Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
Raining down on us with old school southern daggers as thick as they are crushingly sharp, the chorus in the Pittsburgh-based Ghost Hounds’ “Last Train To Nowhere” has a lot of heat to throw in our direction, but it’s not the lone instance in the song where this band is giving us everything they can with special melodic ribbonry to boot. Ghost Hounds are making the business of resurrecting the southern rock standard from the underground, and in their latest single, I think they make it clearer than ever how important getting to the top of the mountain is to their brand.
This isn’t a crew that cares much for the lighter side of rock. It’s all guts and glory in these heavy-rocking grooves, and “Last Train To Nowhere” might just be their best song yet.
We start much as we finish in this single, which is to say that at no point are we met with the kind of perpetual melodic filler that often separates quality lyrics with smart beats.
Nothing but incredible strength is emanating from the string section here, and although there’s rarely a moment in which the guitars aren’t controlling the narrative even more than any lyrics ever could on their own, it doesn’t hurt or bastardize the mood of the verses at all; the polar opposite. Ghost Hounds know how to make everything from the guitar parts to the rhythm reinforce the theme they’re going for in a song, and that’s undeniable after listening to this most recent offering.
Unlike some of their peers on both sides of the dial at the moment, Ghost Hounds aren’t stressing the experimental element in this single at all, but instead working the basic foundations of the hook as much as possible. There’s nothing about this track that feels retro even though it’s styled like an OG southern rocker for certain, mostly because its roots are so removed from its driving point that calling it a throwback doesn’t even make sense. The energy is too crisp here for this to be old-fashioned, and I think most of the rockers who give this a taste will share my sentiments.
Straightforward, to the point, required listening is Ghost Hounds’ “Last Train To Nowhere,” and whether you’re new to this band or not, I have a feeling that if you dig true southern rock n’ roll you’re going to appreciate what this group is all about in this single. They’re not pulling punches when it comes to putting up something dynamically different than what the mainstream in rock is producing at the moment, and best of all, I don’t think they sound like they’re doing this solely to separate themselves from their scene. They’re looking to lead a new era for this genre into the future, and that’s worth commending when it results in material as intriguing and accessible as “Last Train To Nowhere” is. The presence here alone makes this top-notch content, and I get the feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot more music like it soon.
Benjamin Cross
