Credit: Modestep
Give Up The Ghost
[By: Modestep]
Genre: Jump up
Rating: 65
Cohesiveness: 57
Track quality: 67
Beginner-friendly? moderately
Written 2025/11/30
Now a solo act, Modestep's third studio album is but an echo of their former glory. "Give Up The Ghost" is not an inherently weak album, make no mistake, but it's a skeleton donning the top hat of the magician it once was.
Jump up DnB, in the modern scene, is a trope-ridden genre that lies in a cage crafted by itself. The walls of its cage are slowly shrinking, thanks to itself. And the Modestep project finds itself stuck inside. Though Josh Friend, its frontman (and now the only remaining member of the former band), has proved he's a musical prodigy by his time in the scene - over a decade, now - he seems to be shackled to the cage's wall. And any space for innovation is slowly decreasing.
Josh works with what he can. His vocal has always been regarded as one of the stronger voices in the bass music scene, and to that end, "Give Up The Ghost" thrives. For the tracks where Josh sings, he sings undoubtedly well - but for the tracks he doesn't sing on, the sampling that replaces him is fatigued and a little boring. Armed with a guitar, Josh attempts to bring back the rock-infused glory of Modestep's "London Road" days, and it works wonders on tracks like "Limerence" or "Inside a Crowd", but the guitar is ultimately both overused and underused. Space is running out in the cage. Perhaps out of desperation, perhaps something else, "Give Up The Ghost" surrenders to the tropes of jump up, and they seize it wholly.
This is the true pitfall of this record. Modestep's work in the past pushed boundaries enough to keep them above the surface, and quality was reliable and easy to come by. But "Give Up The Ghost" ends up being a derivative shell of the scene that surrounds it. Empty mixdowns and predictable fakeouts precede all-too-familiar sustained basslines with very little to differentiate them from the minimal maximalism present in practically every club-centric jump up tune, and the midsection especially lacks redeeming qualities to save it, having weak guitar sections and vocal sampling as a poor mimicry of Josh's lost vocal.
When you look at purely the jump up ecosystem, though, "Give Up The Ghost" is still a pretty well-made record. Though it feels subpar in the grand scheme of albums, Modestep commence and finish off this record strongly, and the mood swing it executes reaches finality in a way that not many albums can achieve. Production talent certainly still exists in this project, a talent that still shows face after all these years, in a completely different scene, and though it can be drowned out by a swarm of tropes, it is noticeable talent nonetheless.
I don't wish to detract from Modestep's achievements as a band, nor do I wish to detract from this album's strong points. Josh has already proved that he's still a formidable force as a solo act, having carried the legacy of the project singlehandly with great success. But compared to their previous two studio albums, "Give Up The Ghost" is easily the weakest, as a victim of the scene that surrounds it.
Listen on Spotify here.
Disconnected [Structural] | (/100)
Nice atmospheric intro. Retrospectively, it doesn't add anything to the album, but the expansive bass hits and slow layered crescendo really give it a strong sense of grandeur. It lacks significance though; particularly since the transition into "Bodybag" is quite janky anyway, this intro feels quite pointless.
Bodybag [Dark] | (/100)
Strong sustained basslines complement Josh's gloomy vocal very well. Josh gives a really compelling, dark vocal performance here, and the minimal UK dubstep growls take over an interesting lead in the drops, though the mixdown can be a bit overblown. The DnB switch for the second drop is also very well-written - overall, just a very strong track.
Inside a Crowd [Standout] | (/100)
The guitar introduces "Inside A Crowd" as a sort of recovery from "Bodybag", and its slow buildup only helps, with Josh's quiet yet powerful vocal delivering an aptly emotionless verse. The shift into the jump up DnB drop is smooth, and though the ideas are nothing new, they're dynamic enough to keep it engaging, until the rock-driven final drop steals the show.
Different [Melodic] | (/100)
A more melodic approach to the drum n bass sees Josh replace his vocal with a female one - a change that doesn't feel justified, especially since Josh is such a good vocalist - and though the drops kick off with a strong, vocal-chopped lead, their inability to stick with it makes them a bit flat.
Limerence [Intense] | (/100)
w/ Cassyette
Unlike "Different", Cassyette's vocal is potent and works really well even through the drops - which aren't that interesting, to be fair, without the guitar that does a lot of the heavy lifting. And just when you think the track's ending, it wraps around for an explosive metal finale - the shift feels a bit awkward and it's a little short, but it gets rolling quick enough.
Bugatti [Switchup] | (/100)
w/ H808
The sampling feels quite forced, but when the first drop hits the basslines and shuffling sound design pull the whole track together. Unfortunately, with practically no sense of progression to the second drop (aside from a weaker rock switch), "Bugatti" quickly stagnates.
Out of Control [Intense] | (/100)
w/ Dr. Ushūu
"Out of Control" kicks off with a fast-paced, frantic four-on-the-floor drop that makes the obvious progression into jump up. It's a track that feels well-written, but it's so empty that all its potentially redeeming qualities are rendered completely meaningless.
Feed [Switchup] | (/100)
At this point in the album I'm beginning to miss Josh's comprehensive vocal a lot, as "Feed" pulls out another somewhat boring repeating sample. And although I appreciate the idea of a bass house switch a lot, it ultimately feels quite tropey, as does the psytrance second drop.
Forgive Me [Laid-back] | (/100)
This album has had a lot of mixed ideas so far, but the liquid DnB of "Forgive Me" is one of the better switchups. It doesn't quite do enough to be truly memorable, but the muted vocal and dominant break helps solidify its place in the record.
Hang My Heart [Upbeat] | (/100)
After the somewhat depressing tone of the album thus far, "Hang My Heart" feels hopeful in comparison. More pertinently though, it feels aggressively British in the lyricism, and the distinct tone is appreciated. If the drops were able to escape the shackles of jump up tropes that held them, this might have been one of the stronger tracks of the record.
Shutting Down [Emotive] | (/100)
Modestep are beginning to rein in the album, winding it down, and "Shutting Down" is a cut that does that perfectly. Josh puts out his strongest vocal performance of the record, powerful as it is sentimental, and the basslines weave through the dancefloor DnB drops with polished vigour.
Give Up The Ghost [Standout] | (/100)
The title track serves as a near perfect closer for this album, with a murky tonality and a somewhat commercial-feeling vocal, bolstered by an earworm of a lead through the DnB drops.
- Bodybag (/100)
- Limerence w/ Cassyette (/100)
- Shutting Down (/100)
- Give Up The Ghost (/100)
- Inside a Crowd (/100)
- Hang My Heart (/100)
- Forgive Me (/100)
- Different (/100)
- Bugatti w/ H808 (/100)
- Disconnected (/100)
- Out of Control w/ Dr. Ushūu (/100)
- Feed (/100)