31 Songs of Halloween 2017, Day 5

Ghost, or "Ghost BC" as they've sometimes been known due to a legal dispute, have been described as "metal for people who hate metal". I don't know if I'd agree with that, I don't even know that I would classify them as metal despite winning a Grammy in that category. Personally they strike me as more of a soft rock group with a traditionally metal gimmick. But no matter how you choose to classify them, their 2010 debut album "Opus Eponymous" was on the heavier side compared to later releases. And that is where we find today's song. The wonderfully atmospheric "Ritual".


The band, or solo project, depending on which side you take in yet another, more recent legal dispute, has a somewhat elaborate fictional backstory, but it boils down to this: The band are masked Devil worshippers ("Nameless Ghouls") who periodically replace their lead singer/high priest.*

 "Ritual" might be the best song to convey the idea, one can just picture coming on an abandoned, desecrated Church on a gloomy moonlight night. Chants to arcane, accursed demons and the smell of fresh sacrifices wafting on the Autumn breeze through the darkness, before the cultists turn and notice you, too late to run!


*In actuality the lead singer has remained the same, just using the backstory as an excuse to change outfits and prosthetic masks with each new album. This same singer is now in a legal dispute with his former bandmates, claiming Ghost was always a solo project with hired help.

Comments