22. He Is, 23. Cirice, 24. Secular Haze, 25. Year Zero, & 26. Monstrance Clock Ghost
It's been a while since I posted anything, work as ever gets in the way of anything much more than eating and sleeping, but I have had the chance to do the occasional fun thing and thought as a result of one of the fun things it's about time I posted some more songs.
On the Monday right before Christmas Bethran and I went to see the last night of Ghost’s European tour. We first became aware of them at Sonisphere last year, I can’t say we saw them there as we didn’t, we were eating our lunch near the other stage, waiting for the next band to come on there, when we heard beautiful melodic strains of choral music wafting over the field. It was enough to make us decide to look them up when we got home, and we both decided that they were a very good band, with a sound we liked and that given the opportunity, we’d go and see them live. This resolve was compounded with the release of their latest album Meliora, a couple of months ago, as it has some really good songs on it, in fact I’m not sure there’s a duff one on the whole album.
I should probably give some background about the band at this point as at first glance they’d probably not seem like a band that I’d be into and when you know more about them, they’d definitely not seem like the sort of band I’d be into. One of my friends from work, a devout Jehovah’s Witness saw them when they supported Alice in Chains and really didn’t want to be there while they were on, she found them entirely too disturbing, so I do think they are a band which deserves some warning before people are subjected to them. The salient points here being that the lead singer dresses as a bishop, but with his mitre and robes decorated with their logo which incorporates and inverted cross, and they are classed as black metal, and more specifically as satanic metal. As the Christian daughter of a couple of CofE lay readers, who had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that not all metal was satanic, this group pretty much represents everything my parents thought was true about metal. But the thing is, it really is true that the devil gets the best tunes as they’re brilliant. That’s not to say that there are aspects of their stage persona which I’d rather they didn’t do, having 2 men dressed as nuns handing out unholy communion to the front row is something I’m ever so slightly uncomfortable with, to the extent that had I been in the front row, I’m not sure I could have participated in that with good conscience. Swinging a censer full of incense didn’t really bother me as I’m not Roman Catholic or high church, but it is clearly done for effect as is the bishop’s garb. (though he did lose the robe and mitre part way through, presumably because it was rather hot performing in them.)
What is interesting though is while most of the songs are satanic, evil or horror themed, the band itself, (or rather the lead singer, since the band - the nameless ghouls never speak and in fact don’t have mouth holes in the masks they wear) never promotes any kind of getting the audience to actively engage in anything which could be seen as devil worship - unless of course you count the singing along to the songs... Members of the audience do tend during pauses between songs to shout out the occasional "Hail satan" though whenever they do, it reminds me of the South Park Critter Christmas episode where the woodland creatures say "Hail satan", in that it seems like a joke, rather than something which is actually meant. I’ve read excerpts of interviews where the band have said they’re basically play acting parts, it’s all a performance and not meant as real. There’s certainly nothing in the show which smacks of seriousness, or even of anything sinister, it’s all played for effect and fun. I can see that a lot of the Christians I know would be far too uncomfortable about the whole thing to even consider listening to them, let alone seeing them perform, but then I think they’re the ones who probably disapprove of me anyway :-)
Anyway enough about my hang-ups about the group, onto some of my favorite songs of theirs. The first one He is, is off their latest album and is in fact one of the earliest songs they wrote, but they waited to release it until now as they were worried it didn’t sound enough like them, or was heavy enough. Eventually they just decided to release it as it was and I’m glad they did. This is the song I’d probably choose to show people how beautiful and melodic metal can be. Though I suppose you could argue that this isn’t really a metal song, in fact I’ve seen some arguments online about how Ghost aren’t metal at all, but then you tend to see that a lot online. People get very hung up on what exactly metal is and if it doesn’t fit their definition then it isn’t metal (not to stereotype, but anecdotal evidence points to the nu-metal kids being the most judgmental ones in my experience). I think it’s a good example of how well they can actually play and the fact they can write a decent tune.
