Named after 2PAC song released on his posthumous 2004 album Loyal to the Game, Greek metallized hardcore punk band GHETTO GOSPEL just dropped their ruthless debut EP on Tambores De Guerra Discos from Spain and today we’re giving you some exclusive insights about their crew and this no joke of a record that doesnโt lack in brutality. Taste the short, fast and furious bursts of GHETTO GOSPEL’s rage and check out our brief interview and track by track commentary below.
GG started last Christmas when some old and newer heads of the local scene got together in order to fight against quarantine & boredom.
“We never rehearsed (since we cannot do so due to the restrictions), so we gathered a few times at our drummerโs house, composed all the songs and then recorded them.” – says the band. “Our drummer went actually to a friendโs studio to record the drums, while we recorded everything else at his laptop! Everything was done by new yearโs eve and then we sent the material for mix and mastering which took around 7-10 days. Nicky Rat did the original artwork and A.D. Visions edited it and voila! Tapes are coming soon by Spainโs finest, Tambores De Guerra.”
Members of GHETTO GOSPEL play in different bands, varying from hardcore punk to black metal: My Turn, Downwinder, Faithreat and Isolert, to name a few. “Or main goal was to create something heavy and in your face, no fills hardcore / thrash in the vein of 90s NYHC or so.”
“The driving force behind doing the band was to be creative and do something amidst the chaos. Stagnation leads to depression and we definitely need to avoid it.” – they continue.
“Moreover, there is not many bands in Greece playing straight forward hardcore music nowadays, and we thought we have to do something to fill that gap. Concerning the name, we obviously took it from the 2 Pac song (we use samples of the song as intro / outro, too), because we simply like it and besides that some of us love hip hop, too.”
GHETTO GOSPEL plan to record a couple more songs in the near future and hit the road as soon as the pandemic craziness settles down.
Track by track commentary:
The EP kicks off with an intro, jamming hardcore / punk / crossover.
The first song with lyrics is called โScumโ and its dedicated to all those toxic people surrounding us every fucking day. โPaper gangsters, fake commandosโโฆ I love this verse, haha! Thereโs so many scumbags that pretend to be full of hate for everything around them but in reality they just hate themselves. Music wise, itโs a straight up old school hardcore / thrash / punk song, in my ears.
โRun Run Runโ features some more metallic riffs, death-metallish I dare to say. Our drummer wrote guitars for this, so it makes sense. The lyrical content is about our everyday routine and the struggle to survive. You know the drill; run, work, make money, buy useless stuff and die happy.
โSide By Sideโ is next and starts with a sample from one of the best Greek movies ever a.k.a. โSpirtokoutoโ. This song is a call for unityโฆ โside by side weโll make it count, now itโs time to make a differenceโ. The only way to accomplish a positive change is by uniting with all those โunchained spiritsโ around us. SBS is a more classic hardcore song with a huge NYHC touch.
The self-titled song (โThe Price You Payโ) is probably the most complex song of the EP when it comes to guitar riffs. Itโs also one of the longest songs of our EP, lasting 1.46. Starts with a metallic riff and ends in typical chugga chugga hardcore. Lyric wise itโs all about the price we have to pay for being on societyโs margins, โtrue pirates always in form, choppinโ heads to make our way, get away, we are the doomsdayโ.
โLast Warningโ is a 19 seconds blast. โThis is the last warning, next time you are fucking deadโ. Tough ainโt it? Hehe!
โOutcastโ is our punkiest and most anthemic song. Dedicated to all those outcasts and freaks out there, staying loyal to the punk / hardcore scene and their ideals.
โLiarโ is one more short song, lasting almost half a minute. Too many liars around us, talking and talking bullshit and blah blah blah. Go away fakes.
The last song of the EP is called โLosinโ the fightโ and itโs about all those nights that we โfeel the blade rippinโ out our hearts and the axe swinging above our headsโ. Itโs about those nights that we stare at the wall, struggling with depression trying to find something to believe in or someone to get hold of. Thereโs so many people struggling with no one to reach out at. Letโs not take everything for granted and try to help each other, letโs be the voice of the voiceless. โThis night we are gonna win the fightโ. Musicwise itโs a hardcore / metal assault, nothing more, nothing less.
In Effect Zine review:
“Straight from Greece, my new favorite corner of the hardcore world, we have Ghetto Gospel โ โThe Price You Payโ EP, which contains 9 formidable songs from members of the Volos hardcore and metal scenes. On vocals is Apostolis, the man behind the โNew Wave Of Hardcore Mixtapeโ, as reviewed for In Effect late last year. My favorite thing about this EP is its unpredictable mosh parts and hybrid of styles. The songs are short and fast but there are also unexpected mosh parts that jump out at you periodically, which adds up to the sort of release that grabs your interest.
The EP is bracketed with clips from the 2pac song โGhetto Gospelโ, first at the beginning of the intro and then at the end of final track โLosinโ The Fight,โ which is also the only song here over 2 minutes long. If you just search for this in Bandcamp and hit play, it might skip the intro track, as it did during my first two listens before I had added it to my collection. Iโm not trying to say the intro is not exciting, but itโs more straightforward than the rest of the record, the opposite of how some bands start things off with a hard intro but their subsequent songs suffer in quality. Anyway, I was hooked immediately by โScumโ, which is track 2. It is followed by โRun Run Runโ, the beginning of which reminds me of Agnostic Front โ โPower,โ along with the vocals reflecting a bit of Miret at various places on this release.
The whole thing almost adds up to a combination of early Agnostic Front and a more pared down version of Strength For A Reason, or comes off as the type of band I would have seen in Baltimore in the early 2000โs. I first got the Baltimore and SFAR vibes on โSide By Sideโ, a solid tune featuring some movie clips in Greek. Title track โThe Price You Payโ has both my favorite bass line and mosh part, and the AF references continue with super short song โLast Warning.โ Ghetto Gospel wraps things up with 3 last tracks, but overall this feels shorter than 9 songs, which perhaps they recognized by denoting it as an EP. So there you have it – the latest report from In Effect’s new Greek bureau – check it out on Bandcamp.” – Becky McAuley (In Effect Hardcore)
