Ghost- Skeletá

Send us a text

On this episode of Breakdowns For Breakfast we kick off our first theme month of 2025 with the Month Of Masks (or MOM for short) with the new Ghost album, Skeletá. 

Will Danger be able to wrote an episode description using these track titles: Peacefield, Lachryma, Satanized, Guiding Lights, De Profundis Borealis, Cenotaph, Missilia Amori, Marks of the Evil One, Umbra, and Excelsis?

No he won't. Its a good episode, enjoy.

Support the show

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
Hey, this is

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Sam from Cheem, and you're listening to...
Breakdowns

SPEAKER_01 (00:17):
for Breakfast! Good morning, welcome back to another
episode of Breakdowns forBreakfast.
I am your host, Danger, andjoining me is a fellow that
cannot properly break down analbum without your other host,
Monster.
Say hi, Monster.

SPEAKER_02 (00:29):
I hope you appreciate me being here.
I had to take a break from theclergy just to come record this.
Ah, the

SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Gothic clergy?
Yes, of course.
Yes.
So on this episode of Breakdownsfor Breakfast, we are going to
be talking Ghost's newest album,Skeleta, released April 25th of
2025.
Now, this does kick off ourfirst theme month of 2025.
We are actually going with allmasked...

(00:55):
Masked?
I'm sorry, I have to pronouncethat thoroughly.
Four episodes in a row, and Ihope it lines up for a month.
I hope it does, too.
You could have

SPEAKER_02 (01:03):
called it Masked Month.
I could have.
Or the Month of Masks.
There we go, so we can get thatE.D.
out of there.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11):
Yes, the Month of Masks.
So anyway, on this episode, weare starting off with Ghost,
which was a pick that you wantedto do, Monster.
Why did you want to talk aboutthis album?

SPEAKER_02 (01:25):
Well, I think up until the recent explosion of
Sleep Token, I think when mostpeople thought of modern bands
that were known moretheatrically than just
musically, I think Ghost was thefirst one that came to most
people's mind.
And I have sort of been keepingup with Ghost for a while now.

(01:47):
Never a huge fan, but every timethey would release something,
I'd always check it out, alwayslike the music videos, and...
you know please super mega ghostfans don't come at me i don't
know the whole papa cardi thingvery well so please don't attack
us on that so when when yousuggested that we do a month of

(02:08):
masked bands the first band thatjumped to mind was ghost and i
was like well hell they just putout a new album let's let's just
jump on that one then

SPEAKER_01 (02:17):
Okay.
So, I think you were ontosomething.
We were talking about bands thathave a theatrical performance
about themselves, because Ghostdoes.
And I have to say that we're...
I don't know if Ghost was thefirst one to do it or not.
I don't know.
Probably not.
But I think we're kind of in aplace where the theatrical
element that bands are puttingout is very important to the

(02:40):
music, but it's important to theshow more than the music,
because...
the uh the look of ghosts i meanyou know the the band is uh
nameless ghouls is what theycall them and i think that's
cool because you know there havebeen uh reports of well-known
musicians that have sat in as anameless school and nobody knows

(03:00):
they're there because they'reyou know completely covered up
it's got to get hot in those butyou know absolutely yeah the
whole uh you know, Papa,whatever.
I mean, that's a neat thingwithin itself.
And it goes fans.
I'm going to back up monster.
I don't know all of it.
I do know that there is anevolution to the characters and

(03:22):
there's different characters andall.
And I don't know if that's justTobias forge, who is the behind
ghosts.
If that's him just kind ofgetting bored with one and put
one to put in another one, or ifhe has an end game to all of it.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 (03:36):
doing a little research for this album and this
band in general i did not havethe time to go down the rabbit
hole which is the lore of ghostbecause

SPEAKER_01 (03:45):
we've we've taken on enough lore with sleep token we

SPEAKER_02 (03:48):
can't where's floaty when you need him uh so but i
did listen to some interviewswith tobias forge who you're
right the band is essentiallyquote-unquote nameless ghouls
but the main driving forcebehind ghost is this guy by the
name of tobias forge and I didwatch a little video where he

(04:08):
was going through the differentcostume changes and the
different character changes andthe different personalities of
the quote-unquote differentclergy slash lead singers.
It's all him, but it is himplaying different versions and
different characters.
And one of the biggest turningpoints for him, he said, was the

(04:29):
addition of pants.
He said once he got away fromthe giant robe and the giant hat
and he could wear pants and runaround on stage, he said he felt
like everything got better.
And that leads me to the nextpoint I want to say.
We've talked about Sleep Token ashit ton on this show.

(04:50):
Me

SPEAKER_01 (04:51):
and you are both fans.
We've given Sleep Token twoseparate episodes as well as
just talked about them duringother episodes.

SPEAKER_02 (04:57):
Yes.
And inevitably, Masked Month,they're going to come up.
But one of the things that Iappreciate so much about Ghost
is Tobias Forge's personality,his humility, his sense of
humor.
Like, I could not in a millionyears see the dude behind Vessel

(05:19):
talking and acting the wayTobias Forge does about Sleep
Token versus Ghost.
Because Tobias Forge is...
he recognizes the camp and thesilliness and he has a lot of
fun with it.
And that makes me like it evenmore.
I feel like it is theatrical tobe entertaining.

(05:40):
It is not pretentious.
And say what you will aboutSleep Token, love them or hate
them, there is this little bitof pretentiousness that I think
they have started to come offas.
So, I really, I enjoyed, I'll goahead and say this.
I enjoyed this album.
I enjoyed going into sort of theghost world.
And every time I watch somethingwith Tobias talk about the band,

(06:03):
I like them a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 (06:06):
So I do like the personality behind the band.
And, you know, we do get some ofthat in the music.
but I feel like we get more ofit in the music videos.
Oh, absolutely.
I do like the music videosbecause they do have a level of
camp, like a B-horror movie kindof thing about them.
Okay, so I do like the videos Iwatched off of this album, but I

(06:31):
have always enjoyed theirvideos.
I have always enjoyed thetheatrical element to whatever
they're doing.
And I will say, I have likedGhost in the past, I've never
loved Ghost, but I think theyplayed, yeah, they played Blue
Ridge one year when I went and Ididn't make a point to go see
them because I kind of feel likeI've, you know, I'd like to see

(06:54):
them, but at the same time therewas other bands playing that I'd
rather see than Ghost.
But, you know, I feel like it'dbe a fun show to see, but at the
same time, I kind of, I don'tknow.
The thing I had trouble with onthis one is at a certain point,
I don't want to say it allstarted to sound the same, but
nothing sounded different.

SPEAKER_02 (07:13):
Well, so a couple of things off of what you just
said.
At the time of recording this, Iam currently watching the
concert slash movie slashwhatever that they did last year
called Right Here, Right Now.
Are

SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
you watching it while we're recording?
That's just rude.

SPEAKER_02 (07:31):
Yeah.
Yes, I actually can't even hearwhat you're saying because I'm
listening to it.
Well,

SPEAKER_01 (07:36):
you're doing a really good job lip reading
because you're responding toeverything.

SPEAKER_02 (07:40):
I'm really good at reading lips, actually.
No, it's not true.
I actually can't see your mouthat all because of where my notes
are.
It's kind of nice.
Anyway, the point I'm trying tomake is...
This is such a strongfriendship.
Yes, you're welcome.
The point...
The more I watch that concert,the more I want to see them
actually live in concert becauseit looks so much fun.

(08:04):
Just like we just got donesaying, the personality really
shines through.
There's one part, and spoileralert, I'm going to do a second
breakfast all about it, so I'llgo into more detail.
For example, there's one sectionwhere the lead guitar player is
just going off and the leadsinger is like, Telling him to

(08:25):
stop and waving his hands at himand stuff.
And he kind of keeps going.
So at one point, the bass playerwalks over there and takes his
guitar pick from him and throwsit into the crowd.
And the lead guitar player liftsup his guitar and on the back of
it, it says, you suck.
And they both give each otherthe middle finger.
And then he keeps on noodlingfor a little while longer.

(08:47):
Could you see Sleep Token doingthat?
I mean, yes, they do goof off alittle bit on stage.
There's that whole thing withthe Nintendo Switch and all
that.
But that level of silliness andfun with music that is supposed
to be dark and spooky.
Like, I love all that mixedtogether.
Well, that's the thing about themusic is I don't feel like it's

(09:08):
dark and spooky.
Okay, so that was the otherthing I was going to say.
So you said it started to allkind of sound the same.

SPEAKER_01 (09:14):
I wouldn't say it all sounded the same.
I just feel like at a certainpoint, it wasn't sounding
different than anything we'dreally heard before.
I think the track listing onthis album is all out of whack.
I would have put this incompletely different order.
But, you know, that's not mycall.
That was Tobias Forge, which...

(09:36):
Go on, go on.

