Hungry Ghost (2013) is grunge rock band Violent Soho’s latest album. From Queensland, Australia, the group is made up of Michael Richards on drums, Luke Henery on bass and both Luke Boerdam and James Tidswell on guitar and vocals. Violent Soho is likened to a lot of alternative rock bands of the 90’s such as Nirvana or the Pixies. The band has a traditional sound, which incorporates mainly guitar and bass.

The first track, “Dope Calypso,” is a five minute masterpiece that begins with a quiet guitar riff that builds into a heavy bass drop. The drums come in and the riff, now played as chords, blasts into a fulsome melodic surge. The song has a memorable line towards the end that repeats, “All I say is all I know and all I know is what you made me.”

The highly buzzed single “Covered In Chrome” is very similar to the opener. It starts off with a great riff that leads to a head-banging chorus with Boerdam yelling “”Yeah, yeah, yeah” over and over. The only real difference between the two songs are the lyrics and the chord progressions. By this song, a consistent formula for Violent Soho’s songs become apparent.

One instance where the mold is broken is in the song “Eightfold,” which is a great song that starts off with a high-tempo drum beat along with tunes from the guitar. The song in general is a complaint about the humdrum, normal life of the average human and how they want to do something different. The pre-chorus is the best part of the song. It has a call and repeat style that shakes things up. Also, the scale, going up and down, is quite pleasing to the ear.

For the most part, the album is an enjoyable mash of killer chord progressions and up beat drums. Despite many tracks sounding extremely similar, Hungry Ghost is a perfect album for a head-bashing good time and an overall solid listen.