ALBUM REVIEW: Open Kasket – Trials Of Failure


 

You either love Beatdown Death Metal and all its violence-even-though-it’s-carefully-controlled live atmosphere, or you think it’s a bunch of amped-up spinkickers with no respect for their surroundings.Continue reading


INTERVIEW: Mark Scondotto of Shutdown Talks About Their New “By Your Side” EP



Shutdown-2025-Photo-credit-Rich-Zoeller-www.ghostcultmag.com-.jpg

I’ll never forget hearing Shutdown for the first time many years ago and being blown away by the high energy and sense of purpose in the then-young upstart band’s fiery brand of driven NYHC. In very exciting news, the band continue their hot streak with Equal Vision Records and a new EP By Your Side! Learning from the ups and downs in life and building community is what this band has always been about. It was a lot of fun to catch up with singer Mark Scondotto about Shutdown these days.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Stick To Your Guns – Keep Planting Flowers


When Stick To Your Guns are firing on all cylinders, it really is top-notch melodic-tinged Hardcore. And their latest full-length is a shining example.Continue reading


GHOST CULT MAGAZINE TOP 75 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2024


Last-minute slinky Norwegian jesters aside, our dedicated and awesome team of writers, photographers, editors, contributors, alumni, designers and what have you, have come together to work through our regular collaborative and demographic confirmation of those albums that tickled our collective pickle in 2024.Continue reading


EP REVIEW: No Cure – I Hope I Die Here


Alabama is a state with a very well-known identity and stereotype, often ascribed as being synonymous with the uneducated, right-wing conservative types. It is aspirational that the hardcore troup, No Cure, want to change that for the better. All bands have gotta start somewhere, and with a list of features, your arm’s length, No Cure certainly are reaching high with their brand new EP I Hope I Die Here (SharpTone Records). 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Conjonctive – Misère de Poussière


Swiss death metallers Conjonctive have released Misère de Poussière (Tenacity Music), an album that features their dual vocalists Randy Schaller from Voice Of Ruin and Sonia Kaya. Unlike many European Death Metal bands, there is a bouncing groove to their sound at times that might bring to mind the rougher moments of a band like Slipknot. Not that the band is trying to hop on the Nu-Metal revival train; things like the tremolo-picked guitars prove to the contrary. Though with ample Black Metal influence, aggression is more of a focus than a worship of darkness. They are skilled at delivering deliberate accents to provide more hooks than just battering your senses.Continue reading


KOYO Shares a New Song and Music Video for “Mile A Minute” – New EP Out Now


Koyo Promo photo credit: Rebecca Lader

Last year Koyo released their debut full-length, Would You Miss It? (Pure Noise Records), drawing acclaim from listeners and critics alike for their unabashedly heart-on-sleeve blend of punk, hardcore, and emo. Over the past few weeks the band have been sharing reworked versions of songs from their past, but today the Long Island upstarts are back with the first completely new Koyo song since Would You Miss It?: the massively anthemic “Mile A Minute.” Listen and watch the video for “Mile A Minute” via YouTube!Continue reading