In the lead up to their debut album release I Wanna Know If It’s Real and their fired up slot at Download ’26, Lake Malice were generous enough to give fans something new and exciting to lose their shit to with new single ‘Ghost In A Hell’, a track that carries the cinematic drama of 90’s anime with explosive hooks and vocals that sink their claws in. Released through a campaign of astonishing visuals, custom merch, and fan-led initiatives, Lake Malice’s album has already established itself as an immersive venture into a sound-melding world.
It questions whether everything is a means to an end, and if it is, then how do we recognise the reality of things? – Alice
Inspired by their own personal and globally felt experience of an analog-turned-online world, ‘Ghost In A Hell’ examines what it means to live in a world where AI is becoming more prevalent than genuine human connection and the fear of the unknown that comes with that. The track’s sound itself warps metal and pop together with sound effects that will make you double-take, embodying the chaotically addictive sense of modern technology whilst paying homage to when the new online world steamrolled through to collide with the old to create something exciting and terrifyingly uncertain.
The message (not strictly anti-AI, but more a broad view of the current online state of the world) is delivered through guitarist Blake Cornwall‘s pulsing riffs and bass over a crispy, rapid-fire drum beat, the instruments making way for vocalist Alice Guala‘s ferociously harsh first vocals, her voice dropping to notes that weave between melodic and matter-of-factly. The track builds to a quietened bridge of Guala asking softly “does it even make you human?”, the genre-blended sounds building steadily behind her while a dial-up noise (the one that haunts all millenials) interlaces the rising frustration and pitch, before crashing back down into the final chorus as the drums pound out on the introspective lyrics “what does it mean to feel alive?”
From hard-grafting on support slots and their entirely deserved festival slots, Lake Malice will head out on their biggest headline tour to date from September.
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