That is Ghost. Ghost plays horrifying and unnerving black metal about Satan.  They formed in 2008 as a bunch of friends in Sweden looking to put on a "horror show" and it took them two years to perfect their look, sound, theme, and message.

Their live shows are something straight out of Castelvania with high theatrics and lead singer Papa Emeritus II looks other worldly while staring across the sea of awed fans.The rest of the band just mentioned as "nameless ghouls" keeping the entire band in anonymity.

Ghost takes anonymity to a whole new level staying "in character" off stage and during interviews. The request that their voices are modulated for interviews and it has been noticed that in recent shows Papa Emeritus has begun to wear facial prosthetics to further hide his face along with the Papa Shango makeup.


The biggest critique against them is the pageantry may overcompensate for poor music (ex: The Misfits/Gwar) but as the music definitely is not for everyone, its complex, melodic, and filled with lyrics straight out of a Dark Wizard's spell book. It would be classified as dark metal and Papa Emeritus does display some surprising vocal range and control for singers in this genre.  While it is black metal, it still pounds you with evil intent and drives you with its overall sound.

I have to mention that I may be a sucker for gimmicks, from wrestling to music, I have to appreciate what Ghost brings to the scene. I am a firm believer that most music is created to entertain an audience and too many artists make music for all the wrong reasons. Some musicians write music with the intent to get famous or to make money and it their whole persona comes off as self-serving and disinterested. There is nothing special or interesting about that. You can go to a festival and 30/50 bands stare at the floor and challenge YOU to get THEIR music. Music from its roots was meant to be shared with people for entertainment, and what Ghost is doing may not be your thing but its for entertainment and they clearly enjoy it.

My friend +Joe Depto recommended Ghost to me this week and the first thing I noticed was their live shows are just a spectacle to behold. I'm not the type of person to seek out Metal shows but this ... this is something I want to see in my lifetime. Ghost has won me over thoroughly with their latest album Infestissumam which is 9 tracks of chilling music that sucks you right in from the first track.

Check out Ghost and favorite song "Year Zero" . Get to know this band!