Occult rock stars Ghost kicked off their current “Popestar US Tour” at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium in Riverside, California on Monday night. You can now watch fan-filmed video of the songs ‘Square Hammer’ and ‘Mummy Dust’ from that show below:Continue reading
Ghost have released another new teaser clip entitled The Summoning VI: The Proceedings Intensify in the wake of the release of their new Popestar EP which debuted at the No. 1 position on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Hard Rock Albums. The release is also the first EP to top the Top Rock Albums chart in its 10:year history. You can watch the teaser below: Continue reading
Back when Swedish occult rockers Ghost were just hitting their stride of popularity, Ghost Cult was fortunate enough to interview a Nameless Ghoul. At the time, they dropped an exclusive bit of news on us, that they had the plan for their entire next five years of releases pretty set in stone. Continue reading
“Belial! Behemoth! Beelzebub! Asmodeus! Satanus! Lucifer!” If you are at show and hearing this verse sung by a choir, you are most certainly in the church of Ghost! The dark one goes by many names and Ghost knows them all, preaching their Satan loving philosophy in an occult rock candy coating shell of musical goodness. They are catchy enough to be popular in the modern sense of any metal band being “popular”, but make no mistake; this is one of the most subversive groups to infiltrate the mainstream in a long time. On this night the current leg of the US “Black To The Future” tour stopped off once again in Arizona, with the faithful masses gathered at the ready. Commanded by the ministrations of Papa Emeritus III and his Nameless Ghouls, crowds at a Ghost headline show are often found in a froth from the jump off. The set list was a heavy mix of 2015’s Meliora (Spinefarm/Loma Vista) and the bands’ earlier work too. The aura and imagery are certainly entrancing, but it is the music that makes fans commit so deeply to the band. They were captured for Ghost Cult tonight by Melina Dellamarggio of Melina D Photography.
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Ghost are the sort of band that attract a huge diversity of fans, all with an intensity of support and admiration for the Swedish occult rockers and their penchant for matters Satanic and enormous, 70’s influenced tunes. Now deep into a tour that has seen them traverse the USA as well as mainland Europe in support of their critically acclaimed and warmly received third album, Meliora (Spinefarm) – Ghost Cult’s Album Of The Year for 2015 – this final show of 2015 had a real sense of occasion about it.
The sold out venue is heaving; literally and (in terms of audience anticipation) figuratively. Fellow Swedes Dead Soul provide a, ahem, lively opening. Their atmospheric blend of Nine Inch Nails industrial rock meeting Nick Cave and Johnny Cash in a darkened alley and agreeing to go for another round of drinks somewhere less than salubrious is a dark and delicious delight and the audience’s annoyance that their 30 or so minutes seems to be over in a flash, is palpable. Come back soon, gentlemen.
Ghost arrive as long lost heroes. The roar of approval for the purple robed Papa Emeritus III is as loud as it is warm. Ghost have, quietly but assiduously, built themselves an enviable canon of songs that are greeted with raucous and genuine affection. Much of the set is inevitably around the latest record which is all fine and dandy given that it’s one of the best of the past 12 months. ‘Mummy Dust’ has an added venom and sense of danger than is perhaps initially obvious on the album and is all the better for it. ‘Majesty’ reveals itself as one of the album’s tent-poles, layered and intoxicating. ‘He Is’ has become something of an instant classic, 1000 voices joining in unison around a song that seems destined to be this generation’s power ballad of choice. Never has the phrase Satanic Abba seemed more apposite. ‘From the Pinnacle to the Pit’ has one of the filthiest basslines that you’re likely to hear this or any other year and is greeted like some twenty year old classic rather than a new cut from a new album.
Ghost’s ability with melody has been well documented; live they have become a beguiling and compelling proposition. Anyone who harboured any doubts about whether they could cut it as a headliner or move out of the constrictions of simple novelty act should dispense them immediately. Ghost are intelligent, self-aware and self-deprecating in equal measure. They have evolved; they have a better sense of showmanship and audience interplay. Where early shows revolved around Papa shuffling around the stage simply dousing the audience with incense has now morphed into a full on rock show with The Nameless Ghouls losing the monks hoods and sporting very fetching demon masks and dominating the front, sides and back of the stage. ‘Year Zero’ has drama and danger in equal measure, ‘Guleh’ feels cathartic and invigorating. The old – and misplaced – adage that cover versions are never as good as originals has now been ground to (mummy) dust as the band’s cover of the Rory Erikkson song ‘If You have Ghosts’ amply demonstrates- this is now, unequivocally, their song. Closing track ‘Monstrance Clock’, arriving as assuredly as the morning sun, is valedictory.
