{"id":33932,"date":"2015-08-21T11:00:16","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=33932"},"modified":"2015-08-21T08:32:34","modified_gmt":"2015-08-21T13:32:34","slug":"review-ghosts-meliora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/review-ghosts-meliora\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Ghost’s Meliora<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The divisive Swedish masters of occult rock return with their\u00a0third album.\u00a0Virgo triumphat reditum Papa Emeritus!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Full disclosure: I’m a huge Ghost<\/strong> fan. I loved Opus Eponymous<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and had difficulty\u00a0not listening to it for weeks. I loved Infestissumam<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and had trouble falling asleep several nights in a row because the choruses were so damn catchy. Whatever Ghost is selling, I’m buying (except this<\/a>).\u00a0But let’s\u00a0be\u00a0honest: given Ghost’s wide-reaching\u00a0popularity, this album has already been covered, or soon will be, by just about every hard rock and metal news outlet out there, using all your favorite\u00a0adjectives & descriptors like “grimy,” “triumphant,” “vintage-flavored,” “soaring,” “crunchy,” “gothic-tinged,” “return-to-form,” etc., ad nauseum.<\/p>\n

Some will champion Ghost’s\u00a0bold new approach. Some\u00a0will rue the lack of involvement from Dave Grohl, Jesus\u00a0of Music. Others will take a vast look at the state of heavy music today and type up lengthy diatribes on what a band like Ghost does or doesn’t mean for\u00a0music as a whole, and how they may or may not be a milestone\/warning sign on the imminent ascent\/descent\u00a0of artistic merit for popular music in the decades to come.<\/p>\n

Fuck all that.\u00a0I’m\u00a0taking a different approach with\u00a0the new Meliora<\/em> (Latin for “better”) and giving you my own\u00a0unique perspective on\u00a0how each track in this album sounds upon first listen.<\/p>\n

\"ghost_band_1\"<\/p>\n

Spirit<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 The intro to this\u00a0song\u00a0makes me want to rummage through my giant box of Halloween stuff and try on masks from my childhood. Sounds like 1980s-era\u00a0Ozzy Osbourne<\/strong> and several vintage keyboard\u00a0enthusiasts\u00a0wrote an homage to old Hammer horror\u00a0films.<\/p>\n

From the Pinnacle to the Pit<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 The\u00a0filthy\u00a0bass tone feels like being slapped in the face with a fat, oily sausage. In a good way.\u00a0A\u00a0lost Mercyful Fate<\/strong> song minus the ridiculous cartoon falsetto vocals, and written specifically to get people at\u00a0concert halls swaying and singing along.<\/p>\n

Cirice<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Sounds very much like Ghost’s take on\u00a0the Hellraiser\u00a0theme as an opening, plus a thumping rhythm section that amps up a\u00a0slightly morose chorus. Contains a keyboard solo and break straight out of Castlevania. Very interesting choice for a single ahead of the album’s release.<\/p>\n

Sp\u00f6ksonat<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Holy shit there’s a harp in here! Also I got a whiff of campfire while listening to this instrumental interlude and it kinda makes me want to be an 18th century woodcarving merchant in Austria.\u00a0Guten morgen, Toilette der H\u00f6lle. M\u00f6chten Sie mein holz handwerk zu kaufen?<\/em><\/p>\n

He Is<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Ahh yes, let’s slow it down a bit with a ballad for Satan… yep there’s a void reference, too. Ooh\u00a0man those key changes. This is what\u00a0Journey<\/strong> would sound like if they\u00a0were trapped in an underground cathedral for a month and forced to write a worship song.<\/p>\n

\"ghost_band_3\"<\/p>\n

Mummy Dust<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Yeah let’s turn that gain back up again for a heavier\u00a0mid-paced thrasher. This has\u00a0a perfect old-school headbanging riff with\u00a0sneering vocals (!) and\u00a0big, bombastic choir\/orchestra stabs that\u00a0belong in a Dio<\/strong> stage show. Definitely the standout song so far. Makes you\u00a0want to stand on a castle turret in a lightning storm.<\/p>\n

Majesty<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 “Hey dad check out this song, it’s got that 70s vibe you say all the bands today lack!” Okay it’s not quite<\/em> that retro, but this is the most classic rock-sounding of the bunch so far, but still has that smooth, mellow Ghost chorus you wont find in other brands… I mean bands. Sounds the most like a track from Infestissumam<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Devil Church<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 There’s that Castlevania church organ vibe again, mixed with some huge, Broadway-style choirs. Again, in a good way. Sounds like the instrumental ending number of a musical, if the musical were about procreating the Antichrist.<\/p>\n

Absolution<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Oh yes, back to the heavy. Snaking minor keys and mocking, coaxing vocals that seem tailor-made to get an entire venue singing along in unison.\u00a0The piano accents in this song fit perfectly. I\u00a0can see\u00a0this song as a cheesy mid-80s\u00a0MTV video played only after 2AM and centered around an enormous overlit stage with a huge grand piano on it.<\/p>\n

Deus In Absentia<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 The sound of a (monstrance) clock returns for the album closer, containing\u00a0punchy staccato verses and surprisingly upbeat choruses… at least at first, before the darkly burbling synths and gorgeous live choir play us out\u00a0with a final hymn to an\u00a0absence of god.<\/p>\n

\"ghost_band_2\"<\/p>\n

In short, if you’re a fan of Ghost, you’ll find a lot to like in Meliora<\/em>. Not every track is a neckbreaking slammer, nor does it\u00a0need to be, and that variation is what makes the album a great listen. Thanks to some serious songwriting talent, Papa Emeritus III and his Nameless Ghouls maintain their unique\u00a0sound while continuing to branch out and (tastefully) expand their style repertoire in a way that both keeps fans on the hook and attracts newcomers to the cult of the black robes.<\/p>\n

Meliora <\/em>also has the honor of (anti)christening\u00a0our new\u00a0rating system.<\/p>\n

\"4-5_of_5\"<\/p>\n

4.5\/5 Toilets Ov Hell<\/h2>\n

Meliora<\/em> is available today<\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0Loma Vista Recordings. Stream the full album here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(images via<\/a> via<\/a> via<\/a>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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