“The biggest problem that art has nowadays is that it doesn’t hurt anymore,” says GHØSTKID vocalist and agent provocateur Sebastian “Sushi” Biesler. “Especially here in Germany, people are so afraid to push boundaries. To make art that makes you think and feel.” It’s not surprising that with GHØSTKID’s second album,
, Sushi and company have looked outside the confines of their native country to fuel their energized, hook-laden brand of nu-metalcore. The results are as heartfelt as they are both musically ambitious and sonically seamless. Now, more than ever, GHØSTKID trade in a brand of goth-nu-rock-core that’s sure to push the already high-bar set by GHØSTKID’s 2020’s self-monikered, pandemic-sidelined Century Media debut.

From the trap-metal inspired beats and crushing metalcore riffing that opens the album’s title track to the disquieting melodies of elegiac closer “Helena Drive”, “HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE” is a perfect snapshot of an artist finding himself, crawling from his own personal wreckage against a crumbling, mythical Californian milieu.