ALBUM REVIEW: Touché Amoré – Spiral In A Straight Line


Spiral In A Straight Line (Rise Records) is Touché Amoré’s sixth album. They are not only more confident in who they are as a band, but continuing the journey fussy they are not capable of explosive emotional outbursts as heard in the song. This is handled in a more Punk way, with less overt emoting. The more polished production compliments the progression of their creative path, with the guitars being where growth is most evident. On a song like “Hal Ashby” they embrace the late nineties all over again thanks to the jangle of the guitars. This feels the most like what we once called Emo with a punk drive that thankfully owes more to Hot Water Music than Blink-182.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Wolfbrigade – Life Knife Death


Sweden’s Wolfbrigade occupies a very specific place in hard-core. The band’s 11th album Life Knife Death might be their first for Metal Blade Records, but it does not venture far from the sonic ground they covered on the previous ten albums. This aligns them closely to Motorhead in a few ways, the first being they are steadfast in their dedication to burly hardcore champs. It charges at you with all the Punk and rocking fury you might expect from this band who infuses Entombed’s dense guitar tone with Motorhead’s reckless energy. The raw-throated vocals are more Lemmy-influenced than metal. There is a scant trace of the stomping sections you might expect from hardcore, though this is way heavier than punk, thus making it hardcore. Ten albums in they know what they are doing.Continue reading


EP REVIEW: The Hope Conspiracy – Confusion – Chaos – Misery


One of the best parts of writing for Ghost Cult Magazine is getting so many new bands’ (to me) albums to review that absolutely blow me away. Continue reading


EP REVIEW: Scowl – Psychic Dance Routine


 

Negative Approach meets The Breeders” is the description offered by the members of Scowl of this their latest release the Psychic Dance Routine EP (Flatspot Records) – if that’s not a tagline that grabs your attention outright I don’t know what is and what help there is out there for you! Said EP is the follow-up to the 2021 How Flowers Grow debut full-length.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Going Off – What Makes You Tick


 

After two EPs worth of hard-slamming hardcore punk since their formation in Manchester in 2019, Going Off are delivering a larger beatdown with their debut LP, What Makes You Tick? (Church Road Records) with a fresh style that mixes older and new hardcore genres with plenty of destruction all around.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Big Laugh – Consume Me


 

Out of Milwaukee is the hardcore group Big Laugh with the debut LP, Consume Me (Revelation Records). The band had previously released the EP Maniac Revision that came out back in 2020. On Consume Me, the songs come out fast and furious with little room for any flash or filler. Most songs included barely make it over the two-minute mark. Continue reading