SPEAKER_02 (09:37):
Well, I was just going to say, so musically, I
feel like you got...
I don't know who those namelessghouls are, but if you told me
it was some combination of theguys from Journey, Iron Maiden,
and Brian May on lead guitar, Iwouldn't be shocked, because
that's what it sounds like tome.
It sounds like Iron Maiden,Journey, and Queen.

(10:01):
And I think that...

SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
We talk about this all the time.
Okay, so before we go anyfurther, to go off of that,
so...
In my notes, I have that on thisalbum or on this show, we have
done Metallica's Ride theLightning that came out in 84.
We did Dio's Holy Diver thatcame out in 83.
And we did Blind Guardians ofBattalions of Fear that came out
in 88.

(10:25):
And this is the most 80s albumwe have done.
This is the most 80s album we've

SPEAKER_02 (10:32):
done.
And while I don't disagree, wetalk about this all the time,
paying homage, using influence,or just ripping off bands.
This to me sounds like a bandthat is wearing their influences
on their sleeve, but making itin their own original sound.
Yes, I hear the Def Leppard.

(10:54):
Yes, I hear the Iron Maiden.
But I also hear this own thingcalled Ghost that nobody else
sounds like.

SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
So I'm not going to disagree with you that nobody
else sounds like it, but theother things that I heard, and
there are certain places where Iwill point out things that I
just can't ignore within this,but there are parts of this
album that are almost directlifts, and some of them are
direct lifts from

SPEAKER_02 (11:19):
other things.
Well, yeah.
I don't know if you heard aboutthis.
There's...
talk about them possibly gettinginto a little bit of a copyright
thing.
I don't know if it has legs ornot.
I just saw it on a couple socialmedia sites.

SPEAKER_01 (11:32):
But I'll bring it up when we get to it.
I don't doubt that one bit.
Because there's parts of thisalbum that it's just like, did I
put on a different band?
And I'll point that out when Iget to it.
You said you don't know who theNameless Ghouls are.
And no, they are not members ofthe bands that you...
No, I

SPEAKER_02 (11:51):
know

SPEAKER_01 (11:52):
that.
Okay, so...
First off, I do want to say thatthe album was produced by Tobias
Forge, but under the name GeneWalker.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
And I think it's interestingthat it's just, it was produced
by Tobias Forge under the nameGene Walker.
It's like he didn't even try tohide that that was him.

(12:14):
So I didn't see where GeneWalker came from, so.

SPEAKER_02 (12:17):
It might be a member of the clergy.
I have no idea.
But doing a little research andwatching some of these videos, I
get the impression that he is inthe studio with other musicians
and he kind of almost MichaelJackson style is coming up with
the music in his head and thenbasically explaining it using

(12:39):
his mouth to get So...

SPEAKER_01 (12:57):
Some of the other people that were behind us and
now these people have producingcredits mixing credits writing
credits They kind of like it waskind of all share now Tobias
Forge's name is on every song onthis album And these guys their
names are on kind of sporadicones.
I don't have which one they'reon But they were as far as I
could tell there they wereinvolved in everything.

(13:19):
So first we have Salim all fuckhere and I don't know who he is,
but he's a musician and asongwriter who has worked with
Avicii, Axwell, Anne Ingrosso,Madonna, and Lady Gaga.
Makes sense.
Yep.
And then we've got VincentPonter, I guess.

(13:40):
I don't know.
He's Swedish.
I

SPEAKER_02 (13:42):
was getting ready to say, Tobias, this whole thing,
Ghost, is a Swedish rock band,so I'm sure some of the

SPEAKER_01 (13:49):
names will be tricky.

UNKNOWN (13:50):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
And he is also a songwriter, producer, who's
worked with Avicii, Madonna, andLady Gaga as well.
And they've got other credits,but it's like they share those
credits for sure.
But I don't know how much of themusic he wrote.
I don't know if he wrote mostlyguitar because he is the guitar

(14:13):
player for the Swedish heavymetal band Opeth.
I'm going to try it, and ifanybody is a diehard Opeth fan
and I screw this up, come at me,bro.
Yeah, because I guarantee youwill, but please try.
Frederic Akerson, and it's the Awith the circle over the top.

(14:33):
So, yeah.
So, he has, Tobias got people onthis album that are very well,
like good guitar player or goodmusicians.
Like, you know, Frederick is,does amazing work with Opeth.
I'm not a huge Opeth fan, butyeah, he's a phenomenal guitar
player.
So the Nameless Ghouls.

(14:53):
Now I could not figure out, Itried to figure out if it's the
Nameless Ghouls have anything todo with the music in the studio
that goes on the album or ifthey're just on stage and
they're just the touringmembers.

SPEAKER_02 (15:09):
I'm not 100% sure either, but just judging from
the confidence in the playing ofthe live performances I've seen,
it makes me think that they areat least to some degree in the
studio as well.
The confidence to play some ofthese riffs and solos and stuff,
maybe they are just...

(15:29):
you know, live musicians.
I've been in that boat before,but nothing for this
complicated.
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (15:35):
And I didn't dive into any of these people
individually.
I probably should have talkingabout this album as thoroughly
as we do, but you know, based onwhat I have seen, you know, I've
seen, I've watched severalvideos of them playing live and
it seems like a lot of fun, likeyou were talking about, but all
right, let's roll through it.

(15:56):
Now, There has been a rotatinglineup of the Nameless Ghouls.
Now, I did mention that othermusicians have sat in.
I do know that Dave Grohl hasactually sat in with them
several times and played guitarand drums and has never said a
word about it.
And I did see a couple othernames, but nobody really stuck

(16:17):
out to me.
But I feel like it's probablysomething where other musicians,
you know, they're at a festivalor whatever.
It's like, hey, let me do thisone.
Impossible,

SPEAKER_02 (16:26):
because again, as someone who has worn costumes on
stage and stuff, it is fun to beable to don the mask, and you
kind of lose yourself in that,and you feel a little bit more
free.
You become a character.

SPEAKER_01 (16:42):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
It's fun.
All right, so let's roll throughthe goals.
So we've got Per Erickson, andhe is on lead guitar, and goes
by Fire, a.k.a.
Soto.
And he's only been with themsince 2017.
Kos, Sylvan, bassist, and goesby Rain, only since 2018.
Now, I'm saying the years toshow you, like, Ghost has been

(17:05):
around for quite a while.
And I

SPEAKER_02 (17:07):
was going to say, in my limited, I don't know,
digging through theirdiscography...
I feel like their most recenttwo or three are kind of more my
speed.
So I think some of these guysyou're mentioning are why I like
some of their newer stuff somuch more than some of their
first couple things.

SPEAKER_01 (17:26):
So it seems like these guys have been with Tobias
for quite a while.
And I feel like this is kind ofthe, the lineup's going to stick
the rest up.
Like there was a lot of ghoulsthat ran through and it didn't
seem like anybody stayed as longas these guys have.
So are these guys and ladies.
So anyway, Hayden Scott on drumsgoes by mountain and since 2017

(17:48):
and these last three all 2018.
So we've got Juddy Taylor onbaritone guitarist, percussion
and backing vocals and goes bySwiss or multi Laura Scarborough
and keyboardist, percussion,backup vocalist, goes by Cirrus,
and Mad Gallica on keyboard,percussion, backing vocals, and

(18:09):
goes by Cumulus.
Fantastic.
All right, so we have gonethrough all the Nameless Ghouls
now.
We know who the people are, butthey really don't matter because
I really feel like all the otherpeople that actually wrote this
album are probably moreimportant to this 80s album.
You ready to jump into it?

SPEAKER_02 (18:29):
And it's funny, you just said we just named all the
nameless ghouls.
Well, that's not very namelessthen, is it?
Okay, so

SPEAKER_01 (18:38):
fire, rain, mountain, Swiss malty, cirrus,
and cumulus.
Exactly, exactly.
All right, so track one,Peacefield.

SPEAKER_00 (18:49):
Peacefield.

SPEAKER_02 (19:01):
Go ahead, Monster.
Go ahead.
So, not being super well-versedin Ghost, but I have listened to
some of their records.
It did not shock me that itstarted with, like, a church

SPEAKER_01 (19:14):
choir.
Like, that seems pretty...
You heard it as a church choir.
I heard it as just a childsinging over an organ.
Like, I didn't even hear it as achoir.

UNKNOWN (19:28):
And then there's a heart from me

SPEAKER_02 (19:30):
Okay, fair enough, yeah.
But that sort of a start did notsurprise me.
The only thing I wish is thatthat was an intro and its own
track.

SPEAKER_01 (19:44):
Right, there's a couple places where I have that
same feeling.

SPEAKER_02 (19:48):
Yeah, because on the previous album, that's exactly
what they did.
There's a minute-long introthat's very similar to this.
And then it goes into the firstactual song, track two.
So I would have preferred that.
But as it is, whatever, when theguitar kicks in, I think it's
around 54 seconds.

