“Any plans this week Colin?”
“Yeah, I am going to see Ghost on Tuesday.”
“Who is Ghost?”
“They are a satanic metal band out of Sweden.”
I watch their facial expression and body language to the see how they respond. Even now, in this day and age, some people are uneasy about satanism, as if the devil is real, and as if any serious person takes anything satanic seriously. It is a joy to explain to people how Ghost have embraced satanism for their theme and extreme theatrics. Ghost is a great conversation starter.
In this year, 2019, Ghost released their fourth studio album, “Prequelle.” Thanks to the lawsuits Ghost front man was revealed to be Tobias Forge, many had already figured this out, I mean, good luck keeping a secret identity in the modern world. Anyway, Tobias has once again reinvented the front man persona for Ghost. This time, the Papa Emeritus character is not reused in a fourth iteration, but instead he has introduced to the world, Cardinal Copia. The satanic parody of traditionally catholic attire and character is repeated, this time instead of a pope we have a cardinal. Forge has a whole new look, mustache and all. I prefer the tuxedo and skull makeup of Emeritus the third, but I was able to see that version live, so I guess I am all good.
Ghost is at that point in their career where they are likely to reach critical mass. After three solid albums, two great EPs, and several successful world tours, those like metal know who they are. They are not likely to dramatically increase their fan base much more from current generations. With this situation at play, their fourth studio album was posed to be a great critical and commercial success, and so it was so. “Prequelle” is the highest chartering and fasting selling Ghost album ever. Critically “Prequelle” was accepted as superb album, many saying it was their best to date. I mostly agree.
The strong satanic theme and style of Ghost has resulted in all of their music sharing identifiers of similar creativity throughout. However, Forge has manage to explore different musical styles and influences from album to album thus far, and “Prequelle” has some charming inclusions and influences not heard previously from Ghost, and the result is an album as good as any Ghost album with unique Ghost songs different from anything heard previously. For example, I cannot recall Ghost ever using a saxophone before.
This is the part of the review where I pick a single song to talk about, and since “Prequelle” is very good, this is a challenge. The first two singles were “Rats” which I liked plenty, but I did not overly love, and “Dance Macabre” which I did love; to quote Philip Anselmo “huge song.” Seems like everyone who cares even a little about metal already knows how good “Dance Macabre” is, so maybe I will ramble about something else.
“Pro Memoria,” yeah, that’s a winner.
In my humble opinion “Pro Memoria” is among the best songs on “Prequelle.” For me, the three best tracks from “Prequelle” are “Dance Macabre,” “Miasma” and “Pro Memoria.” Being a big hit from the new album, everyone is familiar with “Dance Macabre,” Ghost closed the set with it when I saw them live most recently, it was great. The instrumental “Miasma” has some of the best guitar work of any Ghost song, it was great live, especially when Forge broke out the saxophone, he played it himself; it was one of the highlights for the whole show for me. As I understand it, the saxophone is a very difficult instrument to play, that Forge is a talented fellow. So, that leaves me with the potentially under appreciated “Pro Memoria,” they did not play this one live when I saw them, which is not a decision I agree with, but who am I to question Forge and his chosen setlist? The absence on Ghost’s current live playlist however does make “Pro Memoria” an ideal choice for whatever it is I am trying to accomplish on this blog.
The structure of “Pro Memoria” follows a simple but classic pattern, intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, outro. This formula is typical, but I like it, it works; probably more then half of all good songs have used this formula or a slight modification of it.
In the spirit of Ghost, “Pro Memoria,” like all Ghost songs, is first and foremost about Satan. Verses one and three start with:
“Lucifer, whispering,
Silently into your mind,
Who walks behind,
Who walks behind.”
The only thing more metal then Satan, is death. Naturally Ghost delivers on this in “Pro Memoria” as its chorus is as follows:
“Don't you forget about dying
Don't you forget about your friend death
Don't you forget that you will die
Don't you forget about dying
Don't you forget about your friend death
Don't you forget that you will die.”
I am always highly amused whenever music makes something dreadful in a cheerful manner.
In all story telling there can be no meaningful beginning without a meaningful end, and this in unavoidable because of the human condition that is life and death. We project our mortal existence onto everything, it helps us relate. Death is a natural part of life; and while we should avoid prematurely encountering it, it does not need to be feared, it is a perfectly natural phenomenon. So, when Ghost describe death as a friend, I get a kick out of it. We cannot forget about death, and we cannot escape its eventually embrace, but with a strange upbeat sound we can take it all in, in a very digestible way.
The entire album “Prequelle” focuses on a struggle to survive, but no song more so then “Pro Memoria.”
“Standing tall, invincible,
But do not forget your knives,
To save your lives,
To save your lives.”
This second half of the first verse makes it clear that the struggle is real, and staying alive is the goal. The chorus that follows and carries the song makes it even more clear that this goal is temporary at best. Heavy stuff. I like it.
I love comment sections, I learn a lot from them. The top comment from: https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107859571686/ tells us about the Latin phrase “memento mori” which translates to “remember death.” According to Lord Gonzo, who left the comment, there is a story of a Roman general who had a slave accompany him on his chariot and whisper to him “memento mori” and it is believed that slave was actually Satan in disguise. I tried looking up this tale, histories are uncertain if any Roman general ever did such a thing, and it appears unclear where the mythology of the Satantic inclusion originated. But hell, looks like this random commenter on the internet nailed it. There must a one-hundred present chance that is what “Pro Memoria” is about. Good job, Lord Gonzo, whoever the hell you are.
Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.
- King of Braves
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