That album is Meliora, by Swedish metal band Ghost.
Now, Ghost needs some explaining. While they are currently perhaps the most successful and popular heavy metal/hard rock act on the planet, they are not quite a household name like Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath. But they are close. Hailing from the icy Scandinavian wastelands, Ghost brought their melodic brand of metal to the world first with their 2010 album Opus Eponymous. Over the following decade and three more studio recordings, the band gained a fervent following.
It was five years ago, in 2015, that Ghost first came to my attention. I heard mention of them in a podcast, so I dialed up some of their songs... then ALL of their songs to date... on Youtube. Loved it all. These guys had an amazing discography of hook-laden, heavy-rockin' tunes that I simply could not get enough of. The first full album I heard and then bought was the 2015 release, Meliora. I quickly snapped up all their earlier releases and have kept pace with their output ever since.
While Ghost's earlier efforts bore plenty of great melodic and heavy tracks, it was Meliora that really pulled it all together into super-tight song structures with the most memorable hooks I'd heard in years. I played that CD endlessly for months, intermittently sprinkling in listenings of Ghost's other albums. Gloriously devilish music... and in more ways than one. Not only do most - or all? - of their song lyrics relate to that good ol' headbanger from Hades, Satan, but the band dresses in very stylish supernatural garb for their live stage shows. Their concerts (of which I've seen several online) are big productions, in the vein of Kiss, who very obviously had a big influence on these Swedish rockers. And Ghost takes that theatricality to yet another level.
So between the band's image - their visual look, their artistically sophisticated album artwork, and the supernatural lyrical content - and their skills as songwriters and musicians, they had it all going on. Plus once Meliora came out, it was clear that Ghost could easily straddle several musical genres while pulling in awards, radio airplay, and huge album sales. I can hear influences are varied as Rush, Blue Oyster Cult, a little early Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, and Kiss. It's hard to pigeon-hole them into one category since they have blended elements of black metal, classic rock, progressive rock, pop, and more.
The album kicks off with Spirit, which begins with an eerie synthsizer line, building to a hammering hard rockin' drum and guitar verse and chorus combo. What I like about Ghost is that the vocals are clean and skillfully sung... and here we've got a choral feel to the backup singing. The highly melodic guitar solo works like yet another voice in the mix. And that horror movie organ sound sets the tone nicely.
Next up is From the Pinnacle to the Pit, a fun heavy rocker that invites the listener to at least nod along if not full-on headbang. The contrasting edgy guitars and the almost crooning vocals create a cool and catchy vibe. Yet another noteworthy short and sweet solo punches up this already glowing tune.
Perhaps the highlight of the album is Cirice, a slower, doomy track. Pretty piano and guitar lines open, crawling toward a spine-chilling tone that gives way to a massive driving Sabbath-y riff. There is an epic feel to the song, especially once the "instant classic" guitar solo enters. Everything feels comfortably familiar, yet it's wholly original in a Ghost sense.
Spรถksonat is a short acoustic guitar instrumental that feels at once light and creepy. This seques into...
... my favourite song on the album, He Is, which is an ode to the Prince of Darkness. Its music is incredibly uplifting, like something you'd hear in a church... with the plucked acoustic guitar, the huge and soaring keyboard-organ backdrop, the choral quality of the lead and backing vocals. The lyrics never veer toward the cartoonish or gruesome like other black metal-type artists write. Instead, it's tasteful and intelligent, and you kinda want to jump on this bandwagon, as manufactured as it is. It's a beautiful piece of music, if you can put aside any reservations about the lyrical themes.
Next up is the catchy Mummy Dust, which boasts an almost thrash-style chunky riff. But throw in a creepy whispery vocal plus a touch of clean piano on the chorus and you've got a sound and style that is uniquely Ghost.
Majesty is a song that plays with the grandeur that suits its title, a proudly chugging tempo and airborne keyboards sending verses toward a chorus that brings to mind sky-scraping gothic cathedral vaults.
Devil Church is just that... solo electric organ leads into a religious procession that sounds supremely spiritual, and yet it's in honour of the Dark Lord. Somehow it works perfectly.
Also one of my faves on Meliora is Absolution, which rocks one of the coolest riffs on the album - or planet? The contrasting incredible piano-work and the awesome rock guitar gel into something I've rarely heard in music, a marriage of styles and genres that birth some of the greatest melodies of this past decade. That guitar solo sounds like something that Kiss could have put on their Destroyer album. Instant classic rock!
The final track, Deus in Absentia, has a spacious feel to it, more airy than its album mates. Six-string riffs abound, but don't hog the show. Piano and guitars are finely balanced, allowing breathing room and an atmosphere that's tough to beat. One passage evokes the feel of a heavenly choir, yet those Latin (Ghost likes this ancient, dead language) lyrics must translate into something less holy.
So... it's been five years, and I still love this album from start to finish. Not a dud in sight, not a single track I want to skip while spinning the CD or record (I've got both). I predict that in ten years, Meliora will still be among my all-time favourite albums, alongside those by Kiss, Sabbath, and Van Halen. It is that good. So if you love hard rock and/or metal, and you haven't checked out Ghost yet, start with Meliora. I'll bet that some of these songs would even appeal to a non-heavy rock fan. The lighter, more melodic approach makes this setlist very approachable for the new listener. Give it a whirl, and get back to me... I'd love to hear Ghost newcomers' thoughts.
Carpe noctem!
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