Finally In The Spirit World Now

This is the last in my series of clear vinyl Relapse Records releases that I picked up recently. So when I was scanning the label's recent(ish) catalogue to decide what I wanted to try to buy, and I have saved my favourite until last.

Last year Mike put Ceremony back on my radar when he finally got around to listening to their fifth LP from 2015, 'The L-Shaped Man'. Just like Mike, I had no real interest in it when it came out as it felt that Ceremony had progressed to a point that was further from 'hardcore' than I was comfortable with, but reading Mike's post about that record made me realise that ten years had flown by and now I felt that I very did want to listen to it.

Well, I still haven't gotten around to listening to that record, but I decided to get ahead of myself and pick up the next Ceremony record, 'In The Spirit World Now'.

This record was first released in 2019 by Relapse Records (which seemed like a slightly odd label for the band based on how their previous three records sounded). I had zero interest in it back then, but approaching it in 2025 with an open mind, and I absolutely love this record. I have had this for a few weeks now, and pretty much from the first listen this record became a bit of an addiction. For a few days, I would wake up and my first thought was that I wanted to listen to this record. I would then have to restrain myself from listening to it two or three times per day, which I couldn't always do successfully.

After loving this record, I then also bought a 'remix' version of this record. 'In The Spirit World Now (Synthetic Remixes)' was also put out by Relapse, but in 2020. It is the same songs but with sythesizers, and as such comes in a similarly themed sleeve. I made sure to seek out one of the clear vinyl copies.

As much as I liked 'In The Spirit World Now', this one just felt a little unnecessary. And, annoyingly, even though it has the same songs, they are in a completely different order, which just doesn't feel quite right to me.

Anyway, given how much I have loved this record, I should probably get back on track and check out 'The L-Shaped Man' at some point.