I doubt whether Ghost actually intended this, but this show at the start of Christmas week was the capital’s alternative Christmas Evensong, such was the intensity of performance, the proliferation of ecclesiastical ritual and an overall ambience of rich, invigorating passion.
Stunning; absolutely stunning.
WORDS BY MAT DAVIES
PHOTOS BY GARY ALCOCK and SUSAN WALL
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1. Ghost – ‘Meliora’ (Spinefarm)
Released on 21st August, Ghost Cult’s Album of the Month for September and now our official Album of the Year, managed, even in a year in which Slayer released a divisive selection and Iron Maiden unveiled a 90 minute double album after a five year hiatus, to dominate conversations, causing arguments and endless discussions about it’s place in their canon and Ghost‘s status in the world of rock and metal.
For a “new” act to take on the established acts for column inches and internet debate is testament to how successful the Satanic vision of the original Nameless Ghoul has been.
The band formed in 2008 with a simple mission to spread the word of Satan through the medium of retrospective rock with the devil’s harmonies carrying and subverting the masses.
“This is the album where Ghost have consolidated the tricks and tropes that drew us into their strange vaudevillian universe to begin with and the album that will hold us there for some time more. Meloria sees Ghost honing all their tricks into one accessible and often infectious package.”
Much as dream follows day, Infestissumam saw a definite evolution and movement on from Opus Eponymous, and so Meliora is a further celebration of the Ghost sound, of their continued exploration of a musical niche, adding rock opera tendencies, even, at times, grinding War Of The Worlds into the feted gristle flowing through their distinctive Satanic mills as 70’s synths flutter, guitar solo sing, and holding it all together into memorable hook-filled hymns is Papa Emeritus III.
You can throw superlatives, or analyse things to the nth degree, or you can enjoy that most special of things – an album filled from top to bottom with great songs.
And more than anything, THAT is why Meliora is the Album of 2015.
Ghost Cult Top 50:
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Part two of the Ghost Cult Magazine countdown to our Album of 2015.
And now the end is near, and so we face 2015’s final curtain, and once more the Ghost Cult army got together to vote for their favourites. The results? Over 20 writers pitched and voted on over 220 albums ranging from indie pop to the most horrific savage tentacle laden death metal showing the depth and breadth of the official Ghost Cult Album of the Year for 2015.
The countdown (to extinction) continues…
40. Arcturus – ‘Arcturion’ (Prophecy)
“Once again every track has its own theme and spirit – the “carnivalesque” sound that has been part of their image since LMI is still present… but in terms of musical excellence and thematic power it matches or even exceeds that classic album. Whether or not you’ve ever engaged with Arcturus before, do so now.”
39. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – ‘The Night Creeper’ (Rise Above)
“Throw (it) on at the end of a long day and just let fuzz consume your mind…The Night Creeper is an album worthy of a place in your doom collection. It’s got all of the darkness and foreboding of regular doom but without putting you (me) to sleep.”
Review by Aleida la Llave here
38. Kontinuum – ‘Kyrr’ (Candlelight)
A swirling, enchanting brew of post-rock with touches of blackened metal and psychedelic swirls, as melancholia most vivid is wrapped in progressive motions and dreamy epics and delivered to the sub-conscious in swathes.
37. Cloud Rat – ‘Qliphoth’ (Halo of Flies)
“Qliphoth is a snapshot of a ferociously dedicated and hardworking band continuing to carve out their own unique sense of what Grindcore can be. Cloud Rat have offered something both rare and interesting, and have made themselves genuinely the best new Grindcore band in years in the process.”
36. Khemmis – ‘Absolution’ (20 Buck Spin)
A cocktail of stoner, progressive and doom metal, unafraid to stretch it’s mighty wings to allow an epic to pound and unfold, and proud to worship at the altar of The Riff.
35. Melechesh – ‘Enki’ (Nuclear Blast)
“If ‘Ethnic Metal’ is a poor fit for Melechesh’s music, Black Metal is almost as inappropriate. The snarled vocals and trebly guitars put it superficially in that style, but the song-writing owes more to classic Thrash and Heavy Metal, filtered through the ever-present Mediterranean voice.”
