Just over a year ago, Swedish sensations Ghost released one of the strongest albums of the year in Meliora, and here they are with a tasty little EP titled Popestar to hold the masses over until their next full length. In support of the EP, the band are embarking on a 35 city headline tour across the US, giving many of their fans the chance to one again experience them live in concert. So, what about Popestar you ask? Well, it contains one new original song in the form of "Square Hammer", an upbeat, highly engaging hard rock song with a can't miss hook and plenty of proggy goodness. Honestly, it's almost hard to call Ghost a metal band anymore as they have so many other elements permeating their music, but whatever you want to tag their music as, there's no denying that "Square Hammer" is a truly great song. The rest of the tracks are cover songs, including a dark, almost doomy, slightly Alice Cooper-ish take on Echo and the Bunnyman's "Nocturnal Me", straight pop/prog on Simian Mobile Disco's electronic/house tune "I Believe", a soulful yet hard rocking version of The Eurythmics' Missionary Man" (complete with some heavy guitars, booming keyboards, and layers of powerful vocals), and a haunting "Bible" from Imperiet.
The covers are fun, and show the wide range of styles that this band can tackle, but I wouldn't call them mandatory listening despite how well done they are. The real meat here is of course the lone original track, which is worth the price of admission alone. Complemented by some unique choices for cover tunes, and you have another winner from Ghost, a band whose future continues to like quite bright, even if we don't yet know who the hell they are.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing
1) Square Hammer
2) Nocturnal Me
3) I Believe
4) Missionary Man
5) Bible
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