By now, most of you have heard that Papa Emeritus III was jettisoned from the Ghost vocal chair and replaced by Cardinal Copia...of course, the name/character matters not, as it's just another alter-ego for frontman/songwriter Tobias Forge, and he and the rest of his Swedish ghouls have a new platter of hard rock, pop, and prog, titled Prequelle. Despite all the controversy that has embroiled Forge with former bandmates, the current version of Ghost have been quite busy of late, fresh off a major tour with Iron Maiden, recording this new album, and now out touring on their own. So how is Prequelle you ask?
After a brief instrumental interlude to kick off the album, "Rats" busts out of the gate in classic Ghost fashion, an irresistible tune that's just as catchy and kick ass as their last single "Square Hammer". However, I don't know how good of an idea it is to start your album off with clearly the best tune out of the lot. Here, it's not even close. "Rats" is damn good, and sure to be the bands new anthem. It's followed up by the strong "Faith", complete with some tasty guitar riffs and somewhat proggy guitar/keyboard arrangements, forming a potent 1-2 punch to kick off the album. Unfortunately, it goes downhill from there. "See the Light" is pleasant enough melodic rock, Forge showing off his strong pop vocal approach amid some majestic keyboards, while "Miasma" is a cool prog-rock instrumental, the band sounding closer to ELP than Ghost, but it's well done. For "Dance Macabre", the guys dive into pure pop and even a touch of disco, supported by a few crunchy riffs, but overall this is hook laden schmaltz that only a band like Ghost would attempt. You'll either love it or hate it, it's that simple. "Pro Memoria" is more atmospheric pop with proggy embellishments, and despite the semi-Satanic lyrics it's all pretty lightweight. "Witch Image" shows early promise with some heavy riffs, but then gets leaden with way too many synths , but the chorus is pretty memorable, so it's not a total loss and also has a tasty twin guitar solo. The guys drop in another instrumental in "Helvetesfönster", which sounds like a leftover from a Yanni album...not terrible at all, but a nearly 6-minute keyboard dominated instrumental is not what most fans will be looking to this band for. Closing up the album is the emotional "Life Eternal", another tune dominated by piano and Forge's touching vocals, with a nice climax that ends things on somewhat of an orchestral & symphonic note.
Judging by the wealth of discussion that Prequelle is garnering, most folks are squarely in a 'love it or hate it' stance with this album. It's sure to piss off many fans of the band who have followed them from the beginning, but certain to open their music up to a whole new legion of fans. For my money, there's a lot of filler on Prequelle, but with a couple of real highlights that are just 'can't miss' material, puts this latest somewhere in the middle of the road for this band who are quickly rising to superstardom.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing
1. Ashes
2. Rats
3. Faith
4. See The Light
5. Miasma
6. Dance Macabre
7. Pro Memoria
8. Witch Image
9. Helvetesfönster
10. Life Eternal
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