LIFES.
It’s (kind of) Guerrilla Ghost as you’ve (definitely) never heard them before. You can pre-order Reimagined Hellscapes here, and you can listen to all 14 songs on the album before its Friday, May 6 release below.