(20:12):
Big hair metal vibes, big 80svibes, like you said.
But something we haven't reallytouched on before, the
production, the clarity of thisalbum.
It

SPEAKER_01 (20:22):
sounds great.
Okay.
So there is a few places wherethe production kind of got to
me.
And what I will say overall forthis, I feel like there was an
active mixer, active sound manbehind this, because anytime a
solo comes up, the guitar shootup to the front, but I feel like
overall the guitars are kind ofsubdued.

(20:43):
And, you know, in the backgroundof things, you know, they could
have been bumped up a littlebit.
That is my overall impression.
just generic critique of thisalbum is just the guitar levels
I feel like are a bit weakerthan they should have been.

SPEAKER_02 (20:57):
Well, they are a very classic rock kind of tone,
so they're not super distorted,which doesn't really much matter
in this song as much as some ofthe later songs.
I'll bring it up there.
But you're exactly right.
On this song, because the mainguitar is that high lead, more
lead stuff than rhythm, it doescome in real big.

(21:22):
Again, you hear the Queen, youhear the Brian May influence big
time on that guitar.

SPEAKER_01 (21:28):
Oh, yeah, and the thing about it is, like, I like
this track.
I just feel like this track isfrom the wrong decade.
There's so much of this that isDef Leppard in the verses, and
then let's not ignore SeparateWays in the Course.

SPEAKER_00 (21:48):
Your love Yeah,

SPEAKER_02 (21:56):
okay.
So what I have heard on one ortwo social media sites is that,
you know, there could possiblybe a copyright lawsuit coming
down the pipe because it'sborderline a direct lift.
And it wouldn't be so bad if itwasn't like...

(22:19):
Clearly, that's the inspiration,you know, like sometimes you
hear like a song that's likefully rooted in metalcore or new
metal, but then you'll hear thisone little lead lick that sounds
like something from Cowboys fromHell by Pantera or, you know,
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.
And it's just for a couplemeasures and it's sort of like

(22:39):
just feels like a homage for aminute.
This sounds like Separate Waysby Journey, like, to a T.

SPEAKER_01 (22:45):
I mean, you have Journey's Separate Ways.
And then you have GhostPeacefield.
It's the same thing.
Like, I would not be surprisedif they end

SPEAKER_02 (23:02):
up losing that.
But what I will say is I don'tlike Journey, like, at all.
And I like this way better thanSeparate Ways.

SPEAKER_01 (23:11):
Oh, I know you have your feelings about Journey, and
a lot of that stems...
I feel like stems from youplaying in cover bands, but...

SPEAKER_02 (23:17):
Okay, so I'll say...
Thankfully, I've never had toplay a Journey song in any of
the cover bands I've ever beenin.
I've never had to play a Journey

SPEAKER_01 (23:24):
song.
I'm proud of that.
That's surprising.
That's very surprising.
I'm surprised, too.
Yeah.
So, okay.
It is a good track, buthonestly, I don't feel like this
is the best opener on thisalbum.
There's another track I wouldsay should have been the opener.
And I'll definitely point it outwhen we get to it.
But, I mean, Peacefield's good,but honestly, nothing really
sticks out except for thatchorus's separate ways.

(23:46):
So,

SPEAKER_02 (23:47):
listen to an interview with Tobias Forge
going track by track throughthis album, just giving a couple
little bits of information oneach song.
I think it was with MetalHammer, came out...
A couple months ago.
And what he said about this songwas this album sort of zigzags
into some darker stuffthroughout the album.
So he really wanted the album tostart off in a bright, positive

(24:11):
way.
And that's why this song goesfirst.
You know, Peacefield.
It's meant to be like a bright,upbeat first song.
So that's why this is the firstsong, at least to Mr.
Forge.

SPEAKER_01 (24:26):
No, I get that, but I wouldn't have put this as the
first one.
I get that he wanted to kind ofput that up front, but at the
same time, I don't feel likethis is the first track.
I don't think this is the openerin service of the album.

SPEAKER_02 (24:41):
Well, I had heard two songs off of this before we
decided to pick this album tokick off.
month of masks.
Is that it?
Mask?
I don't know.
Whatever.
Maybe we don't know because it'swearing a mask.

(25:01):
The identity of the name hasbeen hidden.
But I had heard a couple songsbefore this.
It's the month named Vessel.
We have to stop.
We have to get past this.
Please, go on.
Anyway, I was very into thisthough when I put this on for
the first time and I was like Ilike the driving beat because

(25:24):
the two songs I heard beforethis didn't have quite as much
of a drive to them but we'll getthere but this is I think this
is a good opener I don't thinkit's the best song on the album
but I do think it is a solidopener and after hearing him say
like The album gets dark as itgoes on.
I wanted the first song to bemore positive and brighter

(25:45):
sounding.
I can see why that he would gothis way.

SPEAKER_01 (25:49):
I'm going to say this album does get darker, but
I feel like this album just getshornier.

SPEAKER_02 (25:54):
Oh, it does.
That is true.
It's coming.
And in a very interesting way,too, that I didn't put together
until I heard his littleinterview, but it's very funny,
and we'll get there.

SPEAKER_01 (26:07):
I do want to say, like, I did...
like no it like i didn't listento any interview or anything
like i just went pretty much offof me for this one which i don't
normally do normally i get tothe end of my notes and stuff
and then i'll start looking upsome other things and all but
yeah no all right track two lashmira i'm gone Not even close.

(26:40):
Rhyma?
I don't know.
Lacrima.
Okay.
I'm trying to go withSwedish-type pronunciations in
my head.
I don't know.
For anybody that is a huge Ghostfan, don't hate me for this.
Please enjoy the episode andlisten to another one.

SPEAKER_02 (26:58):
Okay.
I was telling my dad that wewere going to do this album, and
I bring up my dad all the timebecause he's an incredible
musician.
He's got great taste in music.
He's a fine musician.

SPEAKER_01 (27:08):
No, he's a fantastic musician, but go

SPEAKER_02 (27:11):
on.
And I told him, I said, allright, dad, I don't want to
oversell it, but this might bethe best song and the best video
of 2025 so far.
I...
freaking love this everythingabout this song and this video

(27:34):
are just chef's kiss perfection

SPEAKER_01 (27:39):
i this is probably one of the few times that
listeners you may want to takenote of this moment but i agree
this is the best song on thealbum 100%.
I thought the video was so muchfun.
It was just a campy vampirething and it was fantastic.
I was bothered in the videothough how I feel like He didn't

(28:00):
put like his mouth didn't matchlike the volume that was coming
out of it.
That did bother me a little bit.
But, you know, I thought it wasa lot of fun.
He had the weird like fingerglove things on that was just
like

SPEAKER_02 (28:13):
the fingers and the wings kind of like getting
bigger as the video goes on.

SPEAKER_01 (28:18):
Yeah.
And and that goes back to whatwe were talking about before
that.
the personality behind all thisand what you were saying that
Tobias just kind of has fun withthis stuff.
And that's cool.
I mean, you know, a video fromone of their previous albums, I
think it was the album beforethis, Dance Macabre...
I never get that word right.
Dance Macabre.

(28:39):
Yeah.
That's just a word that I'malways going to struggle with
and I have to deal with that.

SPEAKER_02 (28:42):
Which is a Stephen King novel, which I think is why
they...
Not a novel, but a Stephen Kingbook.
Oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 (28:47):
But no, that...
That was the first video I sawof theirs where I went, oh, I
get it.
I get it.
It's like, it's all a thing.
Anyway, back to the song.
Not that album.
Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 (28:57):
Okay.
So here's the thing about thissong that really kind of hooked
me in is I love the intro.
I love the sound of the keys.
It's ethereal, it's pretty, butit is spooky, and I was really
into it.
And then when the guitars comein, the guitars are fairly

(29:20):
simple.
There's just kind of like a...
But they have this tail on themthat I love.
And it's like something aboutthat little riff is just like,

(29:41):
oh, I love it.
And did you get this huge popchorus that is just money in the
bank?

UNKNOWN (29:52):
I'm done crying.

SPEAKER_02 (29:58):
Such a good chorus.
The harmonies are incredible.
Yeah, and dude, I can't eventalk about that guitar solo
without getting chills.
That is...
Okay,

SPEAKER_01 (30:08):
so after the second verse, and this is something I
noticed in this one, and I can'tsay I've ever sat down and
listened to an entire Ghostalbum, especially not like we do
on this one, but it's almostlike they set up...
the like where they're goinginto the solo because you could
start like it's you could alwayspick up like when it's about to
happen and you just feel itbuild it right but then it's

(30:32):
like after he you know tobiasgets done singing you know in
this case it's after the secondchorus it's like there's this
like i don't know like fivesecond pause of like the music
doing something a little bitdifferent and then it goes into
the solo that starts at 255.

