3 keepers
keeper avg .333
From the start Ghost has always been kind of an outlier, omitting the usual sonic battery and visceral lyric content that makes other satanic bands scary. That's not to say that founder Tobias Forge didn't start by following the absolute prototype of heavy metal, as the "Con Clavi Con Dio"*****, which begins the album in earnest after a shaky start, borrows its devil intervals and malevolently galloping beat from none other than Black Sabbath's genre-founding title song, album 1, side 1, song 1. But the departures from that influence are pronounced from the start, as in contrast to Ozzy's demented yowls, Papa Emeritus (seriously) begins by tunefully intoning in 3-part harmony "Lucifer!" (well that's different). And even the reference to ghastly satanic rites in "Ritual"***** seems harmless over the song's Blue Oyster Cult pop-metal chorus; similarity to BOC is not a bad thing as they wrote some definite classics when they put their minds to it.
Like Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast," another album intended to shock the squares, most of the tracks tip toward the pop end of pop-metal; that's not a bad thing as Forge's melodic sense is definitely beyond the norm for the metal genre. "Satan Prayer"**** takes a while to get going, but by they end Forge's English as a second language delivery of "Hear our Satan prayer, our anti-Nicene creed" (rendered as "Sa-tan praaaay-er..... anti- Niss-ee-an creed, specific and creatively pronounced, hilarious) is circling my brain. Though "Stand By Him" ("it's the night of the witch") is decidedly goofy, its chorus is delivered with infectious harmonies and backup vocals. So to sum up, they're the unholy conclave (see what I did there?) of Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, and Abba.
The final high point or the album is the relatively aggressive "Prime Mover." The rest of the songs are kind of a snooze as "Elizabeth" and "Death Knell" are pretty tuneless, and the closing instrumental "Genesis" is melodic but not memorable. At only 34 minutes there isn't room for much more fat. In hindsight it's clear this album was but a rough draft for what was to come. Forge would quickly pare away references to any violent or antisocial lyrical content when he saw the commercial potential of his highly theatrical pop-metal concept. Also, while on this album Forge, who is a highly competent at guitar, handles all of them, he'd later enlist more proficient "nameless ghouls" to shred for him. But what he lacks in technical superiority he makes up for it in his ambition and skill as a tunesmith, which has propelled him out of the purist-ruled satanic metal ghetto to near-mainstream success.
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