Another of my favorites off this album is Cirice it has a good video too complete with a mini Papa Emeritus III and band of mini nameless ghouls. This song is definitely far heavier than He is, but no less melodic imho. I don’t really see how anyone could argue this isn’t metal with those guitars and drums. As far as I’ve seen the main argument that it’s not metal is because of the singing style, as in he sings rather than screams. But there are far more metal bands who sing rather than scream, I’d say the screaming style is just another sub-genre of metal.
If you like those then I’d suggest giving the whole album a listen to, if you’re still not sure, try the video for From the Pinnacle to the Pit, worth it for the video alone I think and a damn good song too.
Moving back to their previous album, Infestissumam my three favorite songs off this are Secular Haze, Year Zero and Monstrance Clock.
I didn’t get to hear Secular Haze live at the concert, which was a shame, I’d have swapped Gulah/Zombie Queen out and replaced it with Secular Haze given a choice, I know the former is a really popular one amongst most people, but I just don’t like it. Secular Haze is however wonderfully poppy and I think again why some people argue they aren’t metal, but how could you not love the organ intro on it? It’s so wonderfully creepy and yet upbeat at the same time :-) It also gives a chance for the singer to show he can do a wonderfully sinister voice when he hisses “Secular Haze”.
Year Zero has the most wonderfully catchy chant and also chorus. It’s quite something to be in a crowd of over 1000 people chanting "Belial, Behemoth, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Satanas, Lucifer" at the top of their voices even if I have a certain amount of catholic guilt over it and also belting out the chorus...
Monstrance Clock is I think my favourite one of their songs and it seems to be universally popular, this was the one we heard floating over the field which made us thing we must find out more about this group. They kept it for the encore, playing it as the final song. Apparently they like to think of it as the orgasm of the evening... And the song is according to them last night about the female orgasm, though you might not think that initially from the words, it would seem to be about the celebration of black mass, but then you get to the chorus and it certainly could be taken two ways. Papa Emeritus II left us in no doubt as to what way he was taking it and to give him his due, he did encourage all the men in the audience to hold off if they could so that they could obey the lyrics :-) as that was better for everyone. Despite all that I wouldn’t say the song was NSFW, it really can be taken quite innocently, though I suppose it partially depends if songs with overtly satanic lyrics are considered safe for your work. I’ve certainly played them at mine and never had complaints, but mainly I don’t think people listen to song lyrics much anyway.
On the Monday right before Christmas Bethran and I went to see the last night of Ghost’s European tour. We first became aware of them at Sonisphere last year, I can’t say we saw them there as we didn’t, we were eating our lunch near the other stage, waiting for the next band to come on there, when we heard beautiful melodic strains of choral music wafting over the field. It was enough to make us decide to look them up when we got home, and we both decided that they were a very good band, with a sound we liked and that given the opportunity, we’d go and see them live. This resolve was compounded with the release of their latest album Meliora, a couple of months ago, as it has some really good songs on it, in fact I’m not sure there’s a duff one on the whole album.
I should probably give some background about the band at this point as at first glance they’d probably not seem like a band that I’d be into and when you know more about them, they’d definitely not seem like the sort of band I’d be into. One of my friends from work, a devout Jehovah’s Witness saw them when they supported Alice in Chains and really didn’t want to be there while they were on, she found them entirely too disturbing, so I do think they are a band which deserves some warning before people are subjected to them. The salient points here being that the lead singer dresses as a bishop, but with his mitre and robes decorated with their logo which incorporates and inverted cross, and they are classed as black metal, and more specifically as satanic metal. As the Christian daughter of a couple of CofE lay readers, who had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that not all metal was satanic, this group pretty much represents everything my parents thought was true about metal. But the thing is, it really is true that the devil gets the best tunes as they’re brilliant. That’s not to say that there are aspects of their stage persona which I’d rather they didn’t do, having 2 men dressed as nuns handing out unholy communion to the front row is something I’m ever so slightly uncomfortable with, to the extent that had I been in the front row, I’m not sure I could have participated in that with good conscience. Swinging a censer full of incense didn’t really bother me as I’m not Roman Catholic or high church, but it is clearly done for effect as is the bishop’s garb. (though he did lose the robe and mitre part way through, presumably because it was rather hot performing in them.)
