The time is almost upon us – Ghost are just about to release their fourth album Prequelle and nobody is quite sure what to expect. Well, not quite nobody. We've been lucky enough to listen to it in a vain attempt to get our heads around the story of Papa Nihil and Cardinal Copia. And rats.
Here we run through each of the album's ten tracks, offering a cheeky glimpse behind Ghost's blood-red curtain.
Ashes
‘Ring-a-ring o’ roses/A pocket full of posies...’ Foreboding strings hover over a sinister opening intro track. It’s a deliciously devilish warm-up for...
Rats
Any fears that Ghost couldn’t follow the immediacy of Square Hammer are allayed by this chugging humdinger, pinned together by a chorus so outrageously catchy and simple it’ll plague you for months (see what we did there?).
Faith
The heaviest song on the album, Sabbathian riffs are layered in silky guitar licks and some thunderous drum work. The only song on Prequelle that could fit on Opus Eponymous.
See The Light
A piano-driven power ballad with a chorus that could melt icebergs, this has Festival Anthem written all over it.
Miasma
A stunning instrumental number that isn’t so much an album track as a turbo-powered 80s action movie soundtrack condensed into five thrilling minutes. Oh, and there’s a saxophone solo. What else would you expect?
Dance Macabre
Imagine Europe if they came from Transylvania instead of Sweden and you’ll be some way to getting your head around this bouncy rock’n’roll rager.
Pro Memoria
Ghost’s rock opera ambitions are fully realised on this haunting number that packs in guitars, pianos, organs and even a church bell. Impressive.
Witch Image
How is it possible for a lyric like ‘While you sleep in Earthy delight/Someone’s flesh is rotting tonight’ to exist in a song so upbeat you could drop it at a wedding party?!
Helvetesfonster
A bombastic instrumental that could have been cut from Bat Out Of Hell for being too OTT. It’s ludicrous. We love it.
Life Eternal
‘Is this the moment of just letting go?’ A suitably epic grand finale to the greatest heavy metal musical never written. We’re exhausted.
Ghost's new album Prequelle is out June 1 and is available to pre-order on Amazon.
