ALBUM REVIEW: Ghost - Skeletá
A look within that reveals little of substance.
In all likelihood, Ghost was always going to end up here. Tobias Forge has never been shy in what his intentions for what the band could be: the occult metal version of Foo Fighters. With Skeletá, their ascent to stadium-filling rock band is complete. Just look at how the new Papa Emeritus is dressed in the music video for “Lachryma” and you’ll see how far the band has come from their Satanic origins. But at what cost? Whereas previous Ghost albums were definitely influenced by glam rock and hair metal, they maintained more than enough of the ghoulish metal that made them stars. Skeletá strips the wrong things away to look within; that gaze reveals a record as thin as the bones it’s named for.
This isn’t to say the band can’t produce a damn good pop metal song anymore. Opener “Peacefield” is the band’s obvious attempt at a Journey song, and they combine occult and Top 40 well enough. Same goes for the over-the-top “Lachryma”, with a chorus so cheesy you can’t help but sing along. “Umbra” is about as bombastic as Skeletá gets, with fantastic guitar and keyboard solos dueling at the song’s peak. But we’ve heard Ghost do this song and dance for a decade now. The songs aren’t bad, but why would I listen to cheaper copies of “Dance Macabre” or “Spillways”? I didn’t want to believe it at first, but “Satanized”, the album’s lead single, was a telltale sign the band isn’t interested pushing the project forward. It’s a watered down version of what came before it; again, not bad, but not nearly interesting enough for anyone but a die hard fan.
Forge is a slave to structure; he’s always been meticulous in constructing his choruses and guitar solos. I have no doubt every guitar solo was designed around the intricate production at the band’s live shows. But when the sound isn’t fun, the same kind of arrangement over and over gets old fast. “De Profundis Borealis” has guitars that should absolutely shred, but Forge’s insistence on these songs sounding good at basketball arenas has taken away the muscle it desperately. Same goes for “Cenotaph”, where the guitars sound thin and muted. It’s mildly helped by some glittery synths, but again, the rock band’s guitars sound terrible. That’s something that should never be said about a Ghost song. Things hit a low point on “Missilia Amori”, a plodding, excruciatingly bad version of what the band does well. For a song about love rockets, there’s nothing explosive; a geriatric Kiss has more oomph than what’s offered here.
Press releases have said this album is the band’s most introspective work to date. Does that count as enough of a theme to make it stand out? Hell no. Every rock album is about love and introspection; that’s not enough to make something memorable. The theme of a Ghost album is super important to the record’s sound. Meliora wouldn’t be what it is if it didn’t give in to a world without God. Prequelle couldn’t fly without strong theming around the Black Plague. With Skeletá, the lack of a backbone leaves a memory of… nothing, really. This lack of character makes the album’s two ballads truly dreadful. “Guiding Lights” and “Excelsis” are as bloodless as possible, wasting Forge’s typical charisma on corny lyrics and forgettable instrumentals. Impera has divisive ballads, but even “Darkness At The Heart Of My Love” was sung with a shit-eating grin; these two tracks are so self-serious it’s laughable.
That self-seriousness is a serious problem across Skeletá. It’s a record that’s not nearly as fun as it thinks it is, from a band who’s never had a problem knowing what they do is patently ridiculous. How could a band who’s biggest hit goes “I wanna be/wanna bewitch you in the moonlight” fall victim to being so unfun? Functional as these songs may be, they never rise to the occasion like the band’s best has. Deep-rooted fans of Ghost will no doubt find things to enjoy about it, but the fact that they have to look so deep for positives is a sign the band is in need of a creative reboot. Will they get that when they sell out shows everywhere they go? Time will tell, but I have a hard time seeing fans demanding “Marks Of The Evil One” over “Cirice” any time soon.
Verdict: 5.7/10
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