Album Review: Ghost Key – If I Don’t Make It

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Ghost Key

If I Don't Make It - InVogue Records

If I Don’t Make It is the debut album by Illinois hardcore merchants Ghost Key, it was released yesterday, the 17th February 2017, via InVogue Records and is now available to order on vinyl, CD and download formats. It seems to me that the hardcore scene is undergoing something of a renaissance this year, Ghost Key are amongst a number of bands I’ve encountered in 2017 that are taking hardccore into a more focused brutal place, a move that represents a shift away from the secenes original punk roots

Death In The Family sets the tone for If I Don’t Make It, this a brutal pummelling ten tracks of technical hardcore from start to end, the only time the album deviates from the full tilt assault is on the tracks Ache and on the albums title track, these two noble exceptions boast a slower more intense grind, that for me brings a more sinister darker element to If I Don’t Make It. This is an album that boasts an in your face wall of sound production, one that really captures the intensity of the band, the almost relentless hardcore assault does tend to start to blur after a few tracks, but if you like your hardcore on the dark side, this is as intense as anything else I’ve heard this year.

If I Don’t Make It is an album that will divide opinion, the driving double bass and technical elements that they embrace in their emotional hardcore is a shift away from the more traditional approach, but Ghost Key are a band that seem intent on developing their sound and moving forwards, their debut full length is an indication that Ghost Key are a band that are refining the sound they developed on their early EP’s, splits and singles.

Ghost Key‘s Facebook page can be found here

If I Don’t Make It can be ordered on vinyl, CD and download here