Get Revolver's new Ghost special collector's issue, plus exclusive colored vinyl variants and merch, at our shop.
Since releasing their 2010 debut, Opus Eponymous, Swedish six-piece Ghost have been hailed for not only their dramatic, religion-skewering lyrics and visuals—to the latter point, the band is fronted by the Pope-like, skull-faced Papa Emeritus, and backed by five masked and anonymous "Nameless Ghouls"—but also for their sound. Their anthemic and hook-laden Satanic odes are characterized by a warm, vintage-metal glow that recalls everyone from Black Sabbath to Blue Oyster Cult to early Mercyful Fate. And while the band has readily acknowledged the influence of those acts on what they call their "retrospective" sound, there's another reason why they look to the past for sonic inspiration.
"The contemporary sound nowadays, or for the last 10 or 15 years at least, has been that sort of metalcore, sentence-for-a-band-name crap," explains one of the five Nameless Ghouls, speaking to Revolver from his home in Linköping, Sweden. "We don't want to sound like that, so therefore we are not very contemporary. But I guess in a way what we're trying to do is harness the past into tomorrow." He laughs. "And hopefully by doing that we can help to change this crappy metal world that we've been in for almost 20 years now. Because it's horrible. Absolutely horrendous."
Regardless of whether or not most metal fans would agree with the ghoul, one fact that is beyond reproach is that Ghost's sound stands proudly apart from that of their heavy music brethren. It's a primary reason (though the makeup and costumes certainly don't hurt, either) as to why they've begun to garner not only a broad fan base, but also some friends in high places—Phil Anselmo has worn their t-shirts onstage and also performed with them at the U.K.'s Download Festival; James Hetfield has called Ghost "a breath of fresh air," and had them play at Metallica's Orion Music + More extravaganza; and Dave Grohl even produced their 2013 EP, If You Have Ghost. (Of course, not everybody is a fan—Slayer's Kerry King was recently quoted as saying that while he loves Ghost's imagery, "I just hate the fucking music." Which, perhaps, only further speaks to the impact of the band's approach.)
And yet, it's likely that Ghost will bring even more new followers into their flock with the release of their new and third album, Meliora. Like Opus Eponymous and its follow up, 2013's Infestissumam (which debuted at No. 1 in Sweden and won the Grammis Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Album), the new album mixes doomy, slow-burning metal with elements of psychedelia, goth, shock-rock and shimmery pop, and sprinkles the proceedings with plenty of churchy organs, austere choirs and the gentle but unsettling vocals of Papa Emeritus III. Also like those two efforts, Meliora is something of a concept album. But whereas Opus Eponymous focused on "the coming of the Antichrist," says Nameless Ghoul, and Infestissumam "the presence of the Antichrist," Meliora follows a different path.
"This one is not so much about the Antichrist," he explains. "It's more about the absence of God entirely, and how society reacts to that absence. You know the old saying, 'When the cat is out of the house, the mice will dance on the table'? It's a little like that. In our world, and I'm talking more about the Western world here, we tend to be a bit too smart and a bit too intellectual to fully dive headfirst into the brick wall that is religion. But, still, there is definitely a void that happens when there is no God, and when people believe there is no one there to help you. And that is what the lyrics on this album deal with."
It's a heavy topic, to be sure, and one that plays out in ominous, despairing tracks like "From the Pinnacle to the Pit," "Spirit" and "Absolution," in which Papa Emeritus III intones, "Ever since you were born you've been dying." But that said, Ghost is hardly about only doom and gloom. Take, for example, the strange and somewhat amusing situation of their frontman. It has been widely reported that Meliora marks the debut of a new singer, Papa Emeritus III, who is the successor of Papa Emeritus I and II—the vocalists on Opus Eponymous and Infestissumam, respectively. The band members are staunch in their assertion that they welcome a new singer with each album to mimic the Catholic Church's succession of popes—even while conveniently ignoring the fact that it is clear to listeners that each Papa has sounded, well, exactly the same. And yet, Nameless Ghoul is only too happy to expound upon just how much Papa III differs from his Infestissumam predecessor.
"We don't know him that well yet, because he hasn't been around that much. But so far he seems mellow," Nameless Ghoul says. "And he has hair. So that's a difference."
Anything else?
"His clothes are a little less smelly, for some reason. So hopefully he will be a better-smelling Papa."
He pauses, and then continues. "But really, the whole thing goes hand in hand with the Catholic world that we're sort of imitating and taking a lot of inspiration from. It comes with the territory, this idea of succession. There cannot be only one pope. So there must be many Papas."
The idea that there are many Papas is, of course, an obvious ploy. But Ghost have always been clear about the fact that they are not your standard rock act. "We've never really set out to be a 'sweaty rock band' in the traditional sense," Nameless Ghoul says. "We've always leaned more toward giving people a show. And during that show, you can choose whether or not to take part emotionally and spiritually. Because at the end of the day, we are a rock band playing rock music, but the experience we are trying to simulate is a mass. We are simulating religion. We are bringing people into a room where we have a silent agreement that you are worshipping what's onstage in that room, and that what's onstage is telling you what to think and what to do. And we're doing that in order to recreate the idea of a solemn moment where you're devoting yourself to a higher power. Some people even get a little bit of wine and a little bit of bread and all of that, and for lack of a better way of putting it they have a religious moment. And a blissful one. And that's the point. It's supposed to be joyous and it's supposed to be euphoric."
With Meliora, Ghost have plans to bring that joy and euphoria to as many people as possible, and in a much bigger and more theatrical way than ever before. And they are committed—the title of the record itself is the Latin word for "better," or more specifically, "the eternal pursuit for something better." "This show we're doing [for Meliora] is going to be a dramatic improvement," Nameless Ghoul says. "It will be more technical. There will be more of a light show. Papa III will go through a couple of changes. There will be a first act, a second act, a third act. It will be a little more in line with the type of show we've had in mind from the beginning."
The fact that the band has been gaining popularity with each release means that they are finally in a position to pull it off. "Part of being a theatrical rock band means needing to be big and successful," Nameless Ghoul continues. "Because you want to have a certain production. You want to put on a certain show. So we have to do everything in our power to become as successful as we possibly can in order to be able to create that."
But that's not to say Ghost is a band that is only concerned with success. Nameless Ghoul explains, "We would like to be a big band, but still, I think I'm not shitting you when I say that the thought of wanting to succeed from an aesthetic point of view always comes first. That's why we are always trying to reinvent ourselves with each record, and I hope we have done that with Meliora. And I would like to say—and I'm really hopeful that I'm perfectly truthful when I say this—we wouldn't want to do this if the heart wasn't there."
He laughs. "Because then it's easier to just play in a punk band. And you know, we'd probably make more money, too. Because we wouldn't be wasting it on fucking busloads of crew and lights and production and all that other stuff!"
