by Sebastian Kluth
Par kluseba
Since the release of its second studio record, Swedish occult rock phenomenon Ghost has made it a tradition to release extended plays featuring two to five new tracks between full length efforts. Phantomime is no exception and honours covers of punk rock, pop rock and heavy metal songs from the seventies, eighties and nineties. The final result comes around with five tunes and a total running time of twenty-four minutes. While the release comes around with decent cover artwork, selling the product between fifteen and twenty bucks as is the case in Canadian record stores is exploitative. Referring to the digital release on the usual platforms is therefore highly recommended unless you're an avid collector with too much money on your hands.
While Phantomime can't equal the quality of the original material on preceding extended play Seven Inches of Satanic Panic, it turns out to be the group's greatest cover record thus far. The band's cover songs have been quite hit and miss in the past but Phantomime does an overall rather consistent effort. Punk rock tunes ''See No Evil'' by Television and ''Hanging Around'' by The Stranglers are rhythmic, melodic and catchy as Ghost has truly managed to make these tracks sound like its own. Personally, I have always despised how Phil Collins has transformed one of the greatest progressive rock bands of all time into a shallow pop band once he has become Genesis' singer and hearing anyone else than the sensitive skinhead sing ''Jesus He Knows Me'' is music to my ears, especially since the lyrics blend in with Ghost's usual style of mocking televangelism. If the topic intrigues you, let me recommend The Hooters' excellent song ''Satellite'' that is also liberatingly heavy.
The two songs that impress me less on this output are Ghost's takes on Tina Turner's ''We Don't Need Another Hero'' and Iron Maiden's ''Phantom of the Opera''. The former works so well thanks to the pop rock giant's charismatic, emotional and powerful vocals that have stood the test of time and will be remembered for ages. Tobias Forge's vocals sound pale, shallow and weak in comparison but most vocalