on Violet Vinyl

2022's Impera jolted Ghost out of cultdom and into the stadium, reconfiguring their black mass for the masses with a bold pop-metal makeover. Auspiciously converging with the death of the 266th pope, Skeletá marks the debut of Papa V Perpetua, who now wields the scepter after the "promotion" of Frater Imperator, his fun-loving fraternal twin, to head of the clergy after his coronation hot-air balloon ride concluding the 2024 concert film Rite Here Rite Now. With his palatial purple vestments and macabre half-veil (his real lips!), Perpetua is steelier and moodier than his predecessor, yet Tobias Forge, the man behind the mask, remains an engaging and crafty showrunner, steering Ghost into darker waters while continuing to mine the vestiges of Kevin Seal and Adam Curry-era Headbangers Ball. "Peacefield"'s choral opening yields to a bright, palm-muted riff and Forge's clear, reedy tenor before doing everything it can to not break into Journey's "Separate Ways." Anchored by the band's filthiest riff in years, "Lachryma" follows a similar trajectory, with its vampiric protagonist wailing, "I'm done crying over someone like you," over a chorus that bears the melodic touchstones of Alice Cooper's "Poison." Forge's love of '80s metal is no secret, and when paired with his innate Scandipop sensibilities, the two persuasions can dovetail into something sublime. "Satanized" combines Meliora's doomy aesthetics with a chorus straight out of an underworld version of Eurovision, while the galloping, radio-ready "Cenotaph" is unapologetically bright and bouncy, eschewing the lusty swagger of "Missilia Amori," a big horny rock song that makes you want to roll your windows up but will probably slay live, for something more empathetic and personal. Skeletá's two ballads, "Guiding Lights" and "Excelsis," which demand waving arms and a sea of cell phone lights, echo the inverted praise & worship architecture of concert favorite "He Is," realigning the Christian ideologies that alienated Forge in his youth to a faith that rebels, embraces, and uplifts without the cudgel of judgment. The penultimate cut, "Umbra," serves as the album's horn of plenty, a cowbell-heavy confluence of all Ghost's best tics and tremors, from dimly lit occult rock and propulsive proto-metal to stately prog and anthemic Lady Gaga pop. There are bands that lavish in the fondue of modern hard rock without the cheese, but not Ghost. Ghost is fun.

A1        Peacefield
A2        Lachryma
A3        Satanized
A4        Guiding Lights
A5        De Profundis Borealis
B1        Cenotaph
B2        Missilia Amori
B3        Marks Of The Evil One
B4        Umbra
B5        Excelsis