Buzzsaw riffs, industrial-weight drumming, and a vocalist who calls it exactly what it is: “We’re pissed.” Great American Ghost built Tragedy of the Commons around an economic theory about collective collapse and delivered it as metalcore that reviewers put alongside Knocked Loose and Underoath. On Friday, January 15, they bring it to Empire Underground as the headliner for the Extreme Music Awards Pre-Party 2027.
About the Show
Great American Ghost are a Boston-based quartet: Ethan Harrison on vocals, Niko Gasparrini and Grayson Stewart on guitars, Anthony Laur on bass. Tragedy of the Commons — their fourth full-length record and SharpTone debut, produced by Will Putney — takes its title from the economic principle that individuals acting in their own interest damage the collective. SharpTone describes the band as bringing “basement-born hardcore spirit, staggering metallic precision, polemic lyrical provocations, and unexpectedly arresting melodies.” Metal Epidemic gave the album 4.5 out of 5, calling it “blistering metallic hardcore that harkens back to the best days the scene has seen,” drawing comparisons to Knocked Loose, Underoath, and Bleed from Within. Harrison, on the record’s core: “We are a political band, and we always have been. We integrate extreme views into what we do, which is extreme music.” A reconstructed/deluxe version of the album dropped in March 2026. The band appeared on Audiotree Live the same month and supported Crystal Lake and Miss May I on a co-headlining European tour in late 2025.
The pre-party kicks off the EMA weekend; the fourth annual Extreme Music Awards ceremony runs the following night, January 16, at Empire Live. Organizers — Upstate Black and Blue Productions, RadioRadioX, 93.9 WABY, That Fuzzing Rock Show, and 518Scene.com — bill the event as “the ONLY awards show devoted to metal, punk, hardcore and all things heavy” in the 518 Capital Region. The 2025 pre-party sold out. Great American Ghost is not a downgrade.
They are not new to this room. The band closed a 32-date U.S. tour at Empire Underground in December 2025. If you missed that run, January 15 is the fix.
Venue & Logistics
Empire Underground is the downstairs room at the Empire Live complex, 93 N. Pearl St. in Albany — what organizers call “the home of metal, punk and hardcore in Upstate NY.” It is the right room for a night like this. Show starts at 6:30 p.m. For more capital-region heavy music, see our regional hub.
Tickets
Tickets start at $38, with an average price around $40 per Vivid Seats. On sale now. Buy tickets