In case you have been living under a rock for the past few months, the online metal circuit has been hyping the s@#t out of this album. Out of New Jersey, Great American Ghost have released a dose of face-kicking negativity appropriately titled Everyone Leaves. Courtesy of Good Fght Records, this awesome peice of hardcore can be heard right now via bandcamp.
From the get go, we are presented with what sounds like an infinitely more pissed off Norma Jean. And whereas NJ tends to work towards building one up, Great American Ghost can't be bothered with that nonsense. These vocals are purely loathsome, acerbic, and extremely confrontational. The follwoing are some excerpts from the highly catchy, nihilistic sing alongs:
"The distance between us has never felt so real!" "We're drowning! We're drowining!" "We'll see when the bridges burn!" "All my friends are f@#king dead!" "Misery is all that I have!"
Those are just some highlights, but this record is chock full of this stuff. Simple, yet potent, imagery. And this spills over into track names such as "Homegrown Hate." "Shiver" opens with a killer crunch that is very similar to Converge's "Damages." The vocal inflection on this track in particular is spectacular. And the additional vox from Bruce Lepage (100 Demons, Bloodbath) are just filthy.
"12-15-2009" also sounds like a Converge from their slower moments. This instrumental is the only real chill point of the album with its highly melancholic riff. Everything else is very much full speed ahead. Rumbling basslines and D-beats trample the listener like an early The Who concert (too soon?). "Anxious Alone" taps into ETID with its southern-grown riffs and party time atmosphere. "I'm a fucking mess and that's the truth!" That's a Buckley lyric if I ever heard one. This then delightfully devolves into a sludgy, stoner delight for the last minute or so like Queens of the Stone Age meet Sabbath.
On enjoyability and instrumentation alone, Everyone Leaves is a must-listen this year and a must-own in my book. There are great little hooks all over this thing to keep it varied and interesting. And the sheer violence contained within is killer. The only area where it loses points for me is that it's not super original. As mentioned, some of the ideas are quite close to things I have heard before, but so well executed that it didn't bother me much. You can pick up Everyone Leaves for yourself for just $8 on BC.