Review Summary: Saturation plagues the hardcore genre to this day, but The Ghost Inside face it head on and come out on top.
Frustrated. A word that will come to the minds of many whenever it comes to another hardcore/metalcore band that it on the rise. Eyes roll, palms hit faces, but The Ghost Inside are no rookies. Having been around now for a couple years and two albums, we've all got a glimpse at what makes The Ghost Inside who they are. Their third album would be the one that tell me, and the rest of us out there in music land, what they brought to the table this time around. What they brought was a big heaping pile of in your face hardcore.
Consistent. Another word that hardly ever gets tossed around when it comes to this genre, but alas, Ghost keeps proving themselves time and again. One major factor, when it comes to this type of music, is very prominent. The sound of the screamer's voice is one of the strongest indicators of how the music will sound. And if you like a guy who screams and sounds like he has balls behind his voice, this band is for you. Two very solid records were put out before this, (Fury, Returners) but there is a certain evolution about this record that keeps The Ghost Inside up their on my list of bands who are doing things right.
Opening the album the way they did was a tell tale sign that I was in for a treat. Being a guitar player myself, I commend these guys for using the tone that they did for record and doing it well. Backing the mids off considerably to make the record sound deeper and much heavier, paid off for them in the end. I found that the guitar tone and Jonathan's voice worked in perfect harmony. The album never has any point on it where it slows down, it truly is a runaway freight train and when it hits, it hits hard. Every riff, every drum fill, every bass drop hits with an intensity that has no brakes. With that being said, this has been a forte of the band's style for all their albums, this, earning them the word consistent in every sense of it.
I find that many bands nowadays, realizing the oversaturation of their genre, are trying new things (e.g. choir, orchestra, etc.) One thing that has been tried by many bands in the past was to incorporate clean vocals, when in the past, there never were any. Many, if not close to all of them failed miserably, until The Ghost Inside came along with this record. Engine 45 being the optimal example of this fact. A truly unique song for a band that hasn't touched that sort of territory. Just goes to show the musicianship of the band when they can pull off something so well that hasn't been done on their previous work.
I feel like an elder compared to a lot of the younger kids I see at shows. I've been around this genre for a while and it's a refreshing note to start off the summer to, knowing that bands, although very few of them, are keep things new and fresh. The Ghost Inside are the textbook example of what bands should be looking up to, and who they should respect.