(30:55):
And then we get a solo, and thenit changes into a different solo
at 312.
And it's so good.
It was just a lot of fun.
I mean, overall, I thought thiswas great.
I mean, just the 80s synthlines, and then it just had a

(31:16):
fantastic bass line allthroughout it.
I wouldn't say this should bethe opening, or the opener, but
I think this is, again, one ofthe best tracks, or the best
track on the album.
Now, this is...
Well, okay, go ahead.
I was going to say, the onlything about this song that
bothered me was the ending.
It just ends rather abruptly,and it's like, what happened

(31:36):
there?
I was kind of expecting it tonot fade out, but kind of peter
out.

SPEAKER_02 (31:48):
Yeah, especially with all the 80s influence you
hear on this album, the classicrock.
I mean, you fade it out all thetime on a classic rock album,
and it fades out on some ofthese other songs.
So yeah, I'm not against you onthat one.
But I was just going to say, inaddition to, like you were
saying, with the guitar solos,first of all, the guitar

(32:12):
harmony, I like that firstsection of the solo the best.
because it has more of thatBrian May Queen thing happening.
That

SPEAKER_01 (32:19):
255 to 312.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (32:22):
And then 312, it's much more of like a rock and
roll kind of guitar solo.
But what I like...
Both parts are really good.
Oh, and they fit together very,very well.
But then after that, instead ofjust going back to the chorus,
you get a key change and it goesup another register.

UNKNOWN (32:40):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (32:44):
and i thought that's a cool way to really like just
you went so big on that guitarsolo if you just drop back into
the chorus it's going to lose alittle bit of the that steam so
instead they just bring it upanother notch by doing a key
change on that last chorus and ithought that was that was great

(33:07):
i i i have no complaints on thissong i've i remember watching
the video and being like replayshow it to me

SPEAKER_01 (33:17):
again i don't think i replayed it but i do know i
watched it uh probably twice andnow watching the videos i feel
like watching the videos is notcheating you know because you're
still listening to the song andall and you're just kind of
getting a different feel

SPEAKER_02 (33:30):
yeah and for a band like this honestly this whole
month Every one of these bandsand artists, theatricality is
part of their thing.
So I feel like to really get thefull package, you need to watch
some of the videos.
You need to see some of the liveperformances just to get a feel
for the whole thing.

(33:50):
I

SPEAKER_01 (33:51):
will say that as far as Ghost goes, I feel like their
videos are more in line withtheir sound than their live
performances.
performances, because I feellike their live performance
should be more of a Lorna Shoretype sound than

SPEAKER_02 (34:06):
this.
That's a common trope with a lotof these kind of bands,
especially no spoilers, but oneof the ones we're going to get
to this month, when you see themversus what they sound like,
you're like, what the hell ishappening?
And at least Ghost, they're notquite as...

(34:28):
Monstrous.
Let's say that.
Right,

SPEAKER_01 (34:31):
right.
All right.
So track three, Satanized.

SPEAKER_02 (34:48):
So, you know, I've mentioned this on the show
before.
I am a Christian and, you know,I take that seriously.
But at the same time, This issilly.
And if you take this tooseriously, and whatever, that's
on you.
I'm not going to say, hey, ifyou don't want to listen to a
song called Satanized, thatthere's something wrong, sure,

(35:11):
that's your prerogative.
But for me, this is so silly.
The music sounds likeCastlevania Nintendo music, and
the lyrics are goofy as hell.
This is great.
I have so much fun with this.
It's a song about...
I feel like it's a song about

SPEAKER_01 (35:30):
demonic possession.

SPEAKER_02 (35:31):
Okay, so Tobias Forge said that this song is
actually more of a love song.
It's about being so in love thatyou feel like you're possessed.
Okay.
And so that's where it's comingfrom.
Now, for me, before hearing thatand just listening to the

(35:52):
words...
I kept thinking, I'm Satanized.
He was saying, like, I'msanitized by Satan.
And it was like, that's thedumbest thing I've ever heard.
It's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 (36:07):
Okay, so the whole, like, demonic possession thing
was kind of solidified by thatLatin prayer at 124?
Yeah.
But honestly...
i don't feel it it just didn'tfeel like something like that i

(36:27):
did notice the riffs picked upduring that the the prayer part
but then they kind of went backdown because this one does slow
it down a bit especially fromwhere we just came from which is
fine but okay so i mentioned thebeginning that there are parts
of this that are direct liftsand yes we did talk about
separate ways there in track onebut there is something from this

(36:48):
that is a direct lift So theriff during the song, except
outside of that Latin prayer,it's intriguing.
It's enough to make me go, okay,that's fine.
But the bass line is the bassline from Tears for Fears,
Everybody Wants to Rule theWorld.

UNKNOWN (37:10):
Everybody wants to rule the world.

SPEAKER_01 (37:11):
There's a room where the light will...
And also Fleetwood Mac's Don'tStop.

UNKNOWN (37:17):
Don't stop thinking about tomorrow.
Don't stop...

SPEAKER_02 (37:19):
Okay, and while I don't disagree with you, by the
way, if nobody knows this,Everybody Wants to Rule the
World by Tears for Fears is myabsolute favorite song of all
time.
So, if anybody wanted to knowthat, there you go.
I mean, we have a show aboutmusic, and I didn't even know
that

SPEAKER_01 (37:36):
about you.

UNKNOWN (37:37):
Yep.

SPEAKER_02 (37:37):
And on a later episode, I'll reveal my second
favorite.
So...
i won't disagree with you butthe difference between this and
the whole journey thing on thefirst song is that bass line has
that feel to it but the stuffaround it is so different oh
yeah that it's not as egregiousyou know i'll give you that yeah

(37:59):
but i i don't necessarilydisagree because i i was gonna
say you know i've been braggingon these guitar players the bass
on this album is not usuallyvery flashy but man it sounds
good and it fits that it itfills that frequency perfectly
to where when those guitars gohigh and they're harmonizing

(38:20):
together it still feels likethick in the in the low end
because of just the bass tone

SPEAKER_01 (38:27):
okay so the guitars let's talk about the guitars for
a second because at 228 is justa weird solo

SPEAKER_02 (38:36):
Yeah, for me, my personal taste, that solo, that
first solo in Lacrima is like,Jeff's Kiss, no notes.
And when they go into thatsound, I'm very into it.

(38:59):
When they do these kind of soloswhere it's a little bit more
bendy and rock and roll, it'slike, I get why.
It just doesn't have the same,like, attention grabbing.
Yeah, it doesn't quite stickwith me as much.
For me, even as a guitar player,the vocals are what does it for
me on this song.

(39:20):
I really like the way he singssome stuff.
I don't know why, but that linewhere he says, save me from the
monster that is eating me.

SPEAKER_01 (39:35):
Every time I smile.
That's fine.
All right.
But at three or nine, everythingstops.
And we get this weirdharpsichord speed bump.

SPEAKER_04 (39:47):
I should have known not to give in.
I should have known not to give

SPEAKER_01 (39:59):
in.
And I feel like, based on thefact that there at track one, we
got that child singing, you saychoir singing, but the angelic
singing with an organ, I feellike...
This 309 harpsichord speed bumpshould have just been put at the
front of this.
Should have either...

(40:19):
Should have either been put atthe front of this track, at the
very end, not in the middlewhile energy is still going, or
just as a separate thing.
You know, give us a...
I don't know.
Like I said before, there'sgoing to be quite a few points
of this where...
I say this thing that happens inthe song should either just be
put off by itself or taken out.

(40:41):
I was actually okay with thesong.
Not in love with it, but I wasokay with it up until that
harpsichord part.
It just kind of ruined it forme.

SPEAKER_02 (40:53):
You know, there's so little song left after that.
I get what you're saying aboutmaybe not putting it right
there.
Well,

SPEAKER_01 (41:02):
that's a...
Okay, that's the thing.
It's at 3.09 and it lasts formaybe, I don't know, eight
seconds, but the song is 3.56.
So it's like there's not muchleft, but it's not like so
little that we can just kind ofignore it, move past it.
There's enough after it to whereif you had just taken it out and

(41:23):
if you listen to it, what'shappening before that and what
happened after that could havejust been sandwiched together
and it would have been perfectlyfine.
I don't

SPEAKER_02 (41:32):
like starting the song with it, though, because I
do like how it just jumps rightin with the guitar and that
grooving bass line.
I like that a lot.
But I wouldn't be mad about thatsort of being the outro of

SPEAKER_01 (41:46):
the song.
No, that would have been fine.
I know that...
you know, coming up with anending to your song is harder
than coming up with thebeginning to your song.
And so to throw something likethat on it would have made it,
you know, when it stops, itstops and it wouldn't be an
awkward thing.

SPEAKER_02 (42:03):
Yeah.
I'm good with it where it is,but I can see somebody, like you
said, because this is a very, Iknow you like it.
It's a very jaunty kind of songthat having that sort of like
stop essentially right there,you know, I get that being a
little bit of a hiccup.

