Ghost -Phantomime

My favorite band to masterfully do covers has always been @typeonegativeofficial. Over the years, @thebandghost have pulled off epic covers including; If You Have Ghosts (Roku Erikson), Waiting For The Night (Depeche Mode) and Its a Sin (Pet Shop Boys. Like Peter Steele, Tobias Forge is a master at twisting the song to fit the band. Slow down, speed up, add instrumentation, make it super heavy, whatever gives the song new life and fits the band.
With Phantomime, we are seeing Ghost go back to their metal and guitar driven roots a bit. The opening track See No Evil (Television) sees the band take Poison (Look What The Cat Dragged In) production value. Hair metal prod work mixed with an optimistic 1970’s rock n roll ambition. The guitar solo in this song screams C.C. DeVille (Poison). This might sound ridiculously cheesy…it’s not. It is a fun guitar driven track that shows how Forge is not afraid of taking chances and dabbling in self professed love of “Hollywood rock.”
Jesus Knows Me is a killer Genesis song that calls out the hypocrisy of organized religion. A perfect topic for Ghost. The execution sees the signature church organ behind an epic arrangement for Ghost to play in a stadium setting. Sonically this version is so much bigger then the original.
Phantom of The Opera (Iron Maiden) takes a song that is badly in need of remastering and highlights the ridiculous chops of Iron Maiden. For Ghost, it is an opportunity to be a massive metal band and put some creepy keyboards behind galloping drums and searing guitar solos. It is a wonderful ode to a Maiden song that is often overlooked.
Tina Turner! Yeah! Forge took a crack at the Tiny Dancer. Here, no dancing for money, instead he focused on We Don’t Need Another Hero. Risky! Unless you never enter a grocery store, doctors office or bank, it is impossible to not know this song. So bias will be high. True to form, Forge gives the chorus a massive sound and vocally stays within his lane. The guitar leads are an improvement (my opinion) on the original. Hopefully an 83 year old Tina Turner does not use those dancing legs and kick Forge’s corn hole.

7.5 out of 10. Hanging Around = boring choice.

-Derek