Uncertain times demand certain art… 

Upholding an uncompromising vision with clear intention, Great American Ghost knows exactly what they want to say about their community, the greater world around them, and humanity as a species. They transmit their message without filter delivered through a combination of basement-born hardcore spirit, staggering metallic precision, polemic lyrical provocations, and unexpectedly arresting melodies. The New Hampshire quartet—Ethan Harrison [vocals], Niko Gasparrini [guitar], Grayson Stewart [guitar], and Anthony Laur [bass]—examine our basest instincts as a society on their fourth full-length offering and Sharptone Records debut, Tragedy Of The Commons.

“We are a political band, and we always have been,” notes Ethan. “We integrate ‘extreme views’ into what we do, which is ‘extreme music’. Rather than write another generally political album, we tried to play into broader themes of hopelessness. Normal people are losing control on a constant basis. Tragedy Of The Commons is a statement about exploitation. If two people share finite resources, one person will eventually exploit those resources and hurt the other person. Citizens don’t have enough money to eat and live in this country, but our government is spending billions on funding other armies around the world that are being used to kill other poor people. Tragedy Of The Commons boils down to this fundamental exploitation of the less fortunate.”

Back in 2012, Great American Ghost rose up out of the Northeast with an undeniable and unpredictable signature style. They quietly progressed over the course of Everyone Leaves [2015], Hatred Stems From The Seed [2017], and Power Through Terror [2020] (named one of RIFF’s “60 Best Metal Albums of 2020), tallying millions of streams across “Ann Arbor (Be Safe),” “No Savior,” “Altar of Snakes,” and more. Leveling up, 2022’s Torture World EP earned widespread acclaim. NO ECHO christened it “a 4-song EP as brutal as its title suggests,” and V13 raved, “It may only be four tracks long but every single one of these fourteen savage minutes will absolutely maul you to within an inch of your life.” Along the way, they toured with everyone from The Ghost Inside to Alpha Wolf and Fit For A King. 

Signing to Sharptone Records, they hit the studio with producer Will Putney and crafted Tragedy Of The Commons.

“He was the perfect producer for us,” Ethan goes on. “I don’t know if other bands still do this, but we actually got a whiteboard and wrote down every single thing we felt and wanted to accomplish with this record and gave it to Will. He was like, ‘Okay, these are going to be the things we use to make this record’. We had an idea of what we wanted to do, and he helped us get there.”

Great American Ghost set the stage for its arrival with “Hymn of Decay” and “Forsaken.” After building anticipation, the single “Lost In The Outline” opens in ominous fashion. Clean guitar practically chokes a trudging beat as Grayson’s vocals barely crack a whisper. This delicate hum gives way to vitriolic verses and a neck-snapping refrain.

“As a human, you’re often just a rat on a wheel,” he observes. “You’re moving forward in your perspective, but you’re never actually accomplishing anything. ‘Lost In The Outline’ gets into the lies you’re told when you’re young. You come to this realization that you have no agency over what happens to you or what you do. You’re a cog in the machine.”

“We love bands who do industrial music with live instruments like Nine Inch Nails, HEALTH, and Author & Punisher,” he elaborates. “Musically, it’s our exploration of what we believe the future of Great American Ghost is. It’s an integration of everything we love, ranging from Slayer, Death, and Meshuggah to industrial. Lyrically, it’s an exercise in nihilism. We’re speaking about the end of all things and the fall of Western capitalism. The music matches the sentiment.”

Screeching and squealing guitars pierce the barrage at the center of “Echoes of War,” and Ethan carries a hauntingly hypnotic hook. “It’s probably my favorite song on the record,” he grins. “Grayson joined right before this album, and he wrote the instrumental for the most part. It’s about my disbelief in the concept of free will. I don’t believe in a higher power. At the same time, I’m playing with this contrast. I believe the world is chaos, but we’re all under the thumb of a controlling class who are guiding every single thing we do. The most important lyric on the entire record is ‘Free will is a lie from an enemy’.”

Ultimately, Great American Ghost might just be the heavy band we need at this moment in time.

“I’d love for you to walk away from this record and say, ‘That was not what I expected’,” he leaves off. “This record is a realization of a lot of things. We’ve realized what we are, who we are, and what we sound like. This is Great American Ghost.”