Zenith (Ghost Song)

''Meliora'' (Latin for "better things", and not "the pursuit of something better" as the band claims) is the third studio album by Swedish rock band Ghost. The album was produced by Klas Åhlund and released on August 21, 2015. The album was generally well received, placing on several music publications' lists of the best heavy metal albums of the year and winning Best Hard Rock/Metal Album at the 2015 Grammis Awards. The lead single " Cirice" won the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. In September 2016, the band released a special edition of the album, called ''Meliora Redux''.

Background and recording

Ghost began crafting their third studio album, the follow-up to 2013's ''Infestissumam'', at the end of 2014. The impetus for its "futuristic" theme came to a Nameless Ghoul a month or so prior to starting the ''Infestissumam'' tour. While trying out a new guitar rig during a rehearsal, the Ghoul created a "spacey echoed" effect that made a guitar riff sound "futuristic ndsci-fi". At this point, he had the idea for their next album.

A Nameless Ghoul said that, because guitar took a backseat on ''Infestissumam'', the band focused on guitar riffs from the beginning of the new album. He explained that part of this was achieved by having four different guitars, each played through three different amps, making four performances going through 12 amplifiers. They used two Gibson SGs, one from the early 1980s and the other from the 1960s; a 1962 Gibson Les Paul; and a Fender Telecaster.

Discussing the selection of Klas Åhlund as producer, the Ghoul said that despite his reputation for working with pop singers and having never produced a heavy metal band before, Åhlund had many of the same musical interests as Ghost. A band member also said, "I definitely think that we got a lot of ideas and a lot of new angles that we wouldn't have had, had we worked with a more established rock producer".

A member of the band said that the pre-production, writing and arranging of ''Meliora'' took a long time, not allowing for the luxury of recording any non-album songs with the exception of "Zenith", which was left off the main album but added as an extra track to a limited edition.

Tobias Forge later explained that he and Åhlund had spent three months on pre-production before going to Los Angeles where they recorded the drums with a session drummer. Upon returning to Stockholm they had a "very, very lavish, stupid sort of procedure" in a large studio with multiple people coming in and going or just hanging around, of which he said "On one hand, you think it's good for morale to do that, but no, it wasn't, evidently, in the end."

Themes and composition

Musically, ''Meliora'' has been described as heavy metal, doom metal, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, hard rock, and pop rock. Following their debut album '' Opus Eponymous'', which is about the coming of the Antichrist, and ''Infestissumam'', which is about the presence of the Antichrist, ''Meliora'' main theme is "the absence of God". A Nameless Ghoul said, "The lyrics deal with the void that happens when there is no god, when there is no one there to help you. But even then, there will always be some fucker there to give you guidance. And the band is basically portrayed as the religious party that comes in there with a guiding hand. We offer the one place in the world that is spiritual." A member of the band also said that it was "more about the modern man and woman in their pursuit of purpose in life. It's hard to live in a society if you're not willing to buy that you are in a collective, yet usually in the Western world, there is a big disregard for individual responsibility." The album's title, ''Meliora'' (Latin for "better things"), matches the theme of the lyrical content and "the backdrop that we wanted to paint in front of which we're playing these songs, basically, which was supposed to be, or is supposed to be, a super-urban, metropolitan, pre-apocalyptic, dystopic futuristic thing."

Although Ghost used choirs on their previous album, they had a lot of issues doing so. This time, the band decided to go the extra mile and spend the necessary money. A Nameless Ghoul said, "There are a lot of mellotron choirs on there because we wanted it to feel little bit synthetic and simulated. The choir symbolizes the gothic element that comes in all of a sudden."

The opening track "Spirit" uses the "futuristic ndsci-fi" guitar riff that gave a Nameless Ghoul the idea for the ''Meliora'' album. A Nameless Ghoul called "From the Pinnacle to the Pit" a "truly stomping riff-based song, Led Zeppelin-style" and "something that would sound great coming out of a car stereo in an American high school parking lot". "Cirice" was originally conceived together with "Devil Church", which was its opening, as a very dark and doomy nine-minute instrumental without a chorus. After working on it further at the urging of Åhlund, a chorus materialized and the two parts were split.

