‘Ghost’ is a metal band created and accompanied by Swedish frontman, Tobias Forge. He and his bandmates, (known only as ‘Nameless Ghouls’ who wear horned masks and matching black attire), made their debut to the public in 2010 with the release of their first studio album, Opus Eponymous. They were an immediate hit to most people, while others… not so much.

   It was certainly a controversial album. See, in Opus Eponymous, every song, without fail, mentioned Satan in some way. Not much about their presence was known, so they were viewed by religious people as a Satanic cult, even going as far as to write frantic news stories about how horrible and detrimental to their world they were.

   That’s why I love it. 

   An album no one knew about at the time, caused that much of a stir? Sign me up! It’d be a different story if the record blew, but this is definitely one of the best albums I’ve ever listened to. I feel as though anyone who loves metal would absolutely adore this record. To anyone who would never dream of listening to metal… they should still give it a shot. 

   Every track has this amazing lyric delivery by Forge, who is accompanied by muddy guitar riffs, organs, and a choir, to name a few outstanding things from every track. It is definitely one of those records that you may have to listen to a few times to get acquainted with it, but it’s so short and so good. 

   Opus Eponymous has 9 tracks and spans about 40 minutes long. The first and ninth tracks are instrumentals, while the other seven all contain the smooth vocals you should love a ton. In my opinion, the best part about this album is that every song seems like it’s telling a whole new story; every song is different in terms of lyricism, instrumentals, and topics. Fun fact: in the Japan release of the album, they did a cover of “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles. That was never released here in America. Oddly enough, I’d say it fits the album pretty well, despite its light tone. 

   Clearly, there are a ton of things I love about this album, but the thing that always has me entranced by Ghost is their seamless coordination. Forge’s voice, while not one you’d expect in a metal song, works extraordinarily well with all of the booming instrumentals in the background. They have such good ideas for choruses and it all comes together so well. There is no bad Ghost song.

   One of the things I do have to say that doesn’t sit well with me is how meta it feels. As stated before, every track mentions Satan in one way or another. The album ultimately ends up giving the vibe of the group of kids everyone steers away from: kids who run away to a bathroom to perform a “Satanic ritual.” The repetition of Satan in every song feels like beating a dead horse until the blood turns black. As harsh as that was, it’s honestly the only bad thing I have to say about this album. 

   All in all, Opus Eponymous is an amazing album that I recommend to literally anyone who likes music. Now I may be biased about it since I grew up with this album, but I put my bias aside for a LONG TIME to talk about this. Truly, listen to this. I promise you will not regret it.