Con Clavi Con Dio

This week I have been listening quite a bit to the eagerly awaited debut full length by mysterious, secretive, Satanic Swedes Ghost, Opus Eponymous. After much spinning of their demo and the Elisabeth 7" from Iron Pegasus, hopes were high for this release.

Here we have the three songs from the demo and 7" re-recorded, plus new material.
Ghost seem to inhabit that strange ground between metal and occult rock, using similar mise en scene to The Devil's Blood, etherial organs, genuine feel of occultism and the distance from everyday lifecreated by the old sound favoured by these bands.
However, I feel that the demo and single had more of a warm, 70s feel to them whereas the album feels a bit more modern.  Gone is the Mercyful Fate-style promise of the demos and instead the band sound a bit more clinical and produced.

But that's just a small gripe.  What the cult have produced here stands apart from all other releases I've heard for a long time due to the complete Hammer horror style atmosphere that pervades the entire album.
Top notch, well worth the wait.

Now Listening To: GHOST

Listening to my copy of the recent 7 inch record by GHOST. You not heard them yet? Check out their shit, it's unreal. It was announced a little while ago that they are playing at the 2011 Roadburn festival in Holland, so I'll be checking them out live there. I also read that they are due to play in London sometime soon (like in 3 weeks time from the date of this blog post) but it's unlikely that I'll be able to make it along to that. But you never know!

GHOST will be releasing their debut album, "Opus Eponymous" in 2 weeks from now on October 18th 2010. I'm guessing that a lot of people won't read this blog post before the record is released (if ever!), so may I take this opportunity to recommend it to you highly and point you in the right direction to go and BUY a copy of it!

Roll on RB11!