The song "He Is" was written in 2007. The band tried recording it for ''Infestissumam'', but after attempting to make it "sound like Ghost" and adding and subtracting aspects, they eventually put it to one side. Upon starting pre-production for ''Meliora'', they added "He Is" to the list, and after praise from Åhlund, recorded it as it was. A Nameless Ghoul told ''Loudwire'' that the lyrics to the song were influenced by the suicide of Selim Lemouchi, guitarist of The Devil's Blood, who was friends with members of Ghost. Discussing "Majesty", a Ghoul said, "Lyrically, it's on one hand a hymn about the dark lord of the underworld. On the other hand it paints a picture of a swarm of people, whom in a world of complete disaster, idolizes an authority that is clearly looking down upon them. How to love something that hates you back."

Promotion

On May 29, 2015, ''Meliora'' artwork and track listing were revealed to the public. The song "Cirice" was released as a free download from the band's official site on May 31. A music video for the song, directed by Roboshobo, premiered on June 8. The song "Absolution" was released for streaming on July 31. A music video for "From the Pinnacle to the Pit", directed by Zev Deans, was released on September 14. During the Black to the Future tour, the band recruited local female fans to dress up as nuns and play "Sisters of Sin" while serving alcoholic beverages during each show. During a concert on October 6 in St. Louis, Lzzy Hale of Halestorm served as a Sister of Sin. Ghost performed "Cirice" on ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' on October 30, during a Halloween-themed episode, marking the band's first television appearance in the United States. A lyric video for "He Is" was uploaded on November 9, 2015. In September 2016, Ghost released a special edition of the album, called ''Meliora Redux'', which included "Zenith" and the '' Popestar'' EP.

Reception

''Meliora'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 78, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 12 reviews. Thomas Woroniak of ''AntiHero Magazine'' said, "Ghost come out on top offering a compelling addition to the overarching message of self-determined freedom with a well-crafted album that rocks harder than ever". He also added that the album "delivers more of a modern edge with sharper teeth when compared to its predecessor, while maintaining continuity with the overall evolution of the band's characteristic sound". ''Montreal Rampage'' described the album's sound as "a peculiar hybrid of Sabbath-like metal, and progressive rock".

''Meliora'' won Best Hard Rock/Metal Album at the 2015 Grammis Awards, marking Ghost's second win in the category. It was named one of the best metal albums of 2015 by several publications, including ''Rolling Stone'', AXS TV, and ''LA Weekly''. ''Metal Hammer'' named it No. 13 on their list of 2015's best albums in any genre. Readers voted it the Best Metal Album of the year at the fifth annual Loudwire Music Awards, while ''Loudwire'' themselves listed it second. ''Revolver'' also named it the second best album of the year in hard rock and heavy metal. The song "Cirice" won the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. ''Loudwire'' ranked the same song as the second Best Metal Song of 2015.

''Meliora'' was certified platinum by the IFPI in November 2016, for sales of 40,000. The album debuted at No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, with an estimated 29,000 copies sold in its first week.

Track listing

All writing credited to "A Ghoul Writer" in the booklet. Actual writing credits adapted from ASCAP.¹

¹

Personnel

Ghost

* Papa Emeritus III – vocals
* Nameless Ghouls:
** – lead guitar
** – bass
** – rhythm guitar
** – keyboards
** – drums

Additional personnel

* Ludvig Kennberg – drums

Technical personnel

* Klas Åhlund – production
* Andy Wallace – mixing
* Brian Lucey – mastering
* Zbigniew M. Bielak – artwork
* David M. Brinley – "Zenith" artwork for limited edition

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control

2015 albums
Albums produced by Klas Åhlund
Ghost (Swedish band) albums
Rise Above Records albums