Rock/Review Deflecting Ghosts - Broken
Deflecting Ghosts is a rock and alternative metal band based in Hutchinson, Kansas. What began as Luke Fitzgerald’s personal creative refuge during the final chapter of his previous band has since grown into a powerful trio. In early 2025, Luke's wife and longtime collaborator Rhema and drummer Austin joined the project, deepening its emotional core and expanding its sonic reach.
"Broken," the most recent song from Deflecting Ghosts, is a compelling journey into the delicate realm of introspection. Far from being a typical rock song, it's a confessional cry encased in heartbreaking chords and agonizing vulnerability—an unapologetic glimpse into the point at which denial breaks down and the truth becomes unavoidable.
The raw honesty of the song is its strongest point. "Broken" doesn't recoil from emotional destruction because it is told from the perspective of someone witnessing their own disintegration. It is a cathartic explosion of sound that culminates years of addiction, struggle, and self-deception. Like the final thoughts before a breakdown, the lyrics are succinct but accurate. It's about that unadulterated, horrifying insight that comes before healing, not about finding a solution.
The narrator's inner agony is echoed by the band's tremendous musical backdrop of distorted guitars, driving basslines, and pounding percussion. There is subtlety amidst the heaviness, though, as quiet moments interspersed with eerie serenity reflect the psychological tug-of-war between survival and breakdown. The lead vocal performance is especially remarkable; it transports the listener to the devastation with terrifying accuracy and is strained, pained, and filled with emotion.
"Broken" is not a song to be listened to on the go. It requires focus, compassion, and maybe a mirror. Deflecting Ghosts captures the intricacy of surrender and the agonizing beauty of eventually confronting oneself in a matter of minutes. This is the band's most vulnerable and perhaps most potent moment.