What is interesting though is while most of the songs are satanic, evil or horror themed, the band itself, (or rather the lead singer, since the band - the nameless ghouls never speak and in fact don’t have mouth holes in the masks they wear) never promotes any kind of getting the audience to actively engage in anything which could be seen as devil worship - unless of course you count the singing along to the songs... Members of the audience do tend during pauses between songs to shout out the occasional "Hail satan" though whenever they do, it reminds me of the South Park Critter Christmas episode where the woodland creatures say "Hail satan", in that it seems like a joke, rather than something which is actually meant. I’ve read excerpts of interviews where the band have said they’re basically play acting parts, it’s all a performance and not meant as real. There’s certainly nothing in the show which smacks of seriousness, or even of anything sinister, it’s all played for effect and fun. I can see that a lot of the Christians I know would be far too uncomfortable about the whole thing to even consider listening to them, let alone seeing them perform, but then I think they’re the ones who probably disapprove of me anyway :-)
Anyway enough about my hang-ups about the group, onto some of my favorite songs of theirs. The first one He is, is off their latest album and is in fact one of the earliest songs they wrote, but they waited to release it until now as they were worried it didn’t sound enough like them, or was heavy enough. Eventually they just decided to release it as it was and I’m glad they did. This is the song I’d probably choose to show people how beautiful and melodic metal can be. Though I suppose you could argue that this isn’t really a metal song, in fact I’ve seen some arguments online about how Ghost aren’t metal at all, but then you tend to see that a lot online. People get very hung up on what exactly metal is and if it doesn’t fit their definition then it isn’t metal (not to stereotype, but anecdotal evidence points to the nu-metal kids being the most judgmental ones in my experience). I think it’s a good example of how well they can actually play and the fact they can write a decent tune.
Another of my favorites off this album is Cirice it has a good video too complete with a mini Papa Emeritus III and band of mini nameless ghouls. This song is definitely far heavier than He is, but no less melodic imho. I don’t really see how anyone could argue this isn’t metal with those guitars and drums. As far as I’ve seen the main argument that it’s not metal is because of the singing style, as in he sings rather than screams. But there are far more metal bands who sing rather than scream, I’d say the screaming style is just another sub-genre of metal.
If you like those then I’d suggest giving the whole album a listen to, if you’re still not sure, try the video for From the Pinnacle to the Pit, worth it for the video alone I think and a damn good song too.
Moving back to their previous album, Infestissumam my three favorite songs off this are Secular Haze, Year Zero and Monstrance Clock.
I didn’t get to hear Secular Haze live at the concert, which was a shame, I’d have swapped Gulah/Zombie Queen out and replaced it with Secular Haze given a choice, I know the former is a really popular one amongst most people, but I just don’t like it. Secular Haze is however wonderfully poppy and I think again why some people argue they aren’t metal, but how could you not love the organ intro on it? It’s so wonderfully creepy and yet upbeat at the same time :-) It also gives a chance for the singer to show he can do a wonderfully sinister voice when he hisses “Secular Haze”.
Year Zero has the most wonderfully catchy chant and also chorus. It’s quite something to be in a crowd of over 1000 people chanting "Belial, Behemoth, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Satanas, Lucifer" at the top of their voices even if I have a certain amount of catholic guilt over it and also belting out the chorus...
Monstrance Clock is I think my favourite one of their songs and it seems to be universally popular, this was the one we heard floating over the field which made us thing we must find out more about this group. They kept it for the encore, playing it as the final song. Apparently they like to think of it as the orgasm of the evening... And the song is according to them last night about the female orgasm, though you might not think that initially from the words, it would seem to be about the celebration of black mass, but then you get to the chorus and it certainly could be taken two ways. Papa Emeritus II left us in no doubt as to what way he was taking it and to give him his due, he did encourage all the men in the audience to hold off if they could so that they could obey the lyrics :-) as that was better for everyone. Despite all that I wouldn’t say the song was NSFW, it really can be taken quite innocently, though I suppose it partially depends if songs with overtly satanic lyrics are considered safe for your work. I’ve certainly played them at mine and never had complaints, but mainly I don’t think people listen to song lyrics much anyway.