SPEAKER_01 (42:21):
I'm going to have a jaunty jar where every time you
say jaunty, you put a dollar init.
The new metal monster with hisjaunty personality.
I quit.
I quit.
I can't do this anymore.

SPEAKER_02 (42:33):
Oh, I'll do this whole episode by myself.
No problem.
All right.
Track four, Guiding

SPEAKER_01 (42:38):
Lights.

SPEAKER_00 (42:40):
I would have told you the truth.
It could have found its way.
and

SPEAKER_01 (42:52):
we have this intro that just starts out with some
just quite you know beautifulpiano and just this great bass
line before in you know beforeadding in some just wonderful
acoustic guitar playing which isquite different from the

(43:17):
electric stadium level solos andthings that we've heard before
this and quite honestly thatlast the drums don't kick in
until 110.
and i was really enjoying thatand then the drums start

SPEAKER_00 (43:40):
And

SPEAKER_01 (43:40):
I'm still enjoying it, but I kind of was enjoying
where we were to where I wantedus to kind of stay there.
I knew we weren't going to staythere forever because this is a
ghost album and everything isbig and theatrical and has to
get bigger, but fine.
I don't have an issue with thisone overall.
I do like the vocal choices thathe made on this track.

SPEAKER_02 (44:00):
This is another one where I think the vocals are the
most standout part.
of, of the song.
I think, um, a lot of themelodies are really good.
Here's, here's what he had tosay about this one.
He said that he basically hadthat chorus.
He kind of had this four chordprogression and he even admitted

(44:22):
he was like the most, you know,generic four chord progression
that's used in a thousand rocksongs.
He said, but then I also hadthis almost like creepy
eighties, Italian horror, uh,piece that i was playing with
too and kind of just put the twotogether and that's why the
verses kind of have this uh idon't want to say dour feel but

(44:46):
almost have a little bit of acreepiness factor and then the
chorus is just this huge youknow power ballad borderline
praise and worship sounding

SPEAKER_00 (45:05):
is

SPEAKER_01 (45:06):
so what i actually uh was saying like it's fine
like i i don't dislike it i imean i i like this song but it's
not like oh i gotta listen toguiding lights again up until
210.
at 210 at 210 everything changesat 210 we get what i call a
stadium beater solo It is a solothat is meant to cave in the

(45:37):
roof of whatever stadium they'replaying in.
It's a huge solo.
I would say that this is not asingle, but this one is probably
fantastic live because I feellike the beginning is an
emotional beginning.
Kind of slow it down.
Let the band take a minute breakor so.

(46:00):
Just give them a pause.
And then it slowly builds up tothis 210.
And you're right, it is more ofa, you know, adult contemporary
praise and worship song up until210.
And then it gets real big.
And that's where I feel like itwould be great live.
Because I wasn't, I mean, like Isaid, I was enjoying it, but it

(46:23):
wasn't like, I have to hear thisagain.
But I feel like it would begreat live.
Now with that, because of theway that this one goes...
I feel like it would have beenbetter to swap it with the next
track.

SPEAKER_02 (46:37):
Especially since you have a 10-track album.
I mean, obviously, 4, 5, 6 areall kind of like the
quote-unquote middle of youralbum.
But yeah, I sort of agreed that,like, me personally, I wasn't
ready to slow down yet.
I think that's one of mystruggles

SPEAKER_01 (46:52):
with this song.
That's why I say put it back,because I don't feel like the
slowdown needed to happen justyet.
And I mean, the song before thiswas a bit of a slowdown, because
it did slow that tempo down.
But, you know, it slowed thepace down.
And then we go into this, what Ifeel like, again, just a
beautiful piano piece, some, youknow, nice acoustic guitar came
in.
It was great.

(47:13):
If this was the

SPEAKER_02 (47:14):
80s, you would see 20,000 lighters in the stadium.
And now it's

SPEAKER_01 (47:21):
20,000 cell phone lights.
Not at a ghost concert! That'strue, that's true.
They do confiscate all the cellphones, which caused a bit of
a...
of a fiasco there in birminghamand

SPEAKER_02 (47:33):
you know i'll be honest with you as someone who
goes to a lot of concerts i ami'm very much i'm more on the
side of ghost than i'm not onthe side of ghost

SPEAKER_01 (47:47):
because me personally the same yeah

SPEAKER_02 (47:49):
yeah film some songs take some pictures.
Absolutely.
You know, I remember when I, yousure do remember this too, back
when we first started going toconcerts in the nineties and
early two thousands, they werelike, no cameras, no
photography, no.
And if they caught you takingpictures or videos, they throw
you out.
And now it's like expected,you're supposed to take pictures

(48:11):
and videos.
And so I'm, I'm cool with it.
But like, if you're going tohold your phone up the entire
concert, you're, Yeah, yeah.
Anyway.

(48:50):
I

SPEAKER_01 (48:50):
am, yes.
All right.
Because I'm not ready topronounce it.
So, track five.
You want me to pronounce it?
De Profundis Borealis.

(49:15):
Bravo, sir.
Bravo.
All right.
All right.
So, Profundis Borealis.
Okay, cool.
I don't feel like that openingpiano is needed here, unless
it's just to blend us from trackfour.

(49:37):
But I feel like they could havecut that piano, and like I said,
swapped four and five, and Ithink it would have been good,
because the way this one comesin, I mean, we get...
I don't know.
To me, this is not...
I don't know.
Maybe it's like my thirdfavorite track on the album
because this one just was anadrenaline-pumping song.
This was a Windows-down,drive-fast song to me.

(50:02):
Except for that beginning.

SPEAKER_02 (50:04):
Okay, so I'll tell you what Tobias Harris said.
He's a basketball player.
Tobias Forge said, the titleactually translates to From the
Northern Abyss.
He was...
he was trying to go for a blackmetal kind of inspiration.

(50:25):
And it was really funny when hewas talking about it.
So he said, he was like, look, Iknow this doesn't sound black
metal.
Okay.
So you black metal fans don'tcome at me.
Okay.
I'm just saying that drivingforce.
He said, I really wanted it tofeel like you were driving in
the snow and we're just likebeing pelted with that, like

(50:46):
cold, icy feeling.
So that's where the whole blackmetal thing from the northern
abyss, you know, Norway, where alot of black metal comes from.
So anyway, to your point aboutthat piano intro, having kids
that like Disney movies, mygirls kind of went through a

(51:07):
phase where they were obsessedwith the Descendants movies.
All three

SPEAKER_01 (51:12):
of the girls dressed up as Descendants for Halloween.

SPEAKER_02 (51:15):
There you go.
So Descendants 3, I believethat's Rise of Red.
I should know.
It's been on my house 700 times.
There's a song called Queen ofMean.
And the first couple chords ofthat song are very similar to
the first couple chords of thissong.

UNKNOWN (00:00):
...

SPEAKER_03 (51:38):
I'm so tired of pretending.

SPEAKER_02 (51:40):
And it always took me a minute to be like, do I
skip this one?
And then that...
And I was like, okay, no, Idon't skip this one.
I like this one.
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (51:57):
That's the thing.
After that piano part, this is afun, fast song.
This isn't one that I could sayI went back and played it on
repeat each time, but you know,kind of similar to you.
I had a pause every time it cameon and then it started.
I was like, okay, yeah, we'regood here.
And I really think it's justthat piano part in the beginning
hurts the rest of the songbecause you don't want to go

(52:19):
past that piano part.
You don't want to listen to itto get to the rest of it.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Sorry.
Side note about the descendants.
So I, every time the girls wouldhave on one of the movies, I
would say you're what I'd askthem if they're watching
ancestors again.
And they're like, no, it'sDescendants.
I'm like, right, but what areyou Descendants from?

(52:39):
Real funny, Dad.
Everything they watch, I say thewrong name for.
One of the girls was watchingthe new Dogman movie the other
night.
I was calling it Catboy, and shewas very angry.

SPEAKER_02 (52:55):
Yes, yes, this is why our kids don't like us.
So, this one, you know, when hesaid the thing about black
metal, obviously it doesn'tsound black metal, but before I
heard him say that, I wasthinking more in the vein of,
like, power metal, fantasymetal.
It's not nearly as fast andtechnical as a Dragonforce, but

(53:18):
some of the melodies and stuff,you know, especially the way he
sings that, like, when he singsthe line in the chorus and then
that high pitch, like littleguitar lick is in there with it,
kind of gave me that kind offeel.

