Ghost
Opus Eponymous

The 2000s... seem to be the end of the world for today's music, drowned by singers created only to attract thousands of fangirls merely for commercial reasons like Justin Bieber and Alessandro Casillo, rappers who, if they listed groceries in their songs, would be acclaimed, or even worse, old geezers who mistake the role of a singer for that of an idiot, and perhaps, you know whom I'm talking about...

However, somewhere in Sweden in 2010, a nice group called Ghost, composed of a satanic cardinal as a singer and the rest of the band made up of ghosts (obviously fake), releases a small masterpiece called "Opus Eponymous", which seems to be a testament to that genius and originality that still exist in the music world.

In my opinion, the major influence of the album and the sinister band are Mercyful Fate of King Diamond, and you can't deny it until you have listened to the album, or at least, a couple of songs from the album.

It begins with "Deus Culpa": it's a church chant that introduces us to a dark album. And it officially starts with the second track, "Con Clavi Con Dio", which, upon listening, you can easily confirm the influences of Mercyful Fate. The third track is titled "Ritual", and it proves to be the most exhilarating song of the album, thanks to a brief initial guitar solo that captures the listener, and together with it, the singer's voice (I haven't found his real name, nor those of the other members, so I'll call him cardinal from now on) turns out to be the main element of the song. The fourth track, "Elizabeth", opens with a spectral intro, like almost all the rest of the song, but what differentiates the song's spookiness is the catchy, melodic, and engaging chorus. The fifth track is titled "Stand by Him", and in my opinion, it is the best song on the album because I find it ingenious and it has something new that now remains overshadowed by the poor popularity of the band. The sixth track, "Satan Prayer", proves to be the darkest song on the album, accompanied by sinister riffs that, however, seem to never tire the listener, and it is also worth noting the song's solo: unique. The seventh track "Death Knell", I find it to be a particular track because the more you listen to it, the more interesting it becomes. The eighth track, "Prime Mover", mystical like few others, and at the same time, depressing. The last track, "Genesis", instrumental with "seductive" rhythms, closes a great album beautifully.

After listening to this album, I asked myself a question: why have people like Bullet For My Valentine, Escape the Fate, or Black Veil Brides achieved worldwide success by making horrible songs, while bands like Ghost remain overshadowed by worldwide advertising? I find that this Opus Eponymous is the beginning of something... I eagerly await the next album