Despite what the mainstream would have you believe, Ghost is not the only band with that moniker to deliver a powerful record this spring. We also have GosT, a solo darkwave act based in Texas. Having made a name for himself with previous releases Behemoth and Non Paradisi (an instant classic styled as a soundtrack for Milton’s “Paradise Lost”), GosT hits full stride with the new album Possessor, an outstanding demonelectronic nightmare of synths, samples, screams, and Satan.
Like his distant Swedish counterparts, GosT performs anonymously behind a mask and with a mock liturgical stage set, has a love of skulls and upside-down crosses, takes inspiration from demonology and real-life figures like Elizabeth Bathory, and aims to capture the feel of the ’70s and ’80s. Similar to Ghost’s frontman Papa Emeritus/Cardinal Copia, he even uses an invented character: the unholy spirit Baalberith.
But unlike that other band named after a spectral presence, GosT largely eschews classic rock and pop structures in favor of harsh, Skinny Puppy-esque propulsive beats and blasts of modulated electronic noise which go for the throat. Inspired by a background playing in metal and hardcore groups, GosT meshes those aggressive approaches with a nostalgic callback to the atmospheric synth work of Goblin and John Carpenter/Alan Howarth. The end result sounds like the Drive soundtrack put through a Luciferian blender. For those who spent their Saturdays watching horror films instead of playing outside, the sounds of Possessor will feel almost immediately familiar and strangely comforting, despite the abrasiveness.
This is not to say that GosT’s sound is limited to aggro posturing. The gorgeously gothic “Sigil,” one of the record’s only offerings with vocals, effortlessly recalls Joy Division and early Depeche Mode. And throughout the album as a whole, there is the tangible desire to create really good dance music, a goal more than adequately met . . . in addition to evoking horror movie scores, another one of GosT’s inspirations appears to be modern French disco, particularly the work of fellow masked madmen Daft Punk. (The music here, at times, conjures a more violent version of the soundtrack to Irreversible, scored by Thomas Bangalter, one half of that duo). In other words, GosT is serious about getting you moving.
The theme of Possessor is, as the title suggests, depicting a possession through the eyes of the demon as opposed to the victim. Samples involving devil worship and the Satanic Panic of the ’80s are strewn throughout, as are elements drawn from the now infamous airing of an exorcism by news program 20/20. While Satanism is partly employed in the style of a schlocky exploitation movie, it nonetheless works to set a menacing tone that gets under the skin.
As with any relevant horror film, Possessor and Ghost’s Prequelle speaks to the growing dread of the world today, as political hysteria, superstition, and technology combine in unsettling new variations. Though somewhat unfair to compare the bands simply due to their names, it nevertheless becomes difficult not to notice the overlap. In their own ways, they each repackage the horror genre as we knew it over thirty years ago. Sometimes the results are wildly unalike, other times not that dissimilar. The keyboards that open Ghost’s Omen-inspired classic “Year Zero” are straight out of an Argento or Fulci film, the same type of material from which GosT takes inspiration. And like Ghost, the man behind GosT has roots in death and black metal, styles which are echoed in his current work.
Continuing the tradition of their character-oriented forbears KISS, David Bowie, and Alice Cooper, GosT and Ghost recognize the power of hiding behind an image, staying just anonymous enough to let the audience fill in the blanks and believe for a moment that we might be in the presence of some otherworldly—even divine—entity. In this case, that entity is to be found opposite of Heaven. These are troubled times, but through these fantastic albums, Satan is making dark days just a little brighter.
