Детали релиза : Ghost - Skeletá (2025) [FLAC (tracks)]

Album review

Cloaked in ornate costumes which transform leader Tobias Forge into the satanic Pope "Papa V Perpetua" and the rest of the band into "a group of nameless ghouls," Swedish juggernaut Ghost has mastered a focused, gleaming, impeccably produced pop metal style. Mixing '70s and '80s influences like Boston and Toto with moves from NWOBHM acts like Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, Ghost excel at putting on an elaborate live show. While these productions are a genuine spectacle, the band's ace card is the hooky, smart, singles-oriented songwriting of Salem Al Fakir and Vincent Pontare, who've also worked with Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Avicii. Ghost's universe is canny and appealing from its suggestive-yet-not-really-scary death metal lite music to their finely tuned marketing instincts. About Skeletá, the band says that the "lyrics render the distinct individual emotional vistas … at times as if in a dialogue with oneself in a mirror." And yet a track like "De Profundis Borealis," though vaguely menacing, shows what's really their strongest suit—love songs. "See the palace built of frozen tears/ Is your own built prison/ And if only love could break these chains/ Life could go on," Forge longs. Opeth guitarist Fredrik Akesson, a frequent Ghost collaborator, adds his distinct voice to six tracks on Skeletá including opener "Peacefield" and "Marks of the Evil One." Keyboards and ascending electric guitars collide, propelled by the drums that are so prominent in every mix, on "Umbra" where the philosophical blend is near perfect. The track opens with dread—"The altar is lit with black candles/ The darker the better/ So thrilling it's killing you"—before a turn towards love. But is this affection for the Dark Lord or a more earthly lover? "In the temple of the godly scene/ In the shadow of the Nazarene/ I put my love in you," the song continues. Another theatrical and musical tour de force.

© Robert Baird/Qobuz