Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah Marks rocks

Album Rating: 4.0

Lachryma legit is my favorite song of the year tbh, love that music video too

Album Rating: 4.0

Just now finding out Cenotaph is about his late brother… yeesh. Still probably my least favorite track here but this was clearly a very personal record for Tobias, and as much as I want him to drop some of the poppier elements and go back to the more grand and epic songwriting of Meliora, I’m glad we got this. Very good album and I think it stands up with the rest of their discography.

Album Rating: 4.0

me don't get sput

Album Rating: 3.5

Album is a lot of fun overall, but definitely didn't stick with me as long as other Ghost records have.

Album Rating: 1.5

Shiteletá [2]

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

Masterpiece

Album Rating: 2.0 | Sound Off

i'm sleep deprived and i feel like ranting so here it is weeeeeee



i wasn't impressed by this album at first and time has only made me hate it more, honestly



whenever i'm in the mood for this sort of stuff i put it on, enjoy the first three tracks and then just stop because i realize i want to skip more than half the remaining songs. those three songs are passable ghost at least, thereafter it's a trainwreck and any good moments are too little too late. basically all of the songs on the remaining half of the album suffer from the worst choruses they've ever written and have no discernible subtext or subtlety - utterly obnoxious, overwrought and one-dimentional. the songs on the first half of the album don't fare much better but that's before the formula gets tiresome and when there's still some charm to it.



feel the need to mention as well that though ghost have never been the most lyricallly strong band there isn't a single song on this album that has good lyrics and that's a generous assessment - some of the lyrics on this album are mind-bogglingly awful. i got over 'love rockets' because at least it was presented in a tongue in cheek way but if any other band released songs with the lyrics of 'marks of the evil one' and 'lachryma' we'd be rightfully laughing at the ridiculousness of it.



i really don't get why people feel umbra is a standout track as well. at that point in the album all the tricks are exhausted and it just sounds redundant and vapid.



i suppose if i'm to compliment anything it's the sound design - i do love the production on this, huge and vibrant. it's also cool to see tobias be a much more confident vocalist, definitely his best set of performances, but that's the end of my compliments for this.

Album Rating: 3.5

'Umbra' is still pretty good, but the second half of the album definitely sags under its own weight at times.

Album Rating: 4.0

2nd half does have Marks though.......the hook(s) in that song are infectious

Album Rating: 2.0 | Sound Off

it's infectious but every time i just end up groaning at the lyrics



"the third rider looks cool on his steed" tobias my dude you can do better than that, you've done this four horseman shit before and so much better c'monnnnn

Album Rating: 4.0

Who cares about the stinkin lyrics!

Album Rating: 4.0

Idk I don’t find anything bad about Lachryma’s lyrics, a little cheesy but the band always has been guys lol



“the third rider looks cool on his steed“ yeah that’s bad. the “abracadabra hocus pocus sham” is like no bueno too. That and Missilia Amori are the only times on the record where I would say the lyrics are outright bad tho.



Even songs I don’t particularly care for such as Peacefield and Cenotaph have decent lyrics. Ironically I really love the themes presented in those songs I’m just not crazy about the rest of it lol

Album Rating: 2.0 | Sound Off

"Who cares about the stinkin lyrics!"



i do lol



"That and Missilia Amori are the only times on the record where I would say the lyrics are outright bad tho."



you're right in that the lyrics in other places aren't terrible but the fact such banal lyrics are performed with such conviction as if there's something deep and analytical about them it's just... eyeroll tbh. the way they're performed on this album makes them utterly unignorable because they're so in your face.



i think instrumentally it's quite stripped back compared to other ghost records - everything seems like it's there just to compliment the vocals rather than having cool synths and riffs to strengthen the songs in and of themselves.



there's a lot i can say about this album positive and negative (mostly negative) but i can't really be bothered to write a review lol. it's just such a nothing burger of an album to me.

Album Rating: 4.0

“i think instrumentally it's quite stripped back compared to other ghost records - everything seems like it's there just to compliment the vocals rather than having cool synths and riffs to strengthen the songs in and of themselves.”



to me it’s an even more radio friendly version of Impera because that album is almost just as guilty of all of that too. Idk I’ve long accepted that they’re probably not gonna make another Meliora… so at this point I like em for what they are, fun throwback arena rock with the occasional track that really kicks ass

Album Rating: 2.0 | Sound Off

i get what you're saying but i do feel impera had a lot more going on instrumentally that was interesting - cool riffs and synths bubbling beneath the surface at any given time. here it feels more like a vessel for the vocals to pop rather than anything really adding to the song.



my fav ghost record is prequelle and that had a lot of poppier moments but it was really well balanced with the more subversive elements. impera wasn't as good but you look at songs like 'spillways', 'darkness at the heart of my love' and 'respite on the spitalfields' and the difference is obvious - cool shit happening all the time, the songs would still be great with no vocals where these songs would be lost and bland without them.



i'm OK with ghost as more of a pop band but i just want more to sink my teeth into i guess.

Album Rating: 4.0

There s a fair ammount of cool solos too. Entertaining album. Prequelle is always after Meliora and Opus

Album Rating: 4.0

These days I might honestly agree with that. It’s due for another listen. I’ve just always disliked Pro Memoria, and Helvetfonster is such a nothing track… and they’re the two longest songs on the record. Everything else is fire, but man when I just straight up don’t like a over a full quarter of the album it’s hard to get into it



Glad most of us can agree that Opus and Meliora are far and away the best tho, only two records with nothing but bangers

Album Rating: 4.0

Ya anyone that hates this band I seriously dare you to go to a show and *not* have a good time.



You’ll be shaking your ass and praising satan with the rest of us

I'm a little late on this one. Missilia is terrible. Lachryma was good. I remember not liking Satanized much when it was released as a single and that hasn't changed within the context of the album.Can't say much else stood out, but I'll give it another go. North America tour incoming, they've always been fantastic the times I've seen them.