Hail Satan!
August 17, 2015 3:06 PM   Subscribe

Fresh from defeat following their face-off with Pope Francis for the souls of Philadelphia, Papa Emeritus III and the newly remasked Nameless Ghouls of Swedish occult metal band Ghost are streaming their third record, Meliora, due out August 21st, 2015. An appropriately tongue-in-check video accompanies lead-off single Cirice.

For those unfamiliar, Ghost B.C. are a (pseudo)-anonymous collective performing theatrical 70s-influenced Satanic rock and roll. Their recent EP of covers, produced by Dave Grohl, reveals an eclectic set of influences, from Roky Erickson's "If You Have Ghosts" to ABBA's "I'm a Marionette."

Ghost's debut Album, Opus Eponymous, made a splash amongst metalheads as much for catchy King Diamond-influenced tunes like Ritual as for their costumes and stage show. Follow-up Infestissumam expanded their audience, while also garnering some backlash for their increasingly polished sound.
posted by Existential Dread (17 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
I also just ran across a video of rappers watching Ghost's Year Zero video (censored, NSFW-ish but with black boxes across naughty bits). Hilarious (and seriously NSFW), if crude, and worth it to watch to the end.
posted by Existential Dread at 3:13 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


If you ever get the chance to see these guys live, do it! They put on a fantastic show. I was crushingly disappointed to realize that I will be out of town when their tour comes through Seattle this fall. I can't wait for the new album. Thanks for posting this, Metafilter needs more metal!
posted by skycrashesdown at 3:24 PM on August 17, 2015 [3 favorites]


The best ever death metal band out of Sweden will in time both outpace and outlive you.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:26 PM on August 17, 2015 [7 favorites]


They sound like a slightly more stylish imagining of early 80s Blue Oyster Cult to me, no harder than that

I guess the real Ghost relinquished their claim on the name when they disbanded.
posted by anazgnos at 4:02 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


I guess the real Ghost relinquished their claim on the name when they disbanded.

The Swedish Ghost were calling themselves "Ghost B.C." in the U.S. when asked what the "B.C." stood for apparently one of the Nameless Ghouls relied "Because Copyright". It seems they've worked out the legal issues and are just going by "Ghost" now.
posted by MikeMc at 4:21 PM on August 17, 2015


Man, I dig Ghost's whole Alice Cooper inspired shtick, but I can't get into their music on any level.
posted by dortmunder at 4:36 PM on August 17, 2015


It sounds so happy and melodious. Head-scratch metal?
posted by tmt at 4:54 PM on August 17, 2015


Their second album, I'm pretty sure, is the answer to "What if the Beatles were a Satanic metal band?"
posted by skycrashesdown at 6:13 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


I find Cirice and its video pretty appealing, actually.
posted by sutt at 7:16 PM on August 17, 2015


Their second album, I'm pretty sure, is the answer to "What if the Beatles were a Satanic metal band?"

Considering that the third time I saw them they were actually doing Beatles' covers as part of their live set, I'd say that's a pretty good assessment of Infestissum (and from what I've heard thus far on the live stream, Meloria is as well). Honestly, Ghost is a lot like GWAR in that their music is secondary to their stage show (though Ghost is working the Evil Creepy vibe while GWAR continues to mine new hellish depths in the Grand Guignol vein).
posted by KingEdRa at 7:39 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


Maybe I'm just too trusting but I expected something more from that "face off with Pope Francis" link. It was cute though. The "Cirice" video was also cute. Is this like the Swedish Babymetal?
posted by bleep at 7:49 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


Bite your tongue!
posted by Existential Dread at 9:20 PM on August 17, 2015


The best ever death metal band out of Sweden will in time both outpace and outlive you.

Sorry but not even close to the best ever death metal band out of Sweden - and I bet John Darnielle would back me up on that.
posted by atoxyl at 2:43 AM on August 18, 2015 [1 favorite]


Least offensive metal band ever. Sooooooothing.

They are to metal what Oxo was to '80s music... but far more casually listenable.
posted by markkraft at 5:18 AM on August 18, 2015


Always glad when Satan finds a singer.

So sick of the Cookie Monster growl bullshit.

\m/
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:08 AM on August 18, 2015 [1 favorite]


Sorry but not even close to the best ever death metal band out of Sweden - and I bet John Darnielle would back me up on that.

I'm pretty sure John would know I was just riffing and not at all serious.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:53 AM on August 19, 2015


The comments on that Phily.com article are no less clueless than most news site comments, but the angry ones are so hilariously misplaced that it's actually worth reading them.
posted by krinklyfig at 11:38 AM on August 19, 2015


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