Saturday: Ghost - Meliora

     If you're a Ghost fan -- which I'm not, really -- then you're probably already much more familiar with their latest Meliora than I am. But did you know there's a deluxe edition with a bonus track?

     And once again, it's kind cool, and by the end it gets pretty grand and majestic, in an evil sort of way. "Zenith" apparently didn't make the cut for the regular release of Meliora, but many commenters online think it should have been, including this guy right here. It might not be enough to make me a Ghost fanboy, but it's another step in the right direction. And dat organ!

Sunday: Ghost - Majesty

     As I'm pretty sure I've said before, I've never really been a huge Ghost fan. It's not that I have a problem with the schtick or anything -- I'm totally cool with a gimmick, if you can back it up. But Ghost has always felt a little too camp and just not heavy enough for my liking.

     Regular readers may remember that one of the previous singles for Ghost's upcoming record Meliora, "Cirice", caught my attention and spent some time repeating on my playlist when it came out back in May. Well a single or two later, the latest, "Majesty", has me interested once again, although not nearly as much as "Cirice" did.

     If "Cirice" was grade-A earworm stuff, then "Majesty" is, for me, a slightly less-infectious cut. But that's not say it's not catchy and rocking in the same way, with a retro feel and a sinister vibe that's less genuine evil and malice and more 70's Saturday night horror. Funny, the very same camp I once decried has sorta grown on me. Maybe the rest of Meliora will do likewise? I don't have long to wait to find out.

Wednesday: Ghost - Cirice

     You know I like to do something a little weirder for my Wednesday posts (ain't alliteration absolutely awesome?) and while today's song isn't exactly weird in a Frank Zappa kind of way, it is weird in a proggy, majestic, minor-key sort of way.

     It's actually a little weird that I dig this song enough to feature it, since costumed Swedish metal act Ghost has never really appealed to me before. But their new single "Cirice", from their upcoming third album Meliora, has got its claws in me. I don't know if it's the band's new singer (if indeed the third incarnation of papal vocalist Papa Emeritus is actually a different person than before), or the grand majesty of the choruses, or just that stompy, in-your-face verse riff, but something about "Cirice" appeals to me in a way that Ghost's work hasn't previously. I can most definitely feel the rumble -- can you?