34. Puscifer – ‘Money Shot’ (Puscifer Entertainment)
Album of the Month – November “Puscifer delivers money shot after money shot in the form of aural enjoyment. So, instead of pounding away at your keyboard on social media bitching about the next Tool album, maybe you should hit up YouTube and try out Puscifer.”
33. Black Breath – ‘Slaves Beyond Death’ (Southern Lord)
“Produced by Kurt Ballou, the album crawls, kicks, stamps, and screams abuse into your face, pulverizing you in a variety of different ways; never dull with the slower parts merely serving to accentuate the chaotic flurries of speed and aggression when they do arrive.”
32. Cradle of Filth – ‘Hammer of the Witches’ (Nuclear Blast)
“Hammer Of The Witches is a competent enough album by a band who know exactly what they’re doing, and fans of their most recent material will find something worth listening to here, but those still waiting for a return to former glories may need to decide whether we’re happy to settle for the next best thing”
31. Nightwish – ‘Endless Forms Most Beautiful’ (Nuclear Blast)
“Nightwish, the rulers of symphonic metal have returned and are ready to take over the world with their new album Endless Forms Most Beautiful. Trying to pick out highlights from this album is like trying to pick needles out of a stack of predominantly needles – there is not a strand of hay in sight.”
Hailing from Finland, the country that gave us Nokia phones, Nightwish, and the actual home of Santa Claus, comes psychedelic sextet Jess and the Ancient Ones. Formed in 2010 initially as a seven piece, the band released their self-titled début two years later and quickly found themselves lumped in with the burgeoning occult-themed rock movement; their second full length album Second Psychedelic Coming: The Aquarius Tapes (Svart) distancing them from such casual pigeon-holing, proving there’s more to JATAO than just occult imagery with a ’60s/’70s vibe.
Beginning with a drum intro that sounds like The Surfaris performing ‘Wipe Out’ at midnight while wearing black robes and cowls, opener ‘Samhain’ (remember to pronounce that as “Sow-in”, kiddies) is basically surf music for Satan. Adding excerpts from the “Witches’ Sabbath” episode of CBS’s Radio Mystery Theater, actor E.G. Marshall‘s monologue about convocations of sorcerers, old chronicles and orgies gives the song a real White Zombie feel before hitting you with an unnaturally bouncy riff and a chorus you won’t be able to get out of your head before the next autumn equinox.
‘The Flying Man’ slows things down a little and features some nice organ work and a simple chorus. ‘In Levitating Secret Dreams’ is a catchy little number with hand claps and more surf guitars, written about Swiss scientist Dr. Albert Hofmann. Not heard of him? Well, he’s the chap who synthesised LSD way back in 1938 and took the world’s first intentional acid trip five years later.
‘The Equinox Death Trip’ is driven by a pulsing bass line and a strong beat. Singer Jess‘s vocals ring clear above everything, backed by some nifty keyboard work and lots of wah pedal during the extended solos. No album like this would be complete without the recorded ramblings of Charles Manson, and the excellent ‘Wolves Inside My Head’ uses them to great effect, accompanying the trippy surf guitar riffs and “Oh, Charlie darling. What have you done?” refrain perfectly.
If you ever wanted a song where a band throws everything they have at a dartboard to see what sticks, then the ambitious 22 minute closer ‘Goodbye To Virgin Grounds Forever’ is for you. Luckily, far more sticks than falls out, and although clearly overlong, only really drags in a couple of places.
Although not as immediate as the début, The Second Coming has a lot more going on and may take a few listens to fully get to grips with. It can occasionally feel cluttered, or conversely, need a bit of a kick every now and again, but overall it’s a more than worthy follow-up that will have you reaching for the denim flares and incense sticks to make the experience even more authentic.
8.0/10
GARY ALCOCK
Despite much of the mass media largely ignoring such bands, or at least making little mention of them, the underground metal scene has proven to show an abundance of talent, amazing presence and pushing of boundaries. The survival and even the thriving of such bands is down purely to a greater weapon than print headlines and media has to offer: the word of mouth of the passionate music lover.
Formed in 1999, Italian psychedelic doom merchants Ufomammut may not be a household name to everyone, but they come with a reputation amongst those in the know as an unparalled live act, armed to the teeth with stunning screen visuals and bone-shattering riffs. Working on hard graft and underground buzz alone, it’s a triumphant sight to see that tonight’s gig is in the venue’s larger room opposed to the upstairs, cramped bar area as perhaps expected.
