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Ghost: Infestissumam

10/05/13 || Ironpants

“Do we believe in Satan? The only thing that matters is that he believes in us” – A nameless ghoul

I remember very clearly how I found out about Ghost the first time. Despite contrary beliefs, I am not an over-payed hipster reviewer that fraternize myself in massive orgies at all-you-can-eat buffets that later on ends up in a pile of naked bodies with alcohol and body fluids flowing through every entrance/exit of your body… no, I attend these orgies without payment.

But in this case, I was sitting at home alone in front of my laptop, I might have been naked though, with Spotify running, clicking through a friends playlists (yeah I have one…), and I noticed that he had starred this “Ghost” album and as I know he’s a horror movie soundtrack buff, and the album cover looked like a horror movie cover, so I clicked it and my soul was sold to the horned one… again, I might add. I’ve sold my soul many times, using different spellings of my name on the contract, so I am in for a hell of a ride that glorious day when I croak. Especially when old Beelzebub will discover that the bank will cut 50% of me and the old Mrs. Ironpants will get half of what’s left, but that’ll be the day when I die. All that is left is an old blackened, torn soul that is over-mortgaged, overrated and completely useless.

A thought that’s been swirling in my head since I first read that Ghost had begun recording their new album was “How in Satan’s name will they be able to top the first album?”. I can’t remember being so intrigued by a band since I was a kid, their first album Opus eponymous have had me in a iron grasp since I first heard it. I still spin it regularly, and I love every tune on the album.

With a big signing to major label Universal (Vista Loma Recordings) and receiving $750.000 up front (not really true according to Ghost themselves), I knew right when the newsflash was released that this second album would be the “Haters gonna hate and lovers gonna love” album in years to come. I knew… that dudes that been praising the shit out of Ghost would back off quiet and nicely, returning to their crypts with tails between their legs, mumbling shit like “I loved Ghost before everyone else did”. Because suddenly, every Average Joe would walk around talking about Ghost, having opinions, making praise and acting cool as “satanists”, but in a cute way, before returning to their 9 to 5 jobs humming “Hell Satan – Archangelo” when xeroxing the monthly report before entering some office meeting.

That is actually a rather amusing fact, and it is really true, I already have a bunch of peeps in my circle of friends or acquaintances that I remember very clearly to have been heard strolling around talking about Ghost as “the tits”, but now suddenly are heard saying stuff about how much they suck, “circus-music”, “Scooby-Doo music” and so forth… Booo-hooo-hooo! I am fucken Nostradamus, I knew it all along. Wankers! As soon as Ghost would gain some recognition, they would be slagged off by the tr00 dildos. While these non-believers are licking their wounds in their tr00 metal covens, we can concentrate on the album “Infestissumam”, they wont… cause this album will be left for dead in a ditch by them.

With a big budget and and a high profile producer, Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Deftones, Rush and a shitload more top bands) they are set to conquer the world for real, and with the hype building up from their debut, I admit that even I was skeptic, but when hearing the singles, “Secular haze” and later “Year zero”, I was a little more at ease. Even if “Secular haze” was somewhat… odd, with a waltz tempo and not that catchy, it was a grower. When they released “Year zero”, it was obvious that it was a quite good move not to perform that one on Swedish National Television – P3 awards , since the beginning of that tune, and the chorus, could have brought them some trouble, even in the quite liberal Sweden.

The album starts with a perfect mood-settler in “Infestissumam” which is actually more of an intro to “Per aspera ad inferi”, and together they are pretty much what you expect, grand, massive and living up to the hype. Just the type of tune you want, with a driving bridge and the chorus in Latin with almost a military march tempo building up a frenzy allowing the fans to sing along with devil horns up in the air. Then after aforementioned “Secular haze”, we take a turn into Popville with “Jigolo har megiddo”. Here we are served with the stuff that haters gonna love (pun intended), I’m not gonna lie to you, I raised both eyebrows when this tune slithered along, but they pull it off! Well I don’t have to work through each track, we can split the album in two parts.

One part is almost the old Ghost that you want, and the other part is the one that you feared (if you are tr00). Where “Opus…” was that perfect blend of Black Sabbath, Mercyful Fate, Blue Oyster Cult and even The Doors, they have on this album opened the door and let even more “lightweights” in. Here we have Abba, Beatles, Beach Boys and Moody Blues arriving to the party, but Papa Emeritus and the Ghouls have them under control and keep it to guest appearances. Actually it gets a little too “poppy” here and there, but I accept it more than well after some struggling.

One of the best tracks on the album is “Depth of Satan’s eyes”, that middle part is fucken excellent with some sort of inverted riff going on. And the rest of the tune captures that nocturnal feeling that we are used to from “Opus…”, if the whole album would have been constructed like this, man, it would have been a certain 10.

One fact that is quite amusing is how the lyrics lifts the tunes to another level. I guess it’s the same phenomena as Frank Zappa experienced with the song “Bobby Brown” in 1980, that song got banned in the States due to lyrical content, but received top placements in several countries in Europe. People was happily dancing along not really thinking too much about the lyrics. That’s why an old metal-head can dig this, it fills that hole in your everyday life, where you want to listen to something little more light, but still with a sinister and evil touch. Here’s an excerpt:

“The swamp of feces
That is the world
Flatulates a whirlwind storm
in which you swirl

In disarray you ponder
Your soul malaise
Abandon the long lost man
Your child portrays”

The lyrics are much more worked through and I guess, planned and taking it to another level.

Well, this album is one of the “talkers” among metal fans, and it’s gonna divide us all in two camps, the pro-Ghost and non-believers. This album will make Ghost lose that old school following they had up to now, but they will gather ten times more fans from other areas, and that is also in their master-plan. They make no secret about this, if you scavenge the Internet for interviews, you can read or even hear them talk about this. I like this album, not to the same extent as the debut, but I still like it. It’s a grower, and if you allow yourself to devour this record, I hope you will too. If not, fuck it, listen to some other crap if you want, I don’t care.

I have one secret wish for the future though, it would be a true success in my house, if they for the next record turn it one notch back to the darker side again. Maybe with an even more evil evolution in Papa Emeritus III, accompanied with rougher music again and even more evil lyrics. I’m not talking black metal, but a darker, murkier shade of black rock. That would be a true success for The Horned One, reeling in the good catch from his disciples and building up even more strength for the next step.

I have thought a lot about the grade I should spit out on this one. It has evolved from a 6 up to 10, and then down to a 9. My guts tells me 9, but I have to be honest to myself, the band and you. This isn’t really as good as the first album, sure, there are some really good tunes that is up to par with the old ones, but there are also a few downers. So after consulting my other personalities, Hell Satan! and here goes…

Information
Released: 2013
Label: Universal/Vista Loma Recordings
Website: www.ghost-official.com
Band
Papa Emeritus II: vocals
A nameless ghoul: guitars
A nameless ghoul: guitars
A nameless ghoul: bass
A nameless ghoul: keyboards
A nameless ghoul: drums

Tracklist
01. Infestissumam
02. Per aspera ad inferni
03. Secular haze
04. Jigolo har migeddo
05. Ghule / Zombie queen
06. Year zero
07. Body and blood
08. Idolatrine
09. Depth of Satan’s eyes
10. Monstrance clock

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