Garrett Anthony Rice’s “The Coastal Walls (the shame of everyone)” arrives not as casual listening, but as an emotionally bruising confrontation with history, memory, and inherited violence. Released on 18th May 2026, the single stands as a fearless meditation on the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade and the enduring structures of inequality that continue to shape modern society. Rather than softening its message through metaphor or commercial polish, the song chooses brutal honesty, immersing listeners in a sonic landscape filled with grief, exhaustion, and historical reckoning. From its opening moments, Rice establishes a suffocating atmosphere where every chord and lyric feels weighted by centuries of suffering, making the listening experience intentionally uncomfortable yet undeniably powerful.
Musically, the track leans heavily into blues inspired instrumentation associated with the American Deep South, but it transforms those familiar textures into something ghostly and oppressive. The arrangement unfolds at a slow, dirge like pace, resisting conventional hooks or uplifting transitions. Instead, the song drifts like a haunted procession, allowing silence and space to become part of the storytelling. Layers of reverb coated guitars, distant percussion, and raw organic textures create the sensation of echoes trapped within old walls, as though the past itself is speaking through the music. Rice avoids the temptation of dramatic crescendos or moments of release, choosing restraint over spectacle. That decision becomes one of the song’s greatest strengths because the unresolved tension mirrors the unresolved trauma embedded within the subject matter itself.
Lyrically, “The Coastal Walls (the shame of everyone)” is devastating in its imagery and intent. Rice paints vivid scenes of exploitation, cruelty, and generational pain with lines that linger long after the song ends. Descriptions such as “white fluff that weighs so little” become loaded symbols of forced labor and stolen humanity, while references to “half eaten bodies” strip away any romanticized distance from the violence of slavery. The writing refuses to sanitize history, forcing listeners to confront the physical and psychological brutality endured by enslaved Africans across centuries. At the same time, the song broadens its focus beyond the past, challenging contemporary obsessions with wealth, power, and status. Rice’s message to African Americans not to pursue material systems built upon ancestral suffering gives the song an added philosophical depth, transforming it from historical commentary into a wider critique of modern capitalism and inherited oppression.
The vocal performance intensifies this emotional weight with remarkable precision. Rice sings in a weary, conversational tone that feels deeply intimate, almost as though he is confessing painful truths directly into the listener’s ear. His voice often hovers near a whisper, fragile and restrained, before gradually shifting into a strained and urgent cry. That progression mirrors the emotional arc of the song itself: suppressed anguish slowly becoming impossible to contain. There is no theatrical exaggeration in his delivery. Instead, the power comes from exhaustion, sorrow, and moral outrage simmering beneath every phrase. By keeping the vocals raw and vulnerable, Rice ensures the focus remains on the humanity of the people whose suffering inspired the piece.
Perhaps the song’s most haunting achievement lies in its deliberately nightmarish outro. As the instrumentation becomes increasingly distorted and claustrophobic, the production begins to resemble a collapsing psychological landscape rather than a traditional musical conclusion. The sounds feel disoriented, suffocating, and relentless, capturing the lingering horror of slavery’s legacy in a way words alone could never accomplish. It is an ending designed not to comfort the audience, but to leave them unsettled and reflective. In that sense, “The Coastal Walls (the shame of everyone)” succeeds as protest art in its purest form, prioritizing emotional truth and historical accountability over accessibility or entertainment. It demands attention rather than asking for approval.
The Coastal Walls (The Shame Of Everyone) Is A Haunting Protest Against Slavery’s Legacy, Exposing Centuries Of Brutality And Urging Moral Reckoning Through Unflinching Musical Storytelling
~ Faithfulness (Dulaxi Team)
That uncompromising spirit reflects Garrett Anthony Rice himself, an artist from Greystones, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, whose work is deeply shaped by figures such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, Sidney Poitier, and Marlon Brando. His fearless songwriting channels activism through music, challenging audiences to confront uncomfortable truths instead of escaping them. Fresh from performances around Ireland, including a professionally recorded set at Dublin’s Lost Lane venue, Rice continues building a reputation as an artist unafraid to engage with humanity’s darkest histories. “The Coastal Walls (the shame of everyone)” ultimately feels less like a standalone single and more like a moral statement, one that insists remembrance without accountability is meaningless, and that art still possesses the power to force society into honest reflection.
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