Ghost – Skeletá

 

Ghost – Skeletá
Loma Vista / Concord Records – 2025
Metal
Rated: ***

Had to do this little write-up today of course… You know why. One Pope being buried while the self-professed heavy metal Pope is standing tall and rocking hard. Had the pleasure of interviewing the man behind it once, forgot to ask him if he had stolen the album title to his 2016 album Popestar from the review we wrote back in 2013 about Infestissumam. Next time perhaps. Well… Ghost is back. And even less has changed in respect to the albums that came before. Good news for the fans that get psyched by his metal and pop pastiche, but not the best news for the ones that dug their beginning. But there is no turning back, his trajectory has been set for a while. This time he’s called Papa V Perpetua delivers his unmoving, steady but pristine vocals in the same fashion. Some minor guitar solo’s stand out, inviting more eighties tones into the Ghost palate. Everything else is still there, grandiose gestures, opting for operatic and excessive. And compositions that are unavoidably catchy. A bit more lighthearted perhaps when it comes to the Guiding Lights song or a tad more heavy as brought to you by second track Lachryma. All in all, on Skeletá we hear Ghost is still alive and doing its own pop metal thing. Rest In Peace Pope Francis. Long live Pope Papa V Perpetua!

(Written by JK)

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Ghost – Prequelle 

 

Ghost –Popestar

 

Ghost – Meliora

 

Ghost B.C. – Infestissumam

Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She

 

 

Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She
V2 / Loma Vista – 2024
Alternative, Doom, Industrial, Darkwave, Triphop
Rated: ***

We haven’t been mentioning everything Chelsea Wolfe has been putting out over the years and as usual, we know we should have, cause there hasn’t been a miss among those releases. That amazing Hiss Spun album from 2017 for instance or the one we did mention called Birth Of Violence from 2019. Well, the Wolfe has returned and she’s back with what she calls a rebirth. With an album title that refers to her past, present and future. To leave behind what has come and gone and move forward. She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She is a powerfully cathartic statement about cutting ties, as well as an important reminder that healing is cyclical and circular, and not a simple linear process. She has not just been cutting away the dead wood, the wrong people and the ugliness that might hold her back. She’s also decided to try even more avenues of approach towards the heaviness she likes to use as a vehicle for her poetry. This time around there’s some Industrial, Triphop and Electronica to produce those atmospheres we love from the Wolfe. Lyrics wise it is definitely dark again, but with a feeling of understanding and her own sliver of hope. And her musical experimentation often drifts over to a lighter and almost generic approach. Hinting a bit at some of Björk’s triphop drifts or electropop that could easily be discovered by the masses. There’s agitation here, unrest, no easy listening, yet whenever that feeling dissipates there’s room for some acceptance and calm. And even though this album might turn out to be a favorite for many, I cannot help feeling that I would rather hear her drift more towards the sludge metal she did with Converge. But that’s probably just me, hoping for an album that’s perfect for me, and that’s not what Chelsea Wolfe is about. She’s about she… And that's okay...

(Written by JK)

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Ghost – Prequelle

Ghost – Prequelle

Caroline/Spinefarm/Loma Vista – 2018

Rock, Metal, Pop, Theatrical, Occult

Rated: ***

As we return to the fold after the Graspop Metal Meeting Festival, we went back to one of the mentions we wrote before we left but had not posted yet. The few words below are still how I feel about the album, but the live show has become a different sort of thing. It’s not that fun anymore when you started out making fun of the band; but now the band parodies itself. Ghost on Roadburn was weird, the way they looked did not match up with the sound. And every show afterwards, the steadily grew better into their pop musical future. Until the decline started. On Graspop the new Cardinal Copia character has turned into more of an Inspector Clouseau, who makes lame jokes and sings horribly. Which might be due to the new mask and getting used to it or something. But still. We now not just hope for something a bit more Satanic next time around, we hope for a new Pope! And quickly! 

As you all might know, we’ve been following Ghost since we were confronted with them on Roadburn 2011 and we predicted the Popestar album back in 2013. Since then much has changed in the Ghost realm. But not for their music! Of course, everyone now knows (thanks to lawsuits and a few journalists who wouldn’t play the game) who is behind the Ghost project and that it is basically a one-man project. And that he longs to translate his love for the seventies approach that Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult had into whatever pop song magic Abba was able to tap into. We have been hearing Ghost do this on every album; and every one of those records has worked well. To a bigger or lesser degree. Well, Prequelle is no different. And therein perhaps lies the rub, the more of the same feeling and the lack of real progress. Or perhaps not, for when a track like Witch Image comes along, you cannot stand idly by. You will have to chant along and smile your lovely evil smile! There are few more of those damn catchy moments, but perhaps not quite enough. And yes, there it is, It’s A Sin! It was only logical that this would be recorded. Logical. Expected. Perhaps we would should start an incantation hymn for something a bit more Satanic next time around…

(Written by JK)

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