(53:39):
The only thing about this songthat keeps it from being one of
my favorites is I feel like thesong is sort of over and then it
just kind of keeps going.
Like, I feel like they kind ofkeep doing that last bit

SPEAKER_01 (53:57):
a little bit too long.
It's almost like they werehaving so much fun playing it,
they didn't want it to end.
Yeah.
But it needed to end beforethat.
I mean, the song is 4 minutes 32seconds, so not a super long
song.
One of the longer songs on thisalbum, but, you know, I think
that piano part in thebeginning, and then them just...
I don't know if they were havingso much fun playing it, they

(54:17):
were having trouble finding theend, or if they were just having
trouble finding the end.
You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 (54:23):
Yeah, it really does feel like, you know, this is one
that fades out.
You know, this is one thatobviously they were having.
I think you're probably right.
I think they were having a goodtime with this one.
And they were just sort of likethey played the riff.
They kept going.
The guys in the studio arelistening along.
And again, just like at a liveconcert, you don't feel like

(54:44):
it's dragging when you'rewatching it.
But then when you're, you know,just sitting there listening to
it, it's sort of like.
okay, well, we've heard thispart.
How long is it going to go?

SPEAKER_01 (54:53):
Right.
And, you know, they just kind ofrecycled that, you know, that
bit there for the bit, or forthe end.
Yeah.
So, all right.
Track six, Cetotef.

UNKNOWN (55:02):
Cetotef.

SPEAKER_01 (55:19):
I'm just going with phonetics now, not the Swedish
pronunciation of things.
And it seems to be working forme.
No, I'm pretty sure that iscorrect.
All right.
So I like the fact that this onecomes after track five, which
messes with my swapping four andfive, because I feel like this

(55:39):
is another high-energy rocker ofa song.
And I think it works well withit.
So maybe swap...
Maybe, I don't know, push 5 and6 up a bit and push 4 back.
I don't know.
Like I said, I feel like thetrack listing is all out of
whack on this album.

SPEAKER_02 (55:58):
Yeah, see, I don't have a problem with the track
listing other than what yousaid.
I feel like Guiding Lights wassuch a slowdown that maybe
pushed it a little deeper intothe record.
But that's the only thing I havea problem with.
This is probably my secondfavorite song on the album.

(56:19):
I have so much fun with thissong.

SPEAKER_01 (56:23):
Because it starts with that spooky 80s keyboard
that sounds like it should be inan 80s horror movie.

SPEAKER_02 (56:36):
John Carpenter vibes.
It has very John Carpenter vibeswhen it first starts.
But then with that...
It's like, there's thatjauntiness again.

SPEAKER_01 (56:47):
You mean when the riff from Black Sabbath's
Children of the Grave started?

UNKNOWN (57:00):
Revolution in the night.

SPEAKER_01 (57:03):
are you shocked that ghost takes influence from black
sabbath oh no no actually uhsomething i thought was
interesting is that uh i waslooking up before we started
recording i was looking up uhwhat other people would you know
uh you know if two bands were tohave a baby yeah what would it
be and uh i saw someone callthis one black uh sabbath but

(57:26):
the a bba was capitalized likeOh, that's cute.
I like that.
Yeah.
But it was if ABBA and BlackSabbath had a baby and then it
went to clergy or went to schoolto be or went to seminary to
become part of the clergy,whatever, but then dropped out
and started slitting its wrists.

SPEAKER_02 (57:43):
I'm all about Iron Queen.
I think this is Iron Maiden andQueen.
And this is a perfect example ofit because after that guitar,
you know, it's going...
it happens at 128 to 133 and ithappens again at 239 to 245
where it plays crazy littlething called love by queen

(58:14):
Because it's just a D chordwhere you add that extra note to
it.
But it is that exact chordplayed at the exact same rhythm.

SPEAKER_01 (58:26):
But you see, it's funny.
I think it's funny you just saidthe 328 or 329 because I have
just before the solo and itstarts at 238.
Sorry, I'm mixing up my noteshere.
At 238, it becomes a Van Halensong.

SPEAKER_02 (58:39):
okay so i was gonna say my my two favorite parts of
this song are at 147 the vocalharmony on the word moment which
is a great moment on this albumand then the solo that starts at
246 freaking rules this is oneof the absolute best guitar

(59:08):
solos and then kind of like kindof like on lachryma it has like
a two-part solo so you've gotthe first part at 246 and then
at 310 it sort of does that halftime and he goes into that like
that like double tap solo soIt's not super long, but it's

(59:32):
just long enough.
Oh man, this is a good song.
It is such a good song.

SPEAKER_01 (59:37):
This one is a good song.
And I feel like, and this is, Idon't know.
I feel like I've contradictedmyself where I said, you know,
swap four or whatever.
I feel like this should havebeen the opener to this album.
I feel like this would have beena much better opener.

SPEAKER_02 (59:51):
You know, because if you had to pick another song off
this album that has a similarvibe to this, it would be
Peacefield, because it does havethat faster thing.
It's not as minor key asPeacefield.
It's brighter, even.
So, yeah, I think lyrically,this one is a little bit of a

(01:00:13):
darker subject matter, I guess.
I'm

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:16):
sorry, I missed what this one was, subject matter
was.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:19):
So what Tobias was saying that a cenotaph is a
stone structure posing as agrave but doesn't have a body
inside of it.
It just serves as a memorial.
And I think lyrically what hewas going for was kind of like
talking about being that way inlife.

(01:00:40):
Just being sort of an emptyvessel without a soul.
So again, a little bitmetaphoric, a little bit
whatever, but WhereasPeacefield, I mean, you just
hear it in the name, you know,this one is a little bit deeper
than

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:55):
that.
Okay, that's fine.
Let's move on to talk abouttrack seven, Masila Amori.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:08):
Eight.
Before my love, it is too late.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:17):
This is where it gets horny.
Yeah, yeah.
This is a horny song.
I said that this is a DefLeppard stripper pole anthem.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:28):
Okay, let me tell you the quote.
I don't have the exact quote,but here's what I can tell you.
In that interview, he says, Iwas thinking about songs in the
80s that got a little bit moreexposure because they were
really good to strip to.
And I wanted to make a song likethat.

(01:01:49):
He said, so I was reallythinking of songs like pour some
sugar on me and those kind ofstripper anthem kind of songs.
And he even mentioned that thissong has this like physical like
where you can like actually feelyour body being like kind of

(01:02:10):
pushed around.

UNKNOWN (01:02:12):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:17):
And he said that's exactly what he had in his head
when he wrote the song.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:21):
Okay.
And so as far as those bonbons,you know, they're fun.
Yeah.
But I feel like the guitars weremixed too far back in this.
I feel like for those parts,they should have been bigger and
more impactful.
I think they should have had apunch, especially considering I
feel like it's supposed to havea stomping riff to go along with

(01:02:42):
Love Rockets shot right betweenyour eyes.

UNKNOWN (01:02:46):
Love

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:47):
Yeah,

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:55):
but what

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:56):
exactly are love rockets?
I don't know, but on firstlisten, and now I've told you
that I usually put an album onthe background at first, and the
first time I listened to thisone, I was in the car, and I
remember I just wasn't reallylistening to it intently.
I was just kind of, you know,whatever.
Yeah.

(01:03:17):
I had to rewind or go back inthe song because I swear I heard
butt rockets and nut rockets,not love rockets.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:30):
Well, I mean, I don't think nut rockets is

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:33):
too terribly off.
No, I don't think so either.
But yeah, I heard, I definitely

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:37):
heard butt rockets.
I love that guitar lick after hesays love rocket.
Oh yeah.
That is, that's, uh, God, somuch Brian May.
Like, that's the tone I hear.
But I love that little lick.
The only thing for me, I reallydo like this song, too.

(01:04:01):
I think it's fun.
Oh, no, it's a fun song.
I just feel like the bridge iskind of weak.

UNKNOWN (01:04:08):
Wherever you may be.

SPEAKER_02 (01:04:14):
This would have been a good song to have.
It does have a good guitar solothat starts off at around 243.
But it's just, compared to someof the other just huge arena

(01:04:34):
rock solos, I just...
I don't know.
Like, I feel like with this,like you said, like as sexy as
this song is supposed to be, Ifeel like they could have done
something more there.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:46):
So I feel like the bridge is where like it's slowly
fades out and that stripper getsoff the stage.
Like her act is done because Ifeel the same way.
I kind of feel like it was, Iwas having a lot of fun up until
that bridge hit.
And I was kind of like, I'm justkind of done here now.
I like the love rocket shot off.
I don't need any more between myeyes.
Ah, you had post-rocket clarity.

(01:05:08):
Yes, yes, post-rocket clarity.
Anyway, let's move on to talkabout track eight, Marks of the
Evil One.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:21):
I

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:29):
think that this one would have been a better closer
than we got on this album.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:34):
This one...
I've kind of...
This one's grown on me.
I didn't like it all that muchat first, but subsequent
listens, I've gotten more intoit because I kind of felt like
the first time I heard it, thatguitar line, that kind of lead
line that starts at thebeginning of the song...

(01:05:59):
...kind of sets you up forsomething that the verse is
not...
Happening because like the verseit's like the vocal melody is
like And it felt like I don'tknow like it felt like they were
at odds with one another

SPEAKER_00 (01:06:18):
But

SPEAKER_02 (01:06:25):
the more I listened to it the more I kind of fell
into it and I

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:30):
I like this song a lot.
Okay.
So I feel like this one alsogrew on me, but something I, I
do feel like, you know, whereas,uh, you know, track seven was
the deaf leopard stripper song.
This is more of the, like, Idon't darker band stripper song.
Like this is like for like, thegirl that gets up on stage that

(01:06:53):
listens to nothing but gothmusic.
I feel like this is anotherstripper song, another sexy,
sensual song, but not as partyrock, let's put it that way.

SPEAKER_02 (01:07:03):
Well, so...
Knowing the lyrical content...
Oh, yeah, yeah, the lyricalcontent completely goes against
any of that.
The way he actually describedit, though, I thought was kind
of funny, because he said it isa very dumbified, which I don't
believe is a word,interpretation of biblical

(01:07:24):
writings, because he's talkingabout, like, the horsemen of the
apocalypse, and he said...
He basically wanted to simplifythis thing just to make it sound
quote-unquote cool.

SPEAKER_01 (01:07:39):
Actually, I do like that the first two verses were
basically listing off what theriders are.
In verse one, we have,"...onerider has a bow, rides a steed."
white and wears a crownconquering

SPEAKER_00 (01:07:59):
a

SPEAKER_01 (01:08:06):
second rider joins on a steed red swinging his
sword mongering verse 2 goes onto say the third rider looks
cool on his steed Now, Right.

(01:08:47):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (01:09:05):
it probably has my favorite line of the whole album
where it's in the bridge at 204and he says and when the sun
eclipses it's just abracadabrahocus pocus shit and it's like

(01:09:30):
that's the kind of like pokingfun at themselves stuff that I
admire because they've builtthis huge thing and it's like
when you just see the logo andyou see the pictures of the band
you get this impression and thenhe sings it's just abracadabra
hocus pocus shit like it's justI don't know it's magic ta-da

(01:09:52):
right

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:53):
so okay you know there are things about different
songs that drive me nuts like atambourine or a false ending
uh-huh sure sure I'm okay withit, but I don't love it, but I
hate the fade-out that we got onthis one.

(01:10:22):
Oh, really?
I hate the fade-out here.
There's something that happens,actually, in the fade-out.
He drops an F-bomb in thefade-out, but he doesn't drop an
F-bomb anywhere else in thealbum that I could find, I kind
of felt like it was a cowardlymove to put the F-bomb in the
fade-out like he's afraid to putit somewhere else and say it

(01:10:42):
louder.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 (01:10:48):
I don't think he's afraid to say it.
I've heard him say it plenty oftimes.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:51):
I don't think he's afraid to say it.
I mean, he's obviously notafraid to go after the church,
but...
It's, you know, or the CatholicChurch put it that way.
But I don't know.
It just kind of felt like it'slike it just barely audible in
the fade out.
And I just didn't like it.
Didn't sit well.

SPEAKER_02 (01:11:10):
I like it.
It reminded me of this Incubussong.
Oh, I think it was off of CrowLeft of the Murder because he's
saying it like fades out.
He's like.
uh, be gone, be gone, be gone,be gone, like over and over as
it fades out and then justthrows in one F off in the
middle of it.
That's like, if you're, ifyou're not listening for it, you

(01:11:32):
like don't even notice.
And, and also thought about thewho, where, you know, that when
they fade out that song, who

SPEAKER_00 (01:11:45):
are you?

SPEAKER_02 (01:11:47):
And then if, you know, if you listen to the whole
thing, there's a, Who the effare you?
Like snuck in there near thevery end of it.
So I think it was just kind ofchanneling that again where it's
just, you know, kind of a homageto some more 80s stuff.

(01:12:07):
But I don't know.
I thought it was kind of fun.
I thought you might be talkingabout the...
I was calling it a Friday the13th reference.
I don't know if that's true ornot.
But I kept hearing like a...
Like at different partsthroughout the song?
Yeah, I didn't catch that atall.
Like it's mixed in throughout,but I feel like at 2.42, like a

(01:12:30):
lot of the music drops out andit's a little bit like more up
front in the mix.

UNKNOWN (01:12:36):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (01:12:39):
Again, I don't think it's actually a Friday the 13th
reference, but it's what it mademe think of every time I heard
it.
That's fine.
All right, so track nine, Umbra.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:01):
I don't like the title of that.
It just doesn't feel good in mymouth.
What does feel good in yourmouth?
Love Rockets.
nailed

SPEAKER_02 (01:13:11):
it nailed

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:12):
it i'm proud of you thank you proud of you all right
so cut the first minute uh-huhand make it an interlude it's a
10 track album so it's not along album but that that that
first i don't know i think it'sright at like a minute it yep
it's like the 80s sounds that wegot on like those stranger
things soundtracks so I wantthat song because I love that

(01:13:46):
sound.
I love that feeling.
It just feels cold, but alsolike, I don't know, like I want
to put a hoodie on and I don'tknow.
I like it.

SPEAKER_02 (01:13:54):
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
That first sound is not from theeighties.
It is from the nineties.
That is the sound of aPlayStation being booted up.
No, it just has that feeling,that sound and all.
I don't know if it is actually,but that's what I hear

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:11):
every

SPEAKER_02 (01:14:11):
single time.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:12):
I don't think it is a PlayStation being booted up.
We heard that on the Frank OceanChannel Orange.
Oh,

SPEAKER_02 (01:14:25):
we did.
We did, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:26):
No, but I don't know.
I love that sound.
I love that feeling.
I want more of that, but youstart a song off with a full
minute of that and then theguitar comes in big yeah and the

(01:14:48):
thing about it is if you hadjust given me a song where
that's the start it would havedefinitely caught my attention
instead of like oh i i like thisi like this oh We're into
something completely differentnow.
It's got a shit ton of cowbell.

SPEAKER_02 (01:15:09):
Oh, I love the cowbell.
I really do.
It was giving me just anotherband that does not shock me at
all that they would beinfluenced by Blue Oyster Cult.
Yep.
And I hear a lot of that on thisone.
And this is another one.
I agree with you.
You know, Ghost is the kind ofband that is very theatrical.
Having a couple one minute longinterludes on your album is not

(01:15:30):
weird for a band like this.
That makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_01 (01:15:34):
I think it's weird for your band like this to put
out 10 track albums.

SPEAKER_02 (01:15:38):
some of them are longer, some of them are longer,
but they also have EPS out too.
So, you know, I think it'sreally, you know, whatever
Tobias is feeling as far as, youknow, it's his, it's his world.
It's his universe.
He's created.
But, um, I, I really like, Idon't love that intro.
This is another one where it'slike for the first 45 seconds or

(01:16:00):
so.
I'm like, I don't, do I likethis one?
And then when it kicks in, I'mlike, Oh yeah, this one's cool.
Um, I like how driving it is.
And then at 323, you get thesebig organs come in.

(01:16:21):
But my favorite part is around338, when the guitars and the
organ are all starting toplay...
with each other and against eachother.
And it was giving me almost like70s prog yes kind of vibes where

(01:16:50):
you've got the keys and theguitars and they're all kind of
like doing their own littlesolos and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 (01:16:56):
Okay, so what I said is that 324...
it becomes a song where prog ispicking on Van Halen.

SPEAKER_02 (01:17:03):
There you go.
Exactly.
It's, it's got the keys.
It's got the, uh, it's got thenoodley guitar stuff.
I think it's fun.

SPEAKER_01 (01:17:12):
No, this is a fun song, but I feel like I, and I
don't hate cowbell, but I feellike that cowbell is just mixed
too far up.
Cause it's just like, okay.
I did not listen to this fullone through headphones, but I
did listen to this oneheadphones up until that
cowbell, uh, just startedbelling my head and i okay it's

(01:17:33):
funny that you said blue is yourcult and i think everybody
thinks blue is your cult with acowbell thanks to will ferrell
ferrell and actually put thenote i don't need more or have a
fever for more cowbell

SPEAKER_03 (01:17:46):
guess what I got a fever and the only prescription
is more cowbell.

SPEAKER_02 (01:17:53):
Yeah.
Now, and I'm not exactly surewhat the lyrics are in this one.

SPEAKER_01 (01:17:58):
I don't know what they are because I don't like
Tobias's vocal choices on thisone.
I don't like this song.
Let's put

SPEAKER_02 (01:18:04):
that.
Yeah.
This isn't one of my favorites.
I do like how driving it is.
And I do like sort of all thenoodle action at the end, but
no, I agree.
It's not one of my favorites,but he said he called this a
very coital song and, He said,this is...
He kind of was a littletongue-in-cheek.
He was like, there was anotherBritish band from the 60s who

(01:18:27):
had a song that really summed upthe lyrical content of what I
wanted to go for, which is AllYou Need Is Love.
And it was funny.
He was like, we could all besitting around having the most
deep philosophical conversationin the world.
Somebody brings in a tray ofshots, we all do a couple, and
all of a sudden...

