Ghost: The Topic

[Avaitor]

I just posted this on tz (I know, I know), but if any place deserves to talk about these boys, it's us!

We've tried this for Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber, but how about we step away from the pop world for a change and try a thread for one of the industry's great secret successes instead? Ghost (or Ghost B.C., if you prefer to go by their legal moniker in the US) came into fruition in Sweden around the start of this decade, and their debut, Opus Eponymous quickly found a home in the metal scene, beyond it even.

With Papa Emeritus, the corpse paint-decorated head sermon of the band, and his followers, the Nameless Ghouls, Ghost instantly had a recognizable visual style which has melded well with their music, combining the traditional heavy metal sounds of Mercyful Fate and Iron Maiden with blistering 70's hard rock acts such as Blue Oyster Cult and UFO, not to mention an appropriate choir and gospel quality to their music. All of this continued to be fleshed out in their recent Infestissumam, released last year to great success, and instantly became my choice for best album of 2013. Their music continues to sound bigger and stronger with each listen, and their tour palet only grows, with the band opening for Iron Maiden and Slayer in South America, as well as Avenged Sevenfold and Deftones in part of the US, while co-headlining with the equally excellent Skeletonwitch in other parts.

Why do they deserve their own thread? Listen for yourself. Here's the video for Infestissumam's debut single, "Secular Haze", which shows off the band's visual style right off the bat. Also recommended is their recent cover of Roky Erikson's "If You Have Ghosts". To prove that there's more to the band's music beyond their imagery, here is the band, with a paint-less Papa Emeritus, performing their first album track "Ritual". All these links are legal and recommended to check out.