On Sunday, Oct 25th Ghostmane came to Los Angeles to play his 2nd of two album release parties to signal the arrival of his first album in 6 years, AM;FM.
I want to say I didn’t know what to expect but unlike the New York show, L.A. had the benefit of spending 3 days with AM:FM before the gig that was set to start hours before the Hunter’s Moon reached totality. I can’t remember the last time I hoped to hear more new material at anyone’s show.
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It was 7:50 when I arrived in Alhambra- 10 minutes to spare. I parked illegally after circling the radius of Milky’s for about 10 minutes. On my last pass, I heard bass boom and I knew I had to make a move so I parked in the red of a side street half a block from the venue- Fuck it dog, life’s a risk.
I made it inside Milky’s to a completely packed house and full band on stage at the end of the first song- Flesh. The crowd and pit were already active. Ghostmane aka Eric Thomas John Whitney was already a bit taken aback by it. “You guys are much more live than New York”. A chorus of “fuck New York” rang out across the venue.
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The second song was the first track on AM:FM, “Alive!”- A riff based groove with vocals that play possum until the hook which becomes eerily reminiscent of early Deftones.
I already knew before arriving this evening that AM:FM was one of my favorite albums of 2026. The only missing piece was seeing it in the flesh because it ain’t no good if you can’t pull it live and hearing that song live for the first time pulled me all the way in.
“Alive!” gave way to track 2 from the new album- “Deus Ex Machina” which solidified my position on this albums place in 2026 new releases. It’s classic Ghostmane bass and flow that should make any OG fan happy.
AM:FM embodies the cyclical nature of music in its most ideal manifestation. Recycling genres is a generational right of passage but doing it right is rare. The foundation of AM:FM is built on drum and bass and groove based metal aka, NuMetal- with a pinch of post hardcore. The original recipe of booming bass and flow is ever present but it is laced with shiny new components that were previewed in other works but much more incorporated into AM:FM.
As a young metal head, NuMetal was one of my least favorite cycles- mainly because of the vocalists and their compressed, whiny vocals that lack any sort for originality, (excluding System of a Down). The musical arrangements were fun but the singers sucked at it’s peak saturation in our culture. Well, what if Ghostmane sung for Mudvayne?
I’ve seen the Drum and Bass revival building up over the last 2 years. Bands like Kumo99 are a perfect example. I’m here for it. With a sizable late 90’s rave era under my belt as well, Jungle/Drum and Bass were some of the most creative and chubby beats that ever pumped out of a sub woofer.
Track 7 on AM:FM is called Hyperdrive and it’s a drum and bass instrumental interlude that stands on it’s own with out any non sampler based vocals in sight- as god intended. I write this more as an “I told you so” than anything. You know who you are.
I couldn’t find the names of the band that joined Ghostmane on stage. They were in various styles of masks so they shredded in virtual anonymity but shred they did. It definitely felt like a real band that was well rehearsed and into the material. The entire set lasted about 55 minutes which felt shorter than it actually was.
So much was packed into that hour. 4 songs off the new album, a cover of Ghostmane’s collab with Pouya- “1000 Rounds” and he ended as all had hoped, I’m sure with Ghostmane celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the track that thrust him into the conversation- “Mercury:Retrograde”.
Courting the L.A. Hardcore community through promoter Sound and Fury was a brilliant strategic move. Since all genre of music have been mongrelized and most of the devout gate keepers have either fled or assimilated, Sound and Fury lay at the crossroads of it all as the single most in touch independent promoters in Los Angeles. They are the gatekeepers now and they have kept the doors open and the boundaries of booking blurred on everything but their moral code, so far.
This show and these songs resonated so much with the audience that people were mad when it was over. Leave em wanting more- mission accomplished.
related: F*ck Reddit, Hardcore Lives IRL- Sound and Fury 2026
Words: Danny Baraz
Photos: Evan Moses
