The Ghost Inside pummel away on the pissed-off 'Pressure Point'

Just a short three weeks ago, The Ghost Inside sent shockwaves through the metalcore world with their first song in nearly six years; the emotionally powerful ‘Aftermath.’ This return was arguably one of the biggest moments in the heavy music community for 2020. Nearly as inspirational and awe-inducing as their comeback was the song itself, an action-packed five minutes of devastating melodic hardcore that, admittedly, brought me to tears upon hearing the roaring, climactic third act. I wasn't the only one; you can find many fairly corny reaction videos on YouTube which took the website by storm in the wake of ‘Aftermath,’ almost entirely featuring mobs of hardcore bros and gals melting down to blubbery messes in the comfort of their own homes.

Now, rolling with the punches as their self-titled fifth record looms overhead in June, The Ghost Inside are here to say fuck that, fuck you, and fuck everybody else with a brand new rager, ‘Pressure Point.’ It seems as if The Ghost Inside want to let it be known that triumph isn’t the only outcome of their last few years: there's anger too. They’ve got some real rage and bitterness built up in their musical cannons, and ‘Pressure Point’ sees the band firing them off like they’re in the goddamn war of 1812.

Seemingly taking aim at people in the community who have tried to use the band’s tragedy for personal gain or for bragging rights, ‘Pressure Point’ sees TGI at their angriest in years. When bassist Jim Riley mentioned in our interview that this album had some serious ‘Returners’ influence, it seems he wasn’t bluffing! This sounds like it came straight out of the Salty Splatoon, bowl of nails for breakfast and all. There is some serious beatdown and metalcore revival influence written all over this thing, complete with a nasty barrage of fight riffs and slamming breakdowns.

Every member of The Ghost Inside can be heard in full force here. Guitarists Zach Johnson and Chris Davis duel it out in a back and forth battle of chugs and riffs, mirroring something like the massively underrated ‘Returners’ deep cut, ‘Overlooked’ (an ironic name). The incredible Andrew Tkaczyk delivers all-out primitive destruction on his kit, leaving no drum un-slammed. Yet the most notable performance on this cut is quite obviously Jonathan Vigil, who gives one of his best performances in years. The vocal deliveries are airtight all over, with lines like “fuck this fake sympathy, you’re just a snake in disguise” being so easy to scream back at your car stereo. It seems as if each member took it that extra mile on this one.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a metalcore article if I didn’t mention that absolute behemoth of a breakdown that happens in the final moments of this track. Once again, the kings of one-liner breakdowns have returned with this one, but with a much more modern approach. It seems as if The Ghost Inside have taken notes out of some peers’ pages with this one, with the gut-punching slam feeling like something that Knocked Loose or Kublai Khan would write. The Ghost Inside have always written memorable breakdowns, but this one definitely stands out among the bunch. If y’all thought ‘Mercy’ went hard, this goes harder.

Even though some of the riffs on ‘Pressure Point’ sound very familiar to a certain track from Gideon’s ‘Milestone,’ I can forgive it for one very specific reason; this song kicks all kinds of ass. There are only so many chord progressions that bands can use for fight riffs before they start to sound the same. Regardless, ‘Pressure Point’ has got to be one of the heaviest tracks The Ghost Inside has written since the early days of the 2010s. With this single sounding like a polar opposite to its sibling predecessor, this self-titled album is shaping up to be something very interesting. It goes without saying that June 5th should be one hell of an exciting day!