Recommended for fans of: Employed to Serve, Fit For An Autopsy, Knocked Loose
Despite their steadily growing profile over the years, this is the first time we’re actually writing about Boston-based bruisers Great American Ghost here at NCS (though their 2022 EP, Torture World did get a small mention in my end of year round-up at the time) so a quick introduction may be necessary before we go any further.
Equally influenced by seminal Hardcore acts like American Nightmare, The Hope Conspiracy, and Vision of Disorder as they are living Metal legends like Meshuggah, Gojira, and Fear Factory, the group’s sound has slowly shifted over the years, moving from the rougher, rawer approach of their debut album, Everyone Leaves, through the increasingly heavier and more metallic sounds explored on Hatred Stems from the Seed and Power Through Terror, to the even bigger and more bombastic tones of their most recent record, Tragedy of the Commons (which was released just last month).
So if any of that sounds appealing (and I’m hoping it does) then get ready to discover your new favourite band!
2015 – EVERYONE LEAVES
The hefty, haymaker guitars and feral, vein-popping vocals of opener “Runner” quickly let you know that Great American Ghost have no interest in wasting time or fucking around, not when there’s faces to melt and pits to ignite with their visceral, Vision of Disorder-ish sonic assault… something which the even more reckless and relentless “An Ever Changing Cast of Characters” only doubles-down on (GAG vocalist Ethan Harrison channelling his best Tim Williams with every savage, spiteful syllable).
On “Shiver” the band then slow things down a little to really emphasise the heaviness and imposing sonic weight of their sound, every chunky, down-picked chug and beefy, booming bass note positively bristling with barely restrained malice (while the vocals continue to show no restraint at all), and while the instrumental interlude of “12-15-2009” is somewhat appreciated, it’s not necessarily vital to the grand scheme of the album.
The same, however, certainly can’t be said about the caustic, Converge-esque catharsis of “Dead Punks” (the second half… well, “breakdown” isn’t really sufficient a word, it’s more akin to an apocalyptic auditory collapse… is worth the proverbial price of admission on its own) or the howling hymn of self-hatred that is “Misery”, both of which serve as welcome reminders that Great American Ghost don’t pull any punches, musically or emotionally).
The riff-tastic “Decay” then throws a little bit of Ringworm style thrashiness into the mix (along with a hefty helping of snarling, punky attitude and some seriously dark, doomy melody towards the end) after which “Home Grown Hate” combines the band’s classic Hardcore influences (especially in the rhythms and drum work) with an increasingly massive, increasingly metallic guitar tone in an early sign of things to come.
As if to provide a counterbalance to this, “Anxious Alone” pushes the Hardcore Punk side of the band’s sound a little bit harder, while also cranking up the weighty, doomy guitars an extra notch, leading in to the climactic, slow-motion anthem of self-loathing that is “Everyone Leaves” which ends the album on an even darker, harsher note than even the preceding nine tracks will have prepared you for.
2017 – HATRED STEMS FROM THE SEED
As good as the band’s debut was – and it was, naysayers be damned – it’s on their second album where you can really hear them start to hit their stride, beginning with the much more metallic (and mercilessly hooky) “No Saviour”, whose mix of Death, Thrash, and ‘core influences should definitely appeal to fans of bands like Ringworm, Walls of Jericho, and Spiritworld.
“New England Misery” then maintains this tighter, heavier approach while also reminding you that the band have lost none of their raw, emotional power (the vocals in particular still bleed passion and venom in equal measure), but it’s early highlight “Ann Arbor (Be Safe)” which really shows you how far the band have come in just a few short years, with the whole band locking in to an even more punishing rhythmic attack (reminiscent of Absolute Hope… era Fit For An Autopsy) which is bound to be both a neck-wrecker and a heart-breaker.
This increasingly anthemic, song-based fusion of Metal and Hardcore (oh, if only there was a name for it) continues to become more reminiscent of the UK’s own Metallic Hardcore heroes Employed to Serve, with the staccato stomp and moody melodic undercurrent of “Destroyer” stupidly hooky (and stupidly heavy) riffs of “Lost” (which also puts some additional emphasis on the album’s thick, weighty bass tone) guaranteed to appeal to anyone who was/is a fan of that band’s Eternal Forward Motion album.
The galloping thrash-core attack of “Nothing Left” also has more than a bit of EtS to it, while also featuring an instantly impactful (and instantly recognisable) guest spot from Fit For An Autopsy‘s Joe Badolato, while the spit ‘n’ venom of “Deliver Me” is another one that will definitely appeal to the Spiritworld fans out there (probably more than a lot of that band’s new album, in fact… spoiler alert), whereas the the ragged, semi-melodic chorus refrain of “Time Is Your Enemy” gives you a few more hints about the next stage of the band’s sonic evolution.
Opening with a succinct and sharply-delivered “Fuck!”, the choppy, down-picked riffs and harshly hooky chorus refrain of “Lifeless” quickly establish this track as a major highlight of the album’s second half (especially when it drops into its crushing, climactic slow-down), after which all that’s left is for the wrenching rhythms of “Damnation” and the massively heavy “No Love” (a major fan favourite, and for good reason) to sweep in and land a final one-two knockout combo.
2020 – POWER THROUGH TERROR
My favourite of the band’s four albums, Power Through Terror is definitely their heaviest and most metallic release, as epitomised by disgustingly dense guitar/bass tone combination which grants opener “Rat King” (sample lyric: “at the end of the tunnel there’s no fucking light!), while also being – to flirt with a messy old cliche – their most “melodic”.
The Meshuggah/Gojira/Fit For An Autopsy influence is in full effect during the almost mechanically precise musical punishment of “Prison of Hate”, with the rough-hewn melodic moments in the song’s chorus adding a more organic counterpoint to the rest of the track’s rigidly focussed fury (building to a final breakdown that’ll knock you right out of your boots if you’re not careful) while the even heavier, darker strains of “Altar of Snakes” lean even more into the Deathcore side of things (while also hinting at a bit of Eighteen Visions in the way the song combines both Metal and melody).
The title-track (a personal favourite of mine) is basically just a three-and-a-half (well, almost) minute experiment in how hard the band can crank their guitars without doing irreparable damage to the listener’s speakers and/or eardrums, with the more intricate and expansive “Rivers of Blood” then allowing the group to explore both a proggier song-structure and a deeper sense of atmosphere (while also showing off how good the drums are at the same time).
Two more major stand-outs then follow in quick succession, with “Socialized Animals” being the most overtly metallic track the band have ever done, combining ridiculously catchy, Slipknot-esque riffage with sudden bursts of blastbeats and a dash of outlandish shreddery, culminating in a suitably crushing climax, while the even more massive grooves and eerie melodic undercurrents of “Black Winter” could easily go toe-to-toe with the best bits of The Great Collapse-era Fit For An Autopsy.
If you’re looking for pure, unapologetic heaviness, then the pneumatic rhythmic riffage of “Scorched Earth” has you covered, while also throwing in a dash of twitchy technicality and an ominous sense of atmosphere which, especially during the chorus, gives the song a faint hint of Fear Factory‘s menacing industrial ambience, after which “Warborn” amps up the guitars and ramps up the intensity just that little bit more going into the final stretch of the album, before finally reaching its crescendo with the blast, groove, and bludgeon of “No More”, which ends things on a suitably intense, impressively epic, note.
2025 – TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS
It may have taken them five years (punctuated only by the release of 2022’s Torture World EP, which I didn’t have time to cover here) but Tragedy of the Commons quickly makes it clear that Great American Ghost have lost none of their power or their fury (even while opening themselves up to some more melodic options), with absolutely punishing opener “Kerosene” adopting a more Industrial-influenced Metalcore sound reminiscent of the similarly brutal output of bands like END, Project 86 (especially on their most recent release) and current Hardcore darlings Knocked Loose.
“Echoes of War” keeps the intensity levels high, while also bringing in some welcome contrast with the song’s more melodic chorus, in a way that reminds me of the best bits of Fit For An Autopsy‘s last album (with an extra edge of brooding industrial ambience), after which “Lost In The Outline” provides the album with its first bona fide arena-ready anthem (while still finding time to drop the hammer on multiple occasions).
Sure, the whole “uber-heavy verse, emotionally heavy chorus” structure isn’t necessarily the most original – you can mostly see the turn coming a mile off in both “Forsaken” and “Ghost in Flesh” – but being able to see what’s coming still doesn’t prevent Tragedy of the Commons from hitting hard, especially when the group continue to crank up the heaviness of the guitars to maximum to compensate against any accusations that they might have “sold out”.
A song like “Writhe”, in fact, is such a stand-out precisely because it finds the band exploring their moodier and more melodic inclinations a little more overtly, weaving them into the fabric of the entire song rather than just waiting for the chorus, whereas the ridiculous industrial-strength Deathcore bludgeoning of the Impending Doom-esque “Genocide” stands out for the opposite reason, focussing as it does purely on the most obnoxiously and unrelentingly heavy side of the band’s sound for just under three monstrous minutes.
“Hymn of Decay” is another major highlight due to the way it contrasts its humongous riffs and gigantic grooves (plus the occasional bombardment of blastbeats or bone-crushing breakdown) with its more melodic and emotionally expressive (but still impressively heavy) chorus, and if the slightly-too-poppy clean chorus of “Chapel Paralysis” ends up feeling a little shoehorned in by comparison, the hard-hitting “Reality//Relapse” finds just the right balance between visceral and vulnerable to get things back on track leading into the eye-popping intensity of killer closer “God Is A Loaded Gun”.