Tobias Forge and the Nameless Ghouls of the Swedish band Ghost are back with their fourth studio album, and all the heathens of the world are now listening on their skull-cased iPhones and deciding whether or not this satanic/pop-rock genre will have longevity. Well, here at HorrorWeb, we have made a decision ... Ghost remains one of our favs ... and even more so after Prequelle.
While the origin of the album name remains to date a mystery, one thing is certain, this album spans decades of rock in just 10 songs. From their vintage Black Sabbath guitars pretty common in earlier albums, to 80s synth tones to, yep, you heard it, smooth sax, Cardinal Copia (Forge's alias) has fearlessly pulled from the bowels of the dead what we would dare call a hellish masterpiece. Fearless is emphasized with regards to the complete disregard for what's currently popular in modern rock/metal writing and production. Ghost has once again stuck to their ghoulish guns and Forge onward (pun intended) doing their own thing - and we applaud them for that.
Prequelle's array of tunes span an emotional spectrum both musically and lyrically. Instrumentally, the band returns with its typical dark guitar grooves, liberating key ensembles, open choruses and other accompaniment that may have you praising Satan before you can say "was that a saxophone?". Forge continues his journey lyrically with dark topics ranging from the Bubonic plague in their first release "Rats" to, of course, his thoughts on Christianity and the Catholic Church in "It's a Sin". Somewhat surprisingly, the album is also comprised of two beautifully orchestrated instrumentals, including my favorite song on the album, "Miasma" - eat your heart out Tim Capello - cause Ghost still believes! THEY BELIEVE IN SATAN!
If there is anything negative that can be said about this album, it is that lyrically it can be a bit repetitive at times, for example - "Pro Memoria" - just in case everyone here has forgotten, don't forget about dying! We simply chalk it up to good old Cardinal Copia REALLY trying to deliver his message - I mean hello, have you been to church lately? They say the same shit over and over. All in all, however, this album's stays true to Ghost's previous 80's pop sensibilities while taking its listeners on a traveling satanic DeLorean time machine into vintage rock history.
I give it 4.5/5 and highly recommend it to all the horrorWeb heathens.
Gory Corey
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