█████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▓▓ ██████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▒ ████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▓ █████████████████████████████████████████ ░▒ ▒▒ ░██████████████████████████████████████▒▒▓ ▓ ███████████████████████████████████████ ▒░ ████████████████████████████████████ █ ██████████████████████████████████▒ █ ▓█████████████████████████████████ ▒ ████████████████████████████████ ▒▒ ▒██████████████████████████████ ▒█ █████████████████████████████ ▒█▓▒ ████████████████████████████ ░██░ ░█░ ███████████████████████████ ████ ██████████████████████████▒ ▓████ █████████████████████████▓ █████░ █████████████████████████▓ ██████░ ████████████████████████▓ ███████ ███████████████████████▓ ████████▒ ▓█████████████████████▒ ▓█████████ ████████████████████░ ░███████████▒ █████████░██████▓░ ▒█████████████▒ ██████▓ ██ ▒▒█████████████████▒ ░█████ ███ ░ ░▒████████████████████▒▒ ██████▒░█▒██░█ █▒ ████████████████████████▒ ████████▒ ▓███ ████▓█ ██████████████████████░ ███████ ▒ ░██░ █ ███ ▒███████████████████████ ███████░ ▒ ███ █ ░██████████████████████████ ████████▓ ▓█░ ▒██████████████████████████████▒ ████████░▒██▒██████████████████████████████████ ████████████ █████████████████████████████████▒ ████████████ ████████████████████████████████ ████████████▓░██████████████████████████████▒ ████ ██ ██ █████████████ █████████████████████████████▒ ██ ██ ██████████████████████████████████████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ █████████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ███████████████████████████████████████▓ ██████ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ██████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ █ ██ ████████████████████████████████████▒ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████████████████████████████████▒ ▒ █████████████████████████████████ ▒▒░ ELITE RECORD PLAYERS ███████████████████████████████ ▒▒ █████████████████████████████ ▒ ▒▒ ██████████████████████████▓ ▒▒▒ ████████████████████████ ░▒ ████████████████████ ░▒▓▒ ░ ███████████████▒▒░░▒░█░ ░ ┌────────┐ ────┤ Info ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ Artist | Ghost Title | Prequelle Genre | Metal Format | Album Source | CDDA Time | 50:27 Label | Universal Music Store | 2018 Catalog | 060256762739 Rip | 2018 Bitrate | 260 kbps Size | 98.82 MB Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | Lame 3.98.4 ┌────────┐ ────┤ Tracks ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ 01. Ashes 1:21 02. Rats 4:21 03. Faith 4:29 04. See The Light 4:05 05. Miasma 5:17 06. Dance Macabre 3:39 07. Pro Memoria 5:39 08. Witch Image 3:30 09. Helvetesfonster 5:55 10. Life Eternal 3:45 11. It's A Sin (Bonus Track) 4:40 12. Avalanche (Bonus Track) 3:46 ┌────────┐ ────┤ Notes ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ Swedish melodic metal outfit Ghost delivers tongue-in-cheek sonic sermons centered on horror imagery, the occult, and occasionally Satanic themes. Over surprisingly accessible heavy metal-cum-pop-driven hard rock, the bandmembers originally maintained a strict vow of anonymity, both on record and on-stage. Obscuring themselves with cloaks and heavy makeup, the band is fronted by lead singer Tobias Forge, first known only as Papa Emeritus, whose anti-Pope appearance was recognizable with skull-faced makeup, cardinal robes, miter, and thurible. Subsequent incarnations of this alter ego appeared with each album, as Forge changed from Emeritus II and III into Cardinal Copia for 2018's "Prequelle". "Prequelle", the band's fourth album delivers on the hooky hard rock promise of "Meliora" by doubling down on the 70's and 80's rock tropes that informed it. Foge and company have drawn from a wide pool of inspirations here, from classic late-70's Blue Oyster Cult and Alice Cooper to British heavy metal bands from Def Leppard to Judas Priest, to occult metal provocateurs like King Diamond and pop songwriting that owes much to ABBA. This ambitious set uses the backdrop of the Black Plague during the dark ages as a device for these songs to pivot on. It's not about death so much as how one lives and enjoys life until death inevitably arrives. After opener "Ashes," where creepily ambient electronics frame a haunted kid's choir singing "Ring Around The Rosie" - a song that dates from the Plague years in the 14th century - comes the hit single "Rats", whose double entendre lyrics equate human behavior to be as ravenously bloodthirsty and contagious as rodents. Introduced by whomping snare and kick drum, a stuttering Vivian Campbell riff and ringing twin leads open an insanely catchy melody, articulated by Foge/Cardinal Copia's vocals which alternate between sickly sweet to guttural. The layered choruses could soundtrack any teenage night-driving fantasy. "Faith" wears its metal chops proudly, with Dio-inspired chugs behind Foge. "Dance Macabre" is melodic hard rock brilliance, juxtaposing Blue Oyster Cult's reliance on knotty riffs and upbeat hooks with a vocal chorus straight from the Scorpions' fake book, and framed by Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman's cinematic bombast. "Witch Image" is occult hard pop at its best (complete with phase-shifted drums), wedding a seductive melody to the lyrics 'While you sleep/In earthly delight/Someone's flesh/Is rotting tonight'. The album also boasts a pair of instrumentals: The drifting hard prog of "Miasma" and "Helvetesfonster", where Yes and early King Crimson meet Opeth. "See The Light" flirts with power balladry while transforming itself into a crunchy, headbanging anthem, while closer "Life Eternal" is a ballad proper, offering a sensitive lead vocal that recalls Michael Stipe's, singing about undying love even as mortal death occurs amid a swelling church organ, tender piano, and spidery guitars with an operatic chorus in the final third. On "Prequelle", Ghost deliver fully on the promises of earlier records. Their strengths - including one for imitation - are fully assembled and focused in an exercise of irresistible arena rock excess without sounding like a pastiche. ┌────────┐ ────┤ Salute ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ BERC r35 GCP FWYH NuHS GRAVEWISH JCE KLV