Music should be fun , music should move you . Lowell, Massachusetts, band The Ghouls, achieve this and so much more on their epically explosive debut album, “Handle With Care” You can listen to “ Handle With Care” Here

As soon as we heard the opening track, “Pocket Of Gold “ from The Ghouls, our first immediate thought was “Good Lord ! , Where Has this band been our whole life?”

“Handle With Care” is the Fourth of July, and Christmas, rolled into 9 explosive gems.

2024, was a hell of a ride for The Ghouls,

In May, the young Lowell band won the esteemed Rock and Roll Rumble, the decades-old institution known as the “World Series of Boston Rock,” and come December scored Rock Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards, where they were also invited to perform live and nominated in the New Artist category. But this new album is no simple encore, nor a fight to live up to lofty, already-cast expectations. 

It feels like The Ghouls, are just getting warmed up. “Handle With Care” is out today ( May 30th ) A week later, on June 6, they celebrate the record, the past year, and all the excesses along the way with the official release party at The Middle East in Cambridge. 

“Handle With Care”, has the band, ( vocalist and guitarist George Danahy, guitarist Peter Trainor; bassist Jacob Babcock; and drummer Bryce Maher, who all recently met as students at the University of Massachusetts Lowell – firing effortlessly on all cylinders.

“I hope this record is universal for the listener,” Danahy admits. “I hope it is an album they choose to listen to while working out, while driving, on amazing days, and on awful days. Handle With Care reflects how young our band is in the grand scheme of things, in a positive way. There are many wildly different sounding tracks on this record, yet all of them still sound like they come from us. It all still feels cohesive.” 

“Garfield” , “Hellbound” and “Reach For The Sky” ( the guitar work on “Reach For The Sky” is absolutely mind freaking blowing) were some of the stunningly crafted gems on “Handle With Care” . If we had to pick a favorite from “ Handle With Care” , it would most certainly be… “For You” We loved the drop dead perfect vocals and haunting melody that stayed with us long after the music ended.

Part of the spoils of winning the Rumble is the competition’s vaulted “prize booty,” a collection of assets that include studio time, photo shoots, radio and media publicity campaigns, and other stuff a band would kill to acquire. Nearly all the prizes afforded The Ghouls helped to shape and create Handle With Care. The band hit several studios around the region – New Alliance Audio in Somerville; 37’ Productions in Rockland; Henley Row in Stoneham; and Rare Signals and Q Division in Cambridge – all while working with esteemed producers and engineers like Ethan Dussault, Sean McLaughlin, Dan Nicklin, Brian Charles, Craig Small, and Colin Lester Fleming. 

Love is music , music is love….. we Freaking LOVE – “Handle With Care” from The Ghouls and we know you will too.