(01:18:47):
Let's talk about something else.
And your brain goes straight tosomething a lot more primitive
and primal.
And so he was kind of trying tochannel that.
Again, without really readingthe lyrics beforehand, I'm not
exactly sure if it gets thataggressive, but that's what it
was supposed to be.

SPEAKER_01 (01:19:05):
Yeah, completely missed me on this one.
I That cowbell just kind of tookme out of it.
I did enjoy around 324 when itturns into that proggy Van Halen
thing.
I thought that was a fun part,but just, I don't know, to get
to that point was a little muchfor me.
I get you.
All right, let's round it outand talk about track 10,

(01:19:27):
Excelsius.

UNKNOWN (01:19:35):
Everybody leaves one day

SPEAKER_00 (01:19:38):
So

SPEAKER_02 (01:19:44):
before you talk about the actual song, here's
what I want to say Tobias had tosay about this.
He said he kind of consideredUmbra as the final song.
Excelsius is more like theencore to the album or like the
song that plays during thecredits.

(01:20:05):
It's almost like Sort of.
It's almost like Umbra is theexclamation point, the finale of
the event.
And now that you're on your wayout, this is the cool-off song
that ends it.

SPEAKER_01 (01:20:21):
That doesn't make me like it all that much more, but
it makes more sense.
No, I get it.
It does feel more like that.
So actually, their album from2018 and I don't ever feel like
I pronounce it right.
Uh, prequel P R E Q U E L L E.

(01:20:42):
Good.
We'll go with that.
Yeah.
Prequel.
Um, there was a song on that onethat I really liked called life
eternal.
And this one feels like thecontinuation of life eternal.
It feels bigger than lifeeternal.
Now, Probably

SPEAKER_02 (01:21:03):
longer.

SPEAKER_01 (01:21:04):
Yeah, it's six minutes, one second.
And that's something that Iactually think hurt this one
more.
But I get it now that you tellme what Tobias Ford said about
it, that it's supposed to bethis extra thing, this encore.
I get it.
That makes sense.
But at the same time, I don'tneed a six-minute track to close

(01:21:28):
out your album when there'sanother song I feel like would
have been a better closer.
I didn't love this one.
This isn't one that I have a loton, honestly.
It's a nice song.
It's a little pruggy at times.

SPEAKER_02 (01:21:43):
I like my favorite part of the song.
The part that stands out to meis the vocal melody on You Will
Too.
I will too.
You

SPEAKER_00 (01:21:56):
will too.
I will

SPEAKER_02 (01:22:03):
too.
Like, I like the way he singsthat every time.
But just like Guiding Light's Wetalk about this on all kinds of
albums.
Bands that have four, five, sixalbums.
They have a large discography tochoose from.
You have different eras.
You have different sounds.
This is not the flavor of GhostI prefer.

(01:22:26):
I prefer stuff like Lacryma.
I prefer stuff like Cinetaph.
The more driving, upbeat, alittle bit spooky stuff.
These kind of songs just don'tdo it for me.
So I get why it's the lasttrack.
The lyrics are about, you know,we all die.
But while we're here, you livelife to the fullest.

(01:22:49):
I can respect that.
But it's just the execution ofit's just not for me.
Yeah.
All right, Monster.
What's new with you?
There's really not much,honestly.
I'm just going to say Lacrimabecause how much I love that

(01:23:13):
song.
And there's at least a twinge ofit in that kind of riff.
Like if you were to put a littlebit of a different kind of beat
behind it, I don't know.
You could make a case maybe, butno, there's, I mean, there's so
much eighties here that there'sreally nothing bouncy or groovy

(01:23:36):
happening.
And if it does, you get moreinto the jaunty feel and it's,
it's not as bouncy

SPEAKER_01 (01:23:44):
danger.
What's cooking.
And for the second time on theshow, we're actually going to
have the same song in thissegment.

UNKNOWN (01:23:50):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:23:55):
And I actually think that it just goes to, I think
lacrimal is probably the bestsong off this album.
And so I do want to hear it atleast twice.

SPEAKER_02 (01:24:03):
That is, that is just such like to me, whenever
you have a band that is thistheatrical, the, the
conversation is always what'smore important.
Are they, are they more aboutthe visual and the story or are
they more about making reallygood music that stands the test

(01:24:24):
of time?
And they just have this, visualcomponent.
And to me, Lacrima, that's aworld beater.
That is a great rock song that Idon't care if you like Ghost.
If you like rock music at all,you gotta respect that kind of a
song.

SPEAKER_01 (01:24:43):
Oh yeah.
This was your pick, the firstpick for Masked Month.
Masked Month.

SPEAKER_02 (01:24:51):
Yeah, see,

SPEAKER_01 (01:24:51):
it's the ED that I don't like.
Month of Masks.
There you go.
Better, better.
Acronym, mom.
Perfect.
All right.
So with that, would you like togive

SPEAKER_02 (01:25:04):
us your closing statement first?
Ghost is one of those bands thatsome people seem to obsess over
and others can't stand.
I had heard a few songs here orthere and liked the majority of
what I heard, but I guess Ididn't really get it.
But after listening to thisalbum, Skeleta, from start to
finish multiple times, andwatching some live performances

(01:25:26):
and music videos, I think I'mstarting to get it.
I don't think this is a perfectalbum, but there are a couple
songs on here that I think aredamn near perfect songs.
And that's the thing about a lotof their music.
I don't love all their stuff,but the stuff I do love, I love
a lot.
Musically, I hear all theinfluences, the heavy metal, the

(01:25:47):
arena rock, the pop, theclassical, but it sounds wholly
unique to them.
I like the imagery, but also thesense of humor they have about
it.
This is the kind of band that afull album of, all at once,
could turn into a bit of a slogif you're not in the mood for
it.
But in 20-30 minute chunks, it'sphenomenal.

(01:26:08):
And live, from what I've seen,it's even better.
Overall, I find Skeleta to be alittle bit of a mixed bag.
Some songs I probably won'trevisit.
Some songs I'm ready to listento again right now.
So even though my overallranking of the band Ghost, in
general, would be pretty damnhigh, speaking specifically to

(01:26:29):
this album, 1 to 10, I said6.25.
Endanger, would you like tounmask your closing statement?

SPEAKER_01 (01:26:40):
I like this one.
I want to like it more though.
I want it to be more.
Ghost is obviously a powerhouseof a band and they are shooting
for greatness.
Each album has given us afurther step into the cheesy
sci-fi soundtracks of 80smovies.
And it has been a fun ride, butnever anything that has truly
grabbed me.

(01:27:01):
And then we have their mostrecent venture.
Ghost has given us an album thatsmashes the power pop synth of
1986 and the hair metal of thatsame year.
but the thing that hurt thisalbum the most was this very
same thing.
Instead of giving us a ghostalbum, they gave us a Tears for
Death Sabbath album.

(01:27:22):
This album feels like it wantsto be bigger than it is, and by
all means, it needs to be playedloud.
That may be the best way thatyou're going to hear the guitars
that are just mixed a little toolow outside of the solo.
And for that reason, I gave thisalbum a 6.42.
Wow, pretty close.

(01:27:43):
Yep.
So, Monster gave Ghost Skeleta a6.25, and I gave it a 6.42,
which gives it an overallaverage of 6.335, putting it
into the 47th position justbelow Dead Sarah and just above
Stabbing Westward.

SPEAKER_02 (01:28:05):
Uh, I feel like Ghost and Stabbing Westward
could maybe...
tore together a little bit, butI don't think that three doesn't
work well.

SPEAKER_01 (01:28:16):
No, I don't feel like that three would.
I do feel like StabbingWestward, Darkest Days
specifically, would probablywork best with Ghost, but
overall, I don't know.
It's just a little tooindustrial for the 80s pop flair
of Ghost.

SPEAKER_02 (01:28:32):
Like they both have synth and like a lot of like
piano and organ, but they justuse it in very different ways.

SPEAKER_01 (01:28:38):
Yes.
Yes.
So with that, if you disagreewith the score that we have
given this album, then pleaseshoot us an email at breakdowns,
breakfast at gmail.com or headon over to one of our social
media platforms, X, Instagram,or Facebook and check us out
there.
Breakdowns for breakfast acrossall of those.
And if you have a suggestion,please let us know.

(01:28:59):
We love getting suggestions.
Barring

SPEAKER_02 (01:29:03):
a scheduling snafu, this coming up second breakfast
will be related to this album.
It'll be a little bit of a minimovie review on Right Here,
Right Now, the ghost concertfilm, whatever.
I thought it would be a goodcompanion piece with this.
But if you have any suggestionsfor second breakfast, any topics

(01:29:26):
you want us to take a look at,send them on.
Love to hear it.
Danger! What's a ghost'sfavorite thing to order at a
Mexican restaurant?
What's that?
A burrito.