Ghost - Prequelle

Every so often, an album comes along which manages to perfectly fuse mainstream accessibility with the sensibilities of the underground. Enter Prequelle, the new record from Swedish pop(e) death mavens Ghost. An ambitious ten-song rock opera, Prequelle finally captures the theatrical grandiosity that Ghost has been attempting to achieve since their 2010 debut, Opus Eponymous. (Almost quite literally theatrical: on their current tour, the band is playing mostly theater shows sans opening act, and the performance itself is split into two parts with an intermission).

Despite their image—a heavily make-upped and mask-wearing Satanic inversion of the Catholic Church, cribbed from various clichés in the Scandinavian doom and black metal scenes—Ghost have always met with a bit of resistance in the metal community (which, to say the least, can tend towards the unforgiving). Their proclivity for hooky song structures, increasingly polished production, and pristine, verging-on-boy-band falsetto vocals have caused some fans and critics to cry foul, accusing Ghost of being little more than a generic pop-rock act disguised as wannabe occult transgressors.

To some degree, this is true. Beginning with its second album Infestissumam and continuing into 2015’s commercial breakthrough Meliora, Ghost has dabbled in more and more non-metal sounds, including synthpop, prog, glam, and even surf rock (witness the bouncy bridge between the two halves of “Ghouleh/Zombie Queen”). They have unironically covered Roky Erikson, Leonard Cohen, Eurythmics, and ABBA (more on that in a minute). The evidence suggests that they have no intention of being seen solely as a metal band.

But that is the secret at the heart of Ghost. The contrast between the imagery and the lyrics on one hand, and the musical style and production on the other, creates an off-kilter contrast that keeps the audience guessing. Add to that the anonymous nature of the band members, and Ghost becomes this whirling carnival of horror and humor, and the line between the two is never 100% clear.

All of this is brought to the fore by Prequelle. Opening with “Ashes”—a nightmarish version of “Ring Around the Rosie,” the childhood nursery rhyme whose origins are purported (but disputed) to date back to the Black Death—the album quickly kicks into high gear with the first single, “Rats.” Firmly rooted in ’80s hair metal, the song uses the rodent vectors of the plague as metaphors for allowing toxic people into one’s life. Meanwhile, “Faith,” probably the heaviest song on the album, indulges in the over-the-top Satanism of the band’s past records, lead singer Cardinal Copia growling, “I am all eyes/I am all ears/I am the wall/And I’m watching you fall/Because faith is mine!”

Every song stands out in some manner, from the rousing piano-led number “See the Light” to the catchy “Witch Image” to the Supertramp-ish, string-laden “Pro Memoria.” But the track which will no doubt be considered the highlight of the record, and a dividing point among some listeners, is the second single, “Dance Macabre.” A disco-rock anthem, it evokes the epic, lavish choruses of bands like ELO and Styx while melding with the shiny pop stylings of fellow Swedes ABBA, creating possibly the greatest ’70s superhit that Jim Steinman never wrote.

Here’s where it becomes obvious why Ghost covered ABBA in the first place: not as a joke or a one-off, but as an acknowledgment that Ghost is unabashedly a pop band. And yet, that just makes them even more demonically subversive. After all, what better way to spread your unholy gospel to the masses than create the Satanic version of dad rock?

It’s also no coincidence that the track is suggestive of various classic rock acts, as a prog tendency slithers throughout a majority of the record. This is perhaps most apparent during “Miasma,” an energetic instrumental jam that ends with the greatest sax solo since “Hungry Eyes.” The record’s other instrumental track, “Helvetesfonster,” has a more medieval feel, meant to conjure images of a plague-strewn Europe.

While it could be considered eye-rolling for a band like Ghost to trade in Black Death imagery, the theme of death and apocalypse is used thoughtfully throughout the entirety of the album. Meant to reflect the real-life uncertainty currently constricting society, Prequelle frequently concerns itself with issues of trust, mortality, and survival. At one point, Cardinal Copia warns, “Don’t you forget about dying/Don’t you forget about your friend Death/Don’t you forget that you will die,” just in case the record hasn’t reminded you enough that one day your meat suit will fail you. These ideas culminate in the album’s closer, “Life Eternal,” a ballad that starts gently but builds into a swirling, cathartic climax.

Ghost has been in the news lately, not just to promote Prequelle, but because their once anonymous lead singer was unmasked last year as Swedish musician Tobias Forge. Facing a lawsuit from former band members, Forge has been doing more press since his involuntary outing. From his interviews, it’s apparent that some of the album’s anxieties are fueled by the experience of being sued by people once considered friends.

Yet, this record isn’t a rock star whining about legal troubles. Similar to Marilyn Manson in his heyday, the man behind Cardinal Copia (an evolution of Forge’s previous characters, Papa Emeritus I, II, and III) comes across as soft-spoken, intelligent, and articulate, and it grows clear he’s not simply peddling snake-oil occultism. Ghost is neither a cheap laugh nor a quick buck. Despite the band’s cartoonishly evil image—which Forge readily admits is meant to be amusing—there is a genuine desire in both the music and symbolism for something akin to a spiritual experience. And while Forge’s criticism of organized religion is sincere, Ghost uses anti-religious sentiments to communicate a search that could ultimately be defined as religious: for meaning, for communion, for transcendence.

With Prequelle, Ghost has taken their theatrical art rock project and given it a monstrously appealing sheen, harkening back to the classic rock of the past, as well as the horror movie aesthetics of those decades. In doing so, they’ve created their best record so far in what is sure to be a defining moment of their career.

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