9 / 12
h
Critic's
Corner
Not quite ready to release a full album,
the metal band Ghost decided to go the EP
route to put some new music out.
Popestar
was released right around the start of their
tour and is available as both a deluxe edition
of last year
’
s album, Meliora, and as a five
song EP by itself. Most fans new to the way
Ghost works didn
’
t know before buying this
EP that only one song is actually new. The
other four songs on the album are haunting
covers ranging from the year 1984 to 2006.
First up is the new song which was
actually released several days before the EP
and is definitely building the hype for the
upcoming EP. The song, "Square Hammer"
already has over 1.6 million views on
Youtube since its release a few weeks ago.
The video for this song was reminiscent of
the original
Dracula
and paired well with
this anthem-like song that is pretty normal
for Ghost. The song was epic on every level
and, in my opinion, better than a few of the
songs off of
Meliora
, which was my favorite
album of 2015.
The first cover song on the album
is "Nocturnal Me" from an old rock band,
Echo and the Bunnymen. I haven't heard the
original, but this song works very well with
By Allyson Shoff
lead singer Papa's crooning voice, and the
overall feel of the song is similar to the
expected feel of a Ghost song. Someone going
into this album with no prior knowledge that
it was a cover might actually think they wrote
it.
The next song, "I Believe," does even
more to show Papa
’
s crooning vocals and
starts with a beautiful acoustic riff. "I
Believe" doesn
’
t sound quite like a Ghost
song, but it fits well in this album. This
calming song is perfect for the middle of the
album and was originally written by Simian
Mobile Disco. The only cover song on the
album from this century, it
’
s probably my
favorite on the album, aside from "Square
Hammer" of course!
The next song is a bit deeper in vocal
ranges and works well to display Papa
’
s vocal
range. "Missionary Man" was originally
written by the 80s pop-rock group,
Eurythmics. It
’
s a pretty groovy song that
’
s
pretty catchy. While I haven
’
t heard the
original song, my mother grew up with this
kind of music. She recognized the music style
as that of the Eurythmics, but couldn
’
t quite
place the song. As the second oldest song on
this album, it
’
s surprisingly upbeat and
slightly chaotic.
The final song is highly unexpected from a
band like Ghost. "Bible" was written by the
Scandinavian band, Imperiet. This very
calming song is probably my least favorite on
the album, but I don
’
t hate it. With very
obvious religious themes, this isn
’
t an
expected song from Ghost when considering
their previous themes, but Ghost still pulls it
off well. If I just heard this song on the radio,
I wouldn
’
t recognize it as Ghost though. I feel
this song is kind of out of place in this aspect
since all of the other songs on the EP are
obviously done by Ghost.
Overall, this EP was a great way to follow
their highly unexpected Grammy for
“
Best
Metal Performance.
”
With more
“
radio
friendly
”
bands up for nomination such as
Sevendust, Slipknot, and August Burns Red, I
don
’
t think anyone expected Ghost or Lamb
of God to win, but Ghost took home the
Grammy for "Cirice" off of their third album
Meliora
. With this EP, Ghost prepares for the
fourth studio album that will probably be
released in early 2017 as they have announced
they are very far into the writing process.
Music
Review of Ghost's
Popestar EP