Across six albums, numerous frontman and many different styles, Ghost have taken over metal in spooky, spectacular style. This is how they’ve done it, through 13 dead-good tracks…
From the pits of heaviness to the pinnacle of stadium-sized melody, Ghost have covered a lot of unhallowed ground in their 15-year existence, often defying their own history. Here’s their steps traced in, appropriately, 13 of their greatest hymns…
Written in 2006, four years before the release of Opus Eponymous, Stand By Him provided the kernel of the idea that became modern rock’s most unlikely success story. Listening back to it now, it’s interesting to hear how many of those hallmarks we’ve come to know and love were already in place. Chugging guitars? Check. Retro keyboards? Check. Seductive hooks? You betcha. Demonic lyrics? The first line is, ‘The Devil’s power is the greatest one,’ for goodness’ sake! If the Opus Eponymous version is missing anything from those early days, it’s that rough-around-the-edges underground sound, which made it impossible to tell just when the hell it had been recorded. What a starting point this was.
Though Stand By Him was the first Ghost song written, their debut single Elizabeth was the first taste the general public got of their ghoulish ways. It was also an early example of the band’s proclivity for taking historic cues for their tunes. While this initially sounded like an aching paean to a love interest named Elizabeth, it’s actually about Elizabeth Báthory, a Hungarian noblewoman who, along with her servants, was accused of killing hundreds of girls and women. Romantic it ain’t, then. It does, however, successfully illustrate Tobias’ innate gift for taking despicable subject matter and making it sound like honey for the soul.
All the Ghost hallmarks are present and correct here, but – to steal Spinal Tap’s musical philosophy – they’re dialled up to 11. It’s as if the band went into this one with a brief to remind people that The Devil has all the best tunes. Grandiose and propulsive, Year Zero was the first Ghost song that truly showed the possible breadth of their sound and the scale of their ambition. It’s also noteworthy as having been primarily written by then-guitarist Martin Persner, Tobias’ former bandmate in Magna Carta Cartel. That’s interesting, because if you had to pick one song that exemplified what Ghost were about, Year Zero, with its many different references to the dark lord (‘Belial, Behemoth, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Satanas, Lucifer’) would arguably be top choice. Oh, and it’s also got a very rude video featuring a glimpse of Papa’s pecker.
Ghost’s shows have long been described as rituals, but it wasn’t until this, the final track from Infestissumam, that the band had a song that tapped into that sense of communion. Named after clocks used in churches during the Renaissance, this slow burner would close out shows for many years. And it’s easy to see why, given its request to ‘Come together for Lucifer’s son’ – even if the suggestive lyrics are calling for group activities beyond mere sing-alongs. It’s safe to say a song about a clock has never been so filthy.
Ghost had made an early foray into making doom danceable on Satan Prayer from Opus Eponymous. But Satan Prayer walked so that Mummy Dust might run, right down to the discotheque, to shake a leg in spectacular style. While it’s a song with deceptive lyrical depth, musically it perfectly reflects the luxuriousness of Meliora. Its final stretch, combining choral ecstasy, mischievous keys, a lilting bassline and shunting guitars has long made Mummy Dust a highlight of live shows, the point at which the confetti cannons go off and hearts soar. It’s important to remember, then, that sometimes more is more.
This is a great song about that tale as old as time – the fall from grace. And, as Tobias reminds us, ‘It is a long way down.’ Heralded by an elastic bassline that carves out the main motif with the roughness of a bitter butcher, From The Pinnacle To The Pit’s sonics seem to have been designed to shake the listener, to hammer home the message that while you can make hay while the sun shines, if you go and fuck things up you’re going to come crashing down, possibly in the fires of Hell. As cautionary tales go, this one manages to be both harrowing and hypnotic at the same time. And irresistible. Heed its words.
