Thursday, October 27, 2016

Aftershock reviews: Ghost. And a spiritual Sunday at Aftershock with Papa Emeritus III

Papa Emeritus III
Papa Emeritus III, vocals, Ghost
See the full Ghost photo gallery by clicking here!

Also from Sweden (Avatar and Meshuggah too), Grammy winners for best metal performance 2016, Ghost , took the stage at this year's Aftershock festival in Sacramento's Discovery Park at just-after three in the afternoon, on Sunday, but not before treating us to several minutes of beautiful, ethereal, plainsong chant, which added to the you-should-be-in-church feel of the stage backdrops; paintings of stained-glass windows... except the windows didn't depict saints, they were a tad darker and subterranean and more fiery than that.

Ghost
Ghost, Aftershock 2015
Ghost are an anonymous band comprising several Nameless Ghouls playing guitars, bass, keys and drums, and lead vocalist Papa Emeritus III. While many websites and blogs have theories about who is inside the masks and behind the makeup, nothing is known for sure, and even the best-guess stories seem to have a mismatch of ear-sizes-and-shapes and eye colours... so we're not even going to attempt to guess here today, though it's very tempting to start a new rumor and say that Papa Emeritus IIII is Corey Taylor, Donald Trump tried out for a Nameless Ghoul but the mask didn't fit, and it was Hilary Clinton playing bass on Sunday. (See how silly it is to speculate?)

Nameless Ghouls, Ghost
Blue-eyed Nameless Ghoul... but are those contacts???
With a catalog of music ranging from melodic-yet-heavy doom metal to more radio-friendly songs like the recent Square Hammer, Ghost are wonderfully entertaining, a visual treat, and really good music. A wonderful, devilish way to spend an October Sunday afternoon.

Papa Emeritus III
Papa Emeritus III, Ghost, at Aftershock in Sacramento
The band members are Fire or Alpha (lead guitar), Water (bass), Earth (drummer), Wind (keyboards) and Ether or Omega (rhythm guitar). We think they must be magical, to breathe through those masks throughout an entire show... or maybe they are just Nameless Ghouls, and that's what Nameless Ghouls do.

To read more about the stories, history and intrigue, see Wikipedia's Ghost page.

Here's Square Hammer: enjoy!


Many more photos in the Ghost photo gallery: click here!

Find Ghost on their website, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And check out their latest EP, Popestar! Catch them on tour if you can--they are here in the USA until mid-November.

No comments:

Post a Comment