Sadly, the combination of your reviewer living away from London in the sticks and his general bumbling, country bumpkin behaviour means only the closing bars of opening act Sedulus are heard, going past the merch stands which includes, amongst the usual paraphernalia, a variety of stunning artwork pieces and a separate vinyl store (both tables are continuously too crowded to check out properly).
Candlelight marks the arrival of the mysterious Jex Thoth with a sense of anticipation amongst some that even rivals that of the headliners. Mostly static and minimalistic in the way of tricks and effects, the band’s presence ensures that all eyes are centered on Jex herself as she glides and stalks the stage with a menacing but graceful air. Mostly cloaked and at times with either candles or burning incense in hand, she gives the impression of being possessed, proving animated but almost entirely disengaged from the audience and more in a world of her own. Sadly towards the end of their set the influx of people more interested in trying to talk over the band than watching the set, which although doesn’t detract too much from their great performance, does leave a sour taste in the mouth.
Ufomammut take to the stage in a similarly low-key fashion: no intro tape or introduction, simply appearing on stage and kicking off with ‘Somnium’ off latest album Ecate (Neurot), its low, psychedelic rumbling builds up into heavier, crushing territory, accompanied by the sound of jaws hitting the floor. Once again stage interaction is kept to a minimum other than to receive rapturous applause in between sections and songs, a response the crowd never fails to give. Much more than just a doom band, aspects are interjected by Hawkwind like spacey effects and even aspects ardent prog fans will enjoy.
Accompanying this are on screen video footage of dark, at times harrowing and creepy imagery which proves a perfect match for their brand of colourful (comparative to many of their peers) doom metal, as the audience is enthralled and entranced throughout. Well that is for the most part, as once again the presence of groups choosing to natter away loudly instead of watching the band they paid to see proves a distraction at times. Fortunately even this doesn’t put a dampener on a monumental set which has both the visual and thought provoking side to it and the bulldozing force and sheer heaviness.
They may not be the darlings of the media, but Ufomammut are a spellbinding live act as the crowd is left completely mind-blown.
CHRIS TIPPELL
Breaking from the embracing arms of The Process Church of The Final Judgement sees Sabbath Assembly reborn, emerging from their cocoon blinking into the light with fresh purpose and a redefining self-titled release. Although officially the bands fifth release Sabbath Assembly (Svart) really does sound like a new beginning for an act reinvigorated by pursuing a modified philosophy. Whether the freedom comes from stepping away from the scriptures of others, or through the musical progressions and developments they’ve chosen to make, nonetheless the evolution is welcome.
No longer tethering themselves to releasing the hymns of The Process Church, Sabbath Assembly sees nine wholly original compositions that, while occult in reference and dark in musical style, transposes their previous work into a new entity. Musically, while influences and styles are clearly rooted in yesteryear, the move to increase the presence of distorted guitars and the proliferation of NWOBHM breaks and passages amongst the Trouble-ed moments is a celebrated addition to their genealogy, meaning the band no longer sit under the “Occult Rock” umbrella, but embrace now their own, more distinctive, sound.
Jamie Myers adds a stronger, more dominant tone of Hammer Horror idiosyncrasy to her previous geniality, as quasi-ritualistic poetic intonations add to an overwhelming atmosphere of 1700’s witchcraft made flesh. Her new approach dovetails with the inherent upbeat catchiness of tracks ‘Confessing A Murder’, ‘Ave Sathanas’ and ‘Burn Me, I Thirst For Fire’, while Kevin Hufnagel’s 80’s influenced guitar work segues from Candlemass dripped doom-shaking to Satan (the band) esque gallops. ‘Only You’ teases a Mercyful Fate bolt, settles into a darkened brood, before racing to the end in a bounce of classic heavy metal riffery. Traditional metal solos enhance and embellish the album throughout, as do the melodic Witchfinder General touches and leads.
Taking an atmospheric turn for the latter third of the album means, dynamically, Sabbath Assembly feels a little strange; not quite tailing off, but as if emerging out the end of a night-time ritual into the stillness of the darkness before dawn as ‘Sharp Edge Of The Earth’ and the beautiful, folky ‘Shadows of Emptiness’ are reflective and breathy.
Of course this isn’t a “new band”, but neither is this a representation of previous ideology, either musically or philosophically. Whatever the impetus for the change in Sabbath Assembly, the culmination of the transformation is overwhelmingly positive in terms of their artistic growth.
7.5/10
STEVE TOVEY