Is this Ghost’s most autobiographical song? Almost definitely. Not in the sense that it explains who Papa is, but in revealing a great deal about the man behind Papa. Perhaps that should be the ‘boy’, as Absolution’s lyrics hark back to Tobias’ childhood in Linköping. He’s explained how, inspired by his musical heroes, he’d long wanted to go somewhere else and be someone else. ‘As a child with your mind on the horizon’ and ‘Put your hands up and reach for the sky’ beautifully capture that desire for the intangible, while elsewhere there’s – presumably – some poetic licence with regards to how far Tobias went to get what he wanted: ‘All those things that you desire / You will find there in the fire.’ But, who knows? Maybe he did actually sell his soul for global fame…
Ghost’s best track? There’s a large faction of fans who’d tell you it is – and with very good reason. Kicking off the band’s Popestar EP, and written as an opener for their live shows, every note of Square Hammer seems designed to galvanise – from the propulsive snare of its intro, to a sumptuous chorus that, to paraphrase American Dad, is like being kissed by God with a mouthful of scotch. As a result, it became a fan favourite and a crossover classic that hooked in new listeners. It’s so good, in fact, that no matter how many times you listen to it, you never stop to ask what the hell a Square Hammer actually is.
Remember when we said how good Tobias was about creating addictive tunes that make difficult stuff palatable? How about the spectre of death, then, that waits to embrace us all? While not necessarily prime subject matter for a celebratory show-stopper, Pro Memoria is still absolutely gorgeous, with orchestra swells and keys doing the bulk of the heavy lifting, which serves to make things more unnerving, while reminding us that a truly great song works however it’s rendered. Meanwhile, its choral outro recalls the Pet Shop Boys’ It’s A Sin, which makes sense, as Ghost included a version of it on the Exalted edition of Prequelle.
If the nudge-wink title of Ghost’s Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic EP made you blush, then Mary On A Cross probably had you needing to take a cold shower. Simultaneously about crucifixion and cunnilingus, it is the strangest track to ever become a TikTok sensation (albeit a warped, slowed-down version). Plus, in the context of Ghost’s lore, it reached into the past to give us Papa Nihil in his pomp, while nakedly embracing a laconic, late-’60s style. Which, incidentally, found the band taking on an Austin Powers-ish swing on the even more shagadelic B-side, Kiss The Go-Goat.
A more recent example of Ghost marrying nefarious historical deeds to a tune of colossal proportions – a characteristic no doubt inspired by Tobias’ heroes in Iron Maiden. This time around it’s the notorious exploits of Jack The Ripper, albeit captured via tongue-in-cheek lyrics (‘He sliced and diced our dreams to pieces’) that also namecheck Seven Sisters and The Wizard Of Oz, in what must be a first, as well as quite possibly the greatest range of influences distilled in a single Ghost song. The intro is pure Mission-ish goth, while the many guitar leads could have been played by Slash himself. For sheer grandiosity, this is a song that offers little respite.
Surprise-released with last year’s Rite Here Rite Now film, The Future Is A Foreign Land is from the band’s 1969 era, when Papa Nihil was fronting the band. A new song that sounds old, then, which is what Ghost do best. It’s a fascinating addition to the back-catalogue, blending surf guitars and lyrics that looks hopefully to an unknown future (‘So let us pray for more in 2024’) in which dark regimes and despots are a thing of the past but love remains. Given the hellscape we find ourselves in now, it’s an upbeat tune with very depressing implications.
The second single from Skeletá arrived as Tobias was suggesting that the band’s sixth opus would be “more introspective”. Anyone worried that this has resulted in restraint and navel-gazing, however, could rest easy. Preceding single Satanized had already shown where they were headed, and this vampiric cut wastes little time sinking its fangs into your ears. As Kerrang!’s Skeletá review explained, “Lachryma allows sadness to seep in, accompanied by Sabbath-worshipping weight,” which is a formula Ghost fans want delivered straight into their veins, for as long as Tobias is willing to pump it in there. This is as irresistible as blood to Nosferatu.
This feature originally appeared in the special edition Kerrang! Presents Ghost magazine
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