Released: 4/25/2025 on Lorna Vista
Production: Gene Walker
Length: 46:43
Genre: Spirit(ual) pop rock
“Satanic Commercial Kitsch”
Ghost have rarely made it onto my playlist in the past (with one giant exception). I have a feeling that’s about to change big time (or already has) thanks to this album.
That giant exception was the track Square Hammer from the 2016 EP Popestar. A punchy, rhythmic, hypnotic pop rock banger with a whiff of pseudo-metal and a tongue-in-cheek satanic lyric, it burrowed into my cerebellum like a little, delicate pink worm. And, I admit, it hasn’t left to this day. It’s even got company now.
Tobias Forge, pope, cardinal, devil, singer and plagiarist-innovator all in one body, kicked off the Ghost story back in 2006 and, in just under 20 years, brought it to its peak. Skeleta easily grabbed the number one spot on the Billboard 200 on release. Why and how, you’ll ask with interest. I’ve already answered the how, and the why you’ll be able to figure out yourself after a single listen. From the first second to the last, the album is packed with sticky melodies, tempting rhythms, tender-gloomy ballads, and distilled 80s hits, all wrapped in a really loose cloud of occult metal. Every note, every chorus, every vocal melody sounds familiar from somewhere, yet the little devil won’t let you rest until you check, again and again, where from. Crafty Tobias makes sure you never get to the bottom of these questions, so you have to check at least once a day whether you’ll finally recognize something this time.
The production is phenomenal, bombastic, crystal clear and harmless. The instrumentalists are so perfectly versed that they can add one little ornament to every track, whether it’s an unexpected rhythmic pattern, a different note in a guitar solo, or a dark undertone in the keyboard soundscape. Tobias puts the cherry on top with the vocal style of a vampirized Catholic priest and (un)ambiguous, suffering, slightly satanic lyrics. Luckily for us, he doesn’t take himself entirely seriously, since under the pretext of a black mass he sings about shooting love juices into foreheads and other such filth.
The first six compositions on the album are pure cosmic perfection. You can’t get the choruses out of your head after a single listen, and Tobias deftly weaves a heavier riff, double bass pedal and a booming synth bed into the instrumentals, so all us hardcore metalheads can live in the illusion that a metal album is spinning in the player. I did a bit of digging, and it seems the key factor in the shift to this melodic pop rock songwriting mastery is a guy named Max Grahn, an unknown Swedish drummer and songwriter. Tobias always knew his way around melodies, but this is the next level.
The album’s peak is two tracks right near the end, sandwiched between the two worst creations. The stinking trophy for by far the worst of the lot goes to Misillia Amori. It’s as if Joe Elliot found a recording in a forgotten vault that Mutt Lange had been so ashamed of during the Hysteria sessions that he hid it from everyone. And then Tobias convinced Joe, somewhere between the sixth and seventh beer, that the track wasn’t good enough for the next Def Leppard single. Which is true, too. Unbearable.
Right at the end awaits Excelsis, a downcast little ballad meant to remind us that everything ends someday. No kidding.
The album’s peak is definitely Marks of the Evil One, a warning about, or rather an invitation to, the Apocalypse. The lead melody, with its satanic sighs, immediately drags us into the dark, where the melancholic chorus lures us into the crew of the four horsemen. Brutal! There, there, fuckin’ there! Right after that comes the little tune that’s currently keeping Square Hammer company in my cerebellum, Umbra. A melodic projectile that shamelessly and straightforwardly sings of sex on the altar, right before the eyes of the Nazarene. The hurricane chorus, the sped-up tempo and a truly insane solo take over body and soul. Not to mention the cowbell. Will Ferrell and Blue Oyster Cult can be proud!
In the flood of music I’m exposed to non-stop, this is truly an album that grabs me and that I just have to listen to again and again. And again. And I don’t know whether I should be ashamed of that. It has all the hallmarks of a “sellout” and a calculated attack on the easiest targets in the audience, which clearly include me too. And how effortlessly I fell for it!
Sweet treats: Guiding Lights, Marks of the Evil One, Umbra, Cenotaph
Rating: 9/10, or maybe 3.5/10, I’m not entirely sure
Author: Igorac
Tracklist:
- Peacefield
- Lachryma
- Satanized
- Guiding Lights
- De Profundis Borealis
- Cenotaph
- Misillia Amori
- Marks of the Evil One
- Umbra
- Excelsis
Musicians:
Papa V Perpetua – Vocals, bass
A band of Nameless Ghouls – everything else
A whole bunch of guest musicians and singers
Zanimiva recenzija. Bom dal priložnost.
Javi, kako se ti zdi.