The Ghost Inside’s self-titled album proves to be their most experimental and career defining release to date
Subscribe
X

Subscribe to Forte Magazine

The Ghost Inside’s self-titled album proves to be their most experimental and career defining release to date

If you have followed the tragic and intensive story of The Ghost Inside, you know just how special this album is for their fans.

Coming back from a cataclysmic tour bus accident and years of rehab, the Californian metal act have produced their most experimental and career defining release to date with ‘The Ghost Inside’, their self-titled, fifth studio album.

‘1333’ lives up to the expectation of a Ghost Inside album opener, never lacking in brutality; oh, how it feels like home. What were once seen as Tumblr quotable lyrics like “Today I woke up to a brand new me, right from the darks of tragedy” now ring eerily more true and powerful in the face of adversity this band has overcome.

For me the albums biggest credit lies in the experimentation to the band’s sound with more fills thrown in from the now one legged Andrew Tkaczyk (drums) as well as the rhythm sections which now highlight many more complexities (and aren’t just open chugg riffs).

For instance, I like that instead of the entire song building up to a huge breakdown 3/4 way through, it has all these minor breakdowns and singalongs throughout; definitely less stagnance in their approach.

‘Overexposure’ has a throwback vibe to it; one that I could easily see on 2010’s ‘Returners’ except with a slight merge of Jeremy McKinnon’s influence of cleans which found their way into The Ghost Inside’s sound in the acclaimed ‘Get What You Give’ (2012).

‘One Choice’ adds a hip-hop/nu metal bounce to it which is interesting as it’s a new sound for the band but they have long cited their love of the Deftones and Slipknot. Maybe a glimpse of what’s to come for the future?

4.5/5
Epitaph Records
Reviewed by Alex Callan