New Hopes
It’s not been a bad year or two by any means for Brighton hardcore outfit Ghost Of A Thousand, the excellent first album being followed by signing to Epitaph and a well received second and a string of tours and festival appearances.
Today is the first time we’ve seen them since the second album dropped and it’s good to hear the set getting some fresh tracks. It’s the usual explosive start as the band burst into the first track all decked out in white. The crowd is decent if not packed but it’s pretty early in the day and they do alright. It’s clearly too early for some though and that’s not good enough for singer Tom who jumps over the barrier and goes into the crowd to instigate a circle pit during ‘Left For Dead’. The sound is good and they come over as a tight unit, something they haven’t always managed in the past.
The newer material is a little slower, a little less rough and raw around the edges but no less powerful. Having got the crowd going Tom manages to enthuse them enough to get an impressive wall of death going and yeah, everybody does it these days but it’s always good fun. Finishing with ‘Black Art Number One’ Tom and guitarist Andy Blyth both go crowd surfing, the bands roadie taking over guitar duties.
As usual GOAT do not disappoint and much like Gallows they’ve grown up and refined their sound a little. Crowd antics aside there isn’t quite the same intensity in the performance as we’ve seen in the past but they remain at the forefront of the UK hardcore scene.