Great American Ghost – Tragedy of the Commons

Great American Ghost – Tragedy of the Commons
Release Date: 31st January 2025
Label: SharpTone Records
Order/Stream
Genre: Metalcore, Metallic Hardcore.
FFO: Underoath, Knocked Loose, Bleed from Within.
Review By: Jeff Finch

Metalcore/metallic hardcore holds a special place in my musical heart, the genres that basically introduced and made me a fan of harsh vocals about 17 years ago with Metalcore classic The Fall of Ideals. I’ve yet to look back, and though the genre can put out a bunch of duds, as with any genre, when groups like today’s focus Great American Ghost release their brand of blistering metallic hardcore that harkens back to the best days the scene has seen, there’s reason to celebrate.

There are a bevy of instances on this album of the band wearing their influences on their sleeves: riffs sound similar to something we’ve all heard a number of times, vocally the visceral tone and emotion evokes the best of the 2000s, and even some of the late 90s, with the sheer intensity bludgeoning listeners with moments of respite that serve the purpose of letting the catharsis take hold of us for a brief moment before the wall of sound is back at it: buzzsaw riffs, intense industrial metal drumming, so many grooves to latch hold of that you’ll be nodding your head along nearly the whole album. And these moments aren’t to be viewed negatively: for a band to show their influences and then mold them into a “new” sound, without sounding like blatant rip-offs, is pretty impressive, especially in a genre as packed with bands as this one.

The band gets industrial on opener Kerosene, they toy with us on Genocide, visceral shrieks contrasted with whispered vocals and a slow to mid-tempo beat that unleashes on its listeners, the layered vocals ripped straight from the depths of hell as the chainsaw guitars rip through the speakers. Pure bedlam is unleashed on Forsaken, the drums never ceasing with their aural assault, the guitars stretching out the notes as the vocals and drums batter us at every step, a soaring, catchy chorus the bridge between two sides of chaos, the last minute seeing the band slow down to a crawl, the notes droning on and chugging with unbridled intensity and crushing weight.

The different sounds the band incorporates into their rhythms and their compositions borrow from thrash, beatdown, hardcore, and incorporate so many chugs, and even the occasional sequence of blast beats, that it sounds like Great American Ghost decided to throw the kitchen sink at this one, and it stuck. The band feels energized, they bounce from fast tempo blasts down to mid-tempo chugs to crushingly slow breakdowns, and everything in between, not once sounding as if they’re trying too hard or incorporating the sounds just to check a box. On this album, the band took a page from every band and genre that’s been an influence and threw it into the blender and came out with a crushing metallic hardcore record that will obviously make fans of the band happy and might very well bring in new fans: like this listener.

4.5 out of 5 stars (4.5 / 5)

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