Ghost (or Ghost B.C. or w/e) -- Swedish Pop Metal in Satan's Service

so i saw them last night and holy shit ... amazing. two solid hours of basically nothing but killer songs, absolutely seamless playing and obviously engaging stage presence/performance. setlist was nicely spread across the three album, hitting all the best stuff.

best show I've seen in quite some time. i was especially happy about how long it was (and I'm generally a "75 minutes is enough, thanks" kind of concertgoer)

absolutely MASSIVE band

for me this is the 2015 released album i have enjoyed more than anything else.

i have had friends round and played 'he is' etc, to them, and they were totally in the 'who is this?' groove.

Alpine otm re: massive

It's grown on me a lot. I must not have been in the right mood when it came out, or just bored of Ghost. It's a huge step up from the last album.

It's a huge step up from the last album.

agreed.

the mix of tunes, expansive production, and choirs really hits hard on the new album.

They're on Colbert tonight. I'm guessing they'll go with Pinnacle to the Pit, but I could totally see He Is being the song that breaks them to a much bigger audience.

They went with "Cirice". Clip is on Youtube.

That was cool. Satanic pop metal on national TV! I figured Cirice would be too long, but they got it down to 4 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMWeIRX-ZHE

Really well done!

that was pretty great, the filter was a corny but nice touch

For all my whining on EOY about a lack of 'proper' metal, I'm so glad I gave Ghost another chance. Meliora is a masterpiece.

I was listening to 'He Is' and thinking 'where have I heard that melody line before? And I realised it was kind of similar to this old Scandi-pop song I used to like off a free CD from Jockey Slut in the early 2000s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgRXbpA1-_Q

Doubt it's any more than a passing coincidence, but strange they come from the same part of the world.

I can barely hear the connection

yeah it's tenuous at best. I also think it sounds like Umbrella but it must just be how my brain is wired cos no one else would agree.

grammy winners

"The nightmare has become a dweam!" [within a dweam!]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb9cy3Me0hk

hah!

I don't think they should have said a word but it was interesting to see the singer

wish he would've worn the full get-up

Ghost performing "He Is" at the Grammis, the Swedish Grammy awards, where they won the best metal performance category.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQm8Ssh4ynQ

So beautiful, artful, a love song to Satan, with dancers and a giant creepy marionette seemingly in control of all. Yeah, yeah, Blue Oyster Cult meets Mercyful Fate - it's been done before, but if you don't think there is originality in this band watch this. I listened to a ton of great metal albums last year, and all of them sound like someone but none of them looked like this.

Thoughts on Popestar?

I'm okay with EPs of ghoulish covers between LPs, but they're a one-listen kind of thing. Square Hammer is great.

one-listen is a little harsh as the musicality is on a par with the album material.

i happen to think their cover of 'i believe' is fantastic.

and the eurythmics one is as insane as you'd expect from a band who already have a lot of love from the industrial scene ..

They really are the new Rammstein.

"I believe" is their wonderwaLl

this is...great fun

this popped up on my local community radio station and i thought it was late-period They Might Be Giants

Fix Idé is out, the new album by TiD (Time Is Divine) - (a band that may or may not contain current and/or former members of Ghost - don't know how to describe the sound, a mix of Rammstein + Tool maybe?)

https://play.spotify.com/album/7DqvtGI5Gviq3PcZIgpvU6
http://thesignrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tid-fix-id

Their two previous EPs can be downloaded for free here:
Bortom Inom, 2007 http://timeisdivine.com/soz/soz-001.php
Giv Akt, 2010 http://timeisdivine.com/soz/soz-006.php

they were great last night as usual. the showmanship and theatrics have really skyrocketed since the last tour (they even have satanic nuns on stage at one point). all good things of course - the bigger the better with Ghost. I did, however, start to roll my eyes at the almost 5 minute sexual monologue Papa went into before the closing tune, mostly cos he was veering into 'bad standup'.

weird that they omitted "Spirit" - my fav off of Meliora. i may go again tomorrow on a day where I can enjoy myself more.

Sexual monologue?

before they did Monstrance Clock, he found someone in the front row and talked about how basically the next song was going t obe a joint orgasm between the audience and Ghost and it was weird and a little more like somtehing a hair metal band would do.

I preferred the theatrical moments where they brought nuns out in SAtan's service and goofy stuff like that

it did literally take 5 minutes though. they could have squeezed another song in during that time

So... the four ghouls who were fired at the end of last year's tour are now suing the singer - http://imgur.com/a/8m1gU (warning: previously anonymous names are named in the screenshot)

lol Metal-Archives people have already updated their artist pages

Tobias being the vocalist probably the worst kept secret here

Henrik Palm of In Solitude. So there was some truth to that rumour.

My understanding is that a lot of people have circulated through the Nameless Ghouls over the years.

My understanding is that a lot of people have circulated through the Nameless Ghouls over the years.

i never expected anything less to be honest.

And now you too can enjoy a Wall Street Journal version of 'A Nameless Ghoul.'

https://www.wsj.com/articles/hell-on-earth-satanic-band-files-suit-citing-dreary-work-conditions-1497282380

ghost is the darkness of metal

Live album, just in time for satan claus

the artwork everyone will see: http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/12/08/surprise-ghost-release-live-album-ceremony-and-devotion/

the 8-track tape with papal dong: https://bodega.lomavistarecordings.com/collections/ghost/products/ghost-ceremony-and-devotion-8-track

When I saw them live they were hugely entertaining but sounded exactly like the studio versions, is this the case here?

Yeah, pretty much. I'm not sure what the point is unless there's a DVD/bluray as well, which I would prefer

There’s something about meliora that reminds me of the darkness’ “permission to land” - the compression of the production? The twin guitar leads? Something ...

I guess they think slapping an erect cock on the cover counteracts the limpness of the music?

Satanism used to be classy, now look at what these guys are doing with it.

There's a "new" singer and a new single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ijc7A5oAc

That track picks up in the second half, gets some pop “ohs” and the coda is nice and chunky

Finally figured out who Ghost remind me of - pre-fame Europe! Must be the Swedish thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v7byabCFC8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lElLEmdYuDM