New Band: Ghost

Also seen on Heavy Planet:

Ghost is a band that showed up out of nowhere, gained critical acclaim and started joining in on some of the biggest tours in the world - all within a year. We don't know who the people are behind the name, because they wear hoods and masks on stage, and also because apparently the record company isn't saying. Being that we don't know anything about the group, it has lead many to believe that it's a publicity stunt; a revolving collection of nobodies, with only one person (or a record company-backed group) who is recording all of the music and lyrics and they pay the people to pretend to be 'Ghost.' I don't know about all of that, I mean I could easily see someone/some company do that, but it seem like a lot of effort for mixed results. Because of the anonymity and mystery behind the group, reviews have been mixed, with some being to concerned about what/who is behind the group and their sudden rise to fame. For me it's about the music, so after this intro, that is what I'll focus on; the music of Ghost and their debut, Opus Eponymous.

Opus Eponymous is another example of a good album throughout, but not anything that 'pops.' It has mostly all good songs, with a couple that get kind of dull, but no song stands out above the rest, there is no clear single - although "Elizabeth" was released as one, but it wasn't one of their strongest songs. Ghost plays a sort of gothic-doom, without actually spending much time in either. The songs are good - I found my self tapping my foot with the beat - I enjoyed listening to it, but I can't see it being anything as amazing as some people out there do. I could listen to the album again, I'm in no rush to, but I could. And after some of the trash out this is a complement in itself.
As I said, all of the songs are decent; the only tracks that fell behind the pack were; "Satan Prayer" and "Prime Mover" (well the intro piece "Deus Culpa" was poor too, but that's the truth in almost every intro song), but again they didn't falter by much. Just as there wasn't any song that stood far above the group, the tracks that drift to the bottom only do so slightly - a hair below acceptable.

This album doesn't have a lot to be said about it. Other then how it came to be, and the mystery involved therein, this album isn't anything special. It's good for a listen, and the songs are enjoyable, but I like something more in my music. I sound so musically elitist here, that I only like albums and bands that 'wow' me. And whilst me from five years ago would laugh at the audacity of that statement (and the fact that not only did I use audacity, but I spelled it correctly on the first try), I think that is who I have become. For any album to gander a level of respect above 'average' it needs to impress me, to do something different or above or beyond what else is out there. Opus Eponymous just doesn't do that; the oddity of Ghost's formation doesn't benefit their music to me.