Style: Progressive Metal, Ambient, (Clean Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Porcupine Tree, The Gathering, Soen
Country: England
Release date: 31 January 2026

---

The journey of creation can be deeply rooted in collaboration yet still induce loneliness due to the sacrifices made in pursuit of a completed project. The visual and narrative of the tortured creative, locked away from the world by their own hand to seek out crafting their grail is often the subject of just those stories penned a step away from the world at large. On the heels of a collective act of genesis and the accompanying shortchanging of sleep, Green Eyed Ghost make their debut, Leave Me Here, a self-published album “exploring themes of isolation, ambition, and loss.”

Green Eyed Ghost bring those themes to bear in the duality of their sound. Songs flit back and forth between synthesized, mellow landscapes and lively, progressive metal soloing. The songwriting matches these tonal shifts, pivoting from reserved and airy to bold and cinematic then back again. The interplay of these distinct moods and frequent switchups mirror the experience of navigating isolation, ambition, and loss, depicting the peaks and valleys of energy and emotions over the course of Leave Me Here.

The lyrical contents of Leave Me Here are well-crafted for the musical framework. The language used is evocative, bringing the stated themes to life without relying on painting finished scenes; rather, a backdrop is provided and the listener is given room to fill in the specific context provoking those emotions. One verse midway through “Lunar Park” ruminating on feeling isolated stuck with me in particular: “Bound to time, passing by/Dusk to dawn, sea to ice/Miles and miles of careless sea/Hugs me tightly”. Between my disdain for winter’s cold and its accompanying seasonal melancholy, and my propensity for getting seasick to the smallest of waves, the loneliness of the scene comes through loud and clear.

A major highlight of Leave Me Here lies in the delivery of its vocals. Luna Elenby demonstrates her vocal talents across the album, belting with the driving rhythm of “Lunar Park”, crooning along with the mellow jazz cafe drums and keyboard of “Bodem”, and contributing to the ambience of “Mimic”. Elenby’s range is a consistent delight over the course of the album, and in the midst of wandering instrumental sections, I often found myself looking forward to her next verse.

“Mimic” in particular represents the best of what Green Eyed Ghost can be. “Mimic” opens with Elenby’s vocals sitting low in the mix, weaving in and out of a persistent bass line and brushed drumming until the verse closes, building a synthesized, mellow soundscape, in which even her sustain on the crescendo is kept short and neat. “Mimic” mirrors the tabletop roleplaying monster it shares a name with when it reveals its true form, coming to a climax with a guitar solo reminiscent of an Intervals ballad; even without words, the ‘voice’ of the guitar solo is poignant, evocative of a journey made alone to the ends of the known world, fitting for the ending sequence to a dramatic adventure as the credits roll. This blistering guitar solo ends with a return to the calm, lonely space as it settles into long held, reverb-soaked chords and matching vocals before snapping back to another bombastic solo.

While Green Eyed Ghost’s sound throughout Leave Me Here varies over the course of each song, they also demonstrate a spread of styles across the album. Intricate, long instrumental passages can be found on nearly every track, from the wide, cinematic soundscape of the sonorous solo at the end of “Mimic” to the double kick and blast-beat-backed riffing at the heart of “Alter.” It is a touch jarring when the latter ends, and rather than carrying this energy, almost all instrumentation drops out, leaving behind only airy plucked strings and synthesized atmospheric warbling. Combining such dramatically different experiences into single tracks is an ambitious undertaking, but one I find falls short, even as the attempt serves as an accurate distillation for life experiences, when the lowest moments do not respect proximity to great ones.

Though mastered by Jon Astley¹, Leave Me Here’s weakest link is its mixing. When Green Eyed Ghost leaves room for drums, guitar, or vocals to shine, they certainly succeed; when attempts are made to highlight intricate interplay between them, the sound muddies as the placement of each conflicts with the other. This bedroom mixing quality unfortunately creeps across the entirety of Leave Me Here—from the extended solos of “Alter” to the moody chorus of “Bodem”—and this struggle to balance each component holds back the quality of the finished album.

Leave Me Here is an often muddied look into the skills of a newcomer to the progressive landscape, wearing its imperfect mixing as stains over otherwise lovely music. Growth comes with repetition, and a first album frequently demonstrates that lack of experience; Green Eyed Ghost is no exception to that. In spite of that shortcoming, Elenby’s strong vocal performance and the engaging solos leave me looking forward to a more refined sophomore outing.

---

Recommended tracks: Mimic, Open Elysium
You may also Esthesis, Black Painted Moon, Kînd
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Green Eyed Ghost is:
– Luna Elenby (Vocals)
– Paul Meredith (Guitar)
– Ben Myles (Bass)
– Matt Fellows (Drums)

1. It might be shorter to offer a list of artists he hasn’t worked with, having contributed to production for The Who, ABBA, Judas Priest, Tears for Fears, Led Zeppelin, and many others. ↩︎