Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I think a lot of work went into developing the character(s) and themes, but yeah, it's aesthetics and stagecraft like Alice Cooper, and really like a lot of rock, and especially metal, bands pretending to be tough or scary somehow. This is almost a more honest "show" upfront.
I guess there wasn't a way to say that without it sounding extremely negative, but what I mean is that song has almost no relation to that aforementioned aesthetic or branding we were discussing, it's just a poppy glam rock song. So maybe it's not horseshit because it is exactly what it is.
For me too, thought it really dragged in the second half, but then I really dug in on subsequent listens; how can one not love a lengthy instrumental complete with saxophone solo? I had a very similar experience with Infestissumam, actually, and the albums preceding each of those respectively are the more straight-ahead guitar rock albums I like best. I'll have to give Impera another listen through the lens of it being kind of the synthesis and culmination of all this.
I like their big rockin' hits as much as the next guy but can not listen to one of their albums for the life of me, whereas I've already taken Dream Widow for a few of spins.
This is all very educational for me, because I've heard of Ghost but never bothered to dive in. Sounds like I should get started at Twenties!
I will say something nice about that song, which is the contrast between the 1920s and now and referring to today as "the 20s" while also sounding antiquated is cool. That's it. =)
But just try the first album, Opus Eponymous, it's pretty immediately representative of what good you're going to get out of this band and whether or not it's for you.
Aww, Probot was great! You know for some reason, I think of Lemmy more than any other on that album.
With good reason, his track was a standout and was pushed the hardest. I also think it's just objectively pretty memorable, from the title (SHAKE YER BLOOD!), music and lyrics on down, "Looking for relief, in your miserable life, you need some rock n roll, and you better get right!" It's so cheeky yet I feel the command to rock out right is genuine.
Hey buddy, stop validating around with MY WIFE!
The former was a pretty perfect one-sentence summation actually. It would almost fit with a defense of their appeal if not for the second part. =)
All I'll say is, metal, rock, pop or whatever, those vocal and guitar melodies are consistently tasty as hell, easily digestible or not.
Last edited:
), but I think that's why the creepy occult bit is important to the band's overall appeal outside of softer covers like If You Have Ghosts, and probably why I'm less enthralled with their recent glam rock leanings. I think my favorite vocal performance is the crescendo in the aforementioned Spirit, but that's of course greatly supported by the music as well.
Honestly though, most of my music spending over the years has been on Bandcamp. I love finding obscure shit on there. It's been a better discovery tool for me than the suggested tracks on streaming services. I'll spend an evening listening to a dozen or so bands and end up buying an album or two each time. 
