HORROR MONTH #27: Opus Eponymous, by Ghost (2010)

Type of Media: Music Album

Heavy metal has an unshakable attachment to the occult in most people's minds. Early metal bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, though they never encouraged devil worship in their songs, were accused by parents and family groups of promoting Satanism through their lyrics. Funnily enough, this lead to bands actually adopting the Satanic imagery that those family groups had revealed themselves to fear. Metal is a genre of outsiders, so if mainstream society shows they're afraid of the devil, scaring them by singing about loving the devil becomes a pretty metal thing to do.

Swedish metal act Ghost is one of these devil-loving metal bands, though they stand apart from many of their peers. Whereas a lot of bands who sing about Satanism make their music inaccessible with growled or screamed vocals and abrasive instrumentation, Ghost is more subversive. Their songwriting is very pop-influenced, their vocals are clean, and their choruses are incredibly catchy. This inviting style is contrasted with their lyrics, which are almost always about venerating Satan.

Opus Eponymous, Ghost's debut album, shares its sound with heavy metal and psychedelic rock of the late 60s and early 70s, particularly the band Blue Oyster Cult. It also throws in some doom metal-inspired riffs, creepy organ music, and tolling bells for some edge, but by and large this is music your dad could jam out to. There is a big focus on choruses, a few of which like on Stand By Him and Satan Prayer are guaranteed to get stuck in your head.

Lyrically, every song on this album is tied to Satan, though those ties are very old. They sing about Elizabeth Bathory, the 16th century noble who is still the most prolific woman serial killer in history. They sing about witches, being killed for seducing men and then returning to seek their vengeance. One of their songs is even structured to be a corruption of the Nicene Creed that was codified by the Christian church in the 4th century. Effectively, Ghost is adopting versions of Satanism that would have been frightening to people centuries ago, but now just comes off as hammy and tongue-in-cheek. Ghost is probably the most clear representation of the kind of theatrical devil-worship that proliferates metal nowadays.

Since Ghost is so pop-oriented and clean, Opus Eponymous works well as spooky rock music to accompany a Halloween party. Just make sure there's no one there who will take their lyrics too seriously.