Ghost - Infestissumam (2013)

There is just something so bloody unrewarding about Ghost. Their allegedly unique brand of occult rock-pop just hasn't made its mark on me despite these guys being touted as the next best thing. I'm wondering how popular these guys might've been if they hadn't been dressed up like a Halloween party because for me this seems to be more image rather than sound. I guess if you've never heard all manner of early '70s prog-psych acts with occult influences then Ghost could be deemed startlingly original, but for me this is all rather watery despite the occasion catchy track. Finding Blue Oyster Cult, Bram Stoker, Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, blah blah, far more eerie, Ghost kinda drift by as a yellow summery haze - the vocals of Papa Emeritus II just do not reach the ears with any potency whilst his fright brogade of the Nameless Ghouls trudge away in the distance - bridging the gap between Euro pop and satanically tinged '70s plod. Sure, at times this has all the atmosphere of a crumbling, spook-infested monastery, for instance, the piano-led 'Ghuleh/Zombie Queen' is an almost pleasant seven-minute breath of fresh air - the first half of the cut the perfect soundtrack to the age of Aquarius whilst 'Zombie...' is a darkly-tinged go-go carnival of lost souls. The two main tracks of the album are the opener 'Secular Haze' with its fairground organ and churning guitar, and then there's the eerie chants of 'Year Zero' which dips into a Pet Shop Boys styled groove with the almost whispered vocals adding extra spookiness. Couple this with the tip-toe spookiness of 'Body & Blood' or creeping elusive nature of 'Monstrance Clock' there's no doubting the Munster charm of it all. However, Ghost are NOT the be all and end all of life itself, they HAVE found a niche to some extent but what they offered has the novelty of spending the night in a graveyard but which I'd become quickly bored with by the time the rain starts to fall. Occult rock IS the in thing, but there's a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that tells me it isn't all what its cracked up to be...
7/10