Spirit....absent! GHOST brings their Grammy-winning act to New Haven, CT
[Ghost takes the stage in New Haven, CT]
I don’t put much stock into awards that denote “good” or “quality” music. However I admit I was very excited when I heard that one of my favorite bands, August Burns Red, was nominated for the 2016 Grammy for Best Metal Performance (“Identity”.) Though I felt that ABR had a strong shot at the award I was not surprised that a bigger, more established band went home with the gold. Afterwards, as a sort of consolidation of grief, I decided to lend my ears to a few tracks from these Swedish metalers named Ghost- if only for fairness’s sake. What I found was an extremely polished sound- clean, melodic vocals and riffs that brought me back to the days of (what has now become) classic metal- in the vein of King Diamond and Judas Priest, yet with lyrics as blasphemous as I have ever heard before.
Ghost takes the masked appearance/costume idea to another level- complete anonymity. Though some speculation circles around who the members actually are and which of the instrumentalists are the main songwriters, it cannot be denied that Ghost’s use of hidden identities has reached a level unmatched by other bands and artists who have stabbed at the same device- such as Slipknot. Even a simple Wikipedia search confirms that the only members of the band are lead singer “Papa Emeritus III”, a bishop-like figure who has appeared in three different incarnations (each with a signature style of skeleton face paint), who leads his hoard of “Nameless Ghouls”-instrumentalists-who have all been assigned an element (Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Ether) and are only identifiable by a patch sown in identical position on each member’s jacket. Ghost’s demonic costumed image may have grabbed my attention, but it was their insanely catchy, moshy tunes that kept me coming back for more. After purchasing their first and latest albums and spending many a work commute belting along with songs like “Ritual,” “Stand by Him” and “From the Pinnacle to the Pit,” I was incredibly excited to learn that they were making a stop at College Street Music Hall, a young venue in my hometown of New Haven, CT. I let the anticipation build for well over a month before April 16th arrived. The night finally came and with my ticket bought and pentagrams in my head, there I was happily bound.
Knowing that floor space would be very limited for this show, I arrived at College Street Music Hall early enough to get myself a good spot in the crowd- on the first tier of the standing room, stage left. Fortunately, I arrived with enough time to catch a good bit of the opening set from Tribulation- another Swedish group. Tribulation, defined loosely as "Black and Roll", played a blisteringly fast set of music clearly influenced by both black metal and classic rock. This interesting blend of styles may have left some listeners a bit genre-confused however this finely blended mix of blackened riffs and rhythmic drumming was extremely well received by the New Haven crowd. Tribulation’s music carries much of the same dissonance, simplicity, and lyrical content of the black metal genre-staples that no corpse-panted band could be taken seriously without. Several members of the band have also grown enormous dreadlocks giving both guitarists a ragged, torn appearance that suits their stage show perfectly. Vocalist Johannes Andersson nasally growls out lyrics with a classic black metal drawl, but there exists a certain uniqueness to Tribulation’s sound which emanates from the drum set of Jakob Ljungberg, who substitutes blistering blast beats for a steadier, rhythmic rock tempo reminiscent of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham. During the set, I often found myself bobbing my head in tune, or suppressing the urge to clap in time with the drumming. As far as an opener goes, Tribulation was the perfect band to start this show and was well chosen by the promoters, who luckily snagged them one day after finishing a US tour with black metal icon ABBATH. Those in the crowd less suited to the heavier music scene may have been turned off by Tribulation’s blackened riffs and harsh vocals, but their melody and stage performance was an excellent precursor to the show to follow. By the end of their set, it was clear that the crowd- a curious mix of young moshers, vested metalheads, and trepidatious “Yale-ies”-were warmed up and waiting for the entrance of Papa Emeritus III and his nameless Ghouls.
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| [Swedish rockers Tribulation open the show at College Street Music Hall] |
About a third of the way through the show, the lights are dark for the first time as the haunting notes of “Circie”, Ghost’s Grammy winning single, ring out over the crowd. The band reclaims the stage, and Papa has made a wardrobe change. He now leads his Ghouls in a black doublet, trimmed with stark white lapels and upside down crosses, and has switched out the large hat for natural, slicked back black hair. This removes the lofty, elevated air surrounding the spectral frontman who shows more personality and involvement with both his bandmates and the crowd for the remainder of the show. I was perfectly positioned to enjoy the small mosh pit that erupts during Ghost’s heavier tracks – with “Absolution” and “Mummy Dust” back to back, I found myself tossed around like a ragdoll in a washing machine. I’m a relatively small guy (for the metal show crowd, that is) but those of us who love to mosh know that there is nothing worse than a bad pit. Fortunately, as the pit grew and shrank between verse and chorus, Ghost’s crowd stayed true to the unspoken codes of the metal scene- no fists flew, no fights erupted, and anyone who fell had more hands in their face to pick them up than they knew what to do with. This made for an incredible camaraderie between those I found myself colliding with song after song, and I can only assume by the cheers and horns in the air that the entire crowd was feeling similarly connected.
As the show reaches over an hour in length, the lights are black again and three Nameless Ghouls enter the stage armed with acoustic guitars for an unplugged cover of Roky Erikson’s 1981 song “If You Have Ghosts.” During this break from the speed and intensity of the show, Papa takes time to explain the meaning of Ghost as a band, and to specifically introduce these three Nameless Ghouls - Alpha (formally “Fire”- a guitarist), Water ( the bass player, and according to Papa an extremely talented musician who likes to “show off” during practice sessions) and Omega (formally “Ether”), another guitarist. Each Nameless Ghoul is dressed exactly the same- a horned, silver mask and an all-black doublet- which creates a uniformity across all instrumentalists only interrupted by each member’s patch sewn onto the left breast. The audience is coaxed into applause by our demonic frontman after each introduction, lending a measure or two for each Ghoul to display a tiny lick of guitar individuality.
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| [Papa Emeritus III introduces his Nameless Ghouls] |
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| [Papa addresses the masses] |
Several times during the night, when I found myself taking a small break from the rhythmic brawl in the center crowd, I began to consider how difficult it was going to be to assess this concert. Typically, I like to begin an analysis of a band based on the skills and abilities I see showcased by individual performers. However after watching these introductions, it dawned on me that tonight, there are no individual performers- that is to say, no names and faces at least. As the three Ghouls strum away to the tune, Papa digresses into a lengthy explanation of why exactly Ghost uses these hidden identities and the way it helps an audience focus on the music as a whole, a fully composed end product, instead of separate elements created by individual skill. For me, Papa’s digression during the acoustic number was enlightening, especially considering my typical tactic for dissecting a band is to do the opposite- view what each individual member contributes to the sound by themselves. Upon further reflection I began to really believe that that Ghost’s music, with its film-score symphonics and demonic aura, is actually easier analyzed as a whole, just as Papa described. Some members of the crowd were not pleased with this lengthy dialogue about meaning. Several times during this foray into acoustics I heard calls from the crowd of “Play some music!” or “Stop talking and get on with it!” which is completely understandable. We are all here to hear music. However, a concert is, at heart, a performance. Papa’s speech during “If You Have Ghosts” was lengthy, but informative. I mean, he is the Pope, after all. What kind of leader would he be if he didn’t speak to the masses while on stage?
Though some may be turned off, even isolated by Ghost’s demonic message, none can deny that it fits perfectly well with their eclectic stage performance. Their final song, live staple “Monstrance Clock”, was proceeded by a seethingly blasphemous dedication to the female orgasm, which even had Papa Emeritus cracking a smile on stage. For me, this satanic message works the same as suspension of disbelief in literature or a film- one must accept the lyrics and melodies for what they really are- music- and nothing more. If a random stranger had walked in just as Ghost was leaving the stage, they would have heard the crowd chanting along “Come together, together as one!” “Come together, for Lucifer’s son!”- impious words escaping the mouths of everyone in attendance. While we all sang along, the Namelees Ghouls file off of the stage and eventually the lights are back on. It is almost as if the world is back to normal and we are all safe again. This band has the ability to walk on stage, scare the hell out of everyone with a demonic message, yet leave to a crowd cheering after them to pray for the devil. In my opinion, this is a truly successful concert and a job well done.
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| [A Nameless Ghoul eyes the crowd at College St.] |
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| [Ghost, AWESOME merch. An epic tee to add to my collection!] |
*all photographs (unless mentioned otherwise) are property of the author and will be treated as such*
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