Trap metal renegade Ghostemane serves up nihilism and pain on new album Anti-Icon

Industrial, rap, metalcore, techno: trap metal genre-smasher Ghostemane leaves no genre unturned on new album Anti-Icon

Anti-Icon
(Image: © Blackmage)

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Ghostemane has been at the forefront of trap metal since his Oogabooga debut in 2015. Fusing genres like some kooky scientist and with a grotesque visual aesthetic, the Florida-born artist defies the idea that trap metal is just “screaming over a trap beat.” His eighth studio album details the greatest emotional turbulences of Ghostemane’s life – losing his father at 17 and finding escapism in hardcore punk music – blending techno, industrial, rap, metal and more. Anti-Icon pays a lot of respect to the 00s too, pulling riffs from early metalcore on Vagabound and Lazaretto or carrying faint traces of Linkin Park’s Meteora. Blanketed with Ghostemane’s staple nihilistic sound, Anti-Icon is ominous, unnerving, and an exhilarating experience.