Ghost - Infestissumam

It's not every day that you come across a band that can be classified as "the complete package."  You'd be even more hard pressed to find a band that's rightfully deserved the following that Sweden's Ghost has accumulated since their 2010 debut Opus Eponymous.  The live performances...the music...the mythos...Ghost's identity is dependent on them all.  They're a band that the metal community not only deserved, but also one that it needed.  To say that the release of their sophomore effort, Infestissumam, is highly anticipated would be a gross understatement.  Even with the bar set so high, Ghost proves with their latest release that not only are they able to meet expectations, but they can also go above and beyond.

Concert Review: Ghost (Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge - January 24, 2012)

Full disclosure:  I have wanted to see Ghost live since I first listened to their debut Opus Eponymous last February.  I thought I would get that chance when it was announced they were touring with Alcest and Enslaved; unfortunately they had to drop off that tour due to visa issues.  I still went, seeing as Alcest is incredible and Enslaved is, you know, Enslaved.  I enjoyed the show for the most part, but still found myself disappointed I didn't get to see the spectacle that is Ghost.  So you can imagine my excitement when Mick informed me that Ghost was returning to the States, for sure, no visa issues, for another tour.  That tour hit the Bottom Lounge here in Chicago this past Tuesday, so Mick, my roommate Zack and I ventured forth to celebrate a Black Mass with the Nameless Ghouls in Ghost.

Find out if they lived up to my anticipation after the jump...

Review: Ghost - Opus Eponymous

Bears shit in the woods. Water evaporates. Metal is diverse. These are obvious statements, especially the last. Heavy music has rarely occurred in a vacuum, which is precisely why we can refer to bands as dissimilar as Priest and Suffocation as metal in the same breathe. Certainly, the generation of immediacy and technological availability has overloaded the genre with various abominations and imitations, but metal will always be diverse no matter the era.

Which is precisely what makes the anonymous Swedish phantoms of Ghost all the more perplexing. Self-described as a "devil worshiping ministry" attempting to "trick mankind that the end is ultimately a good thing", the publicized message of this diabolical enigma instantly casts reactions similar to those elicited by the likes of Gorgoroth or Marduk. The similarities abruptly end there.

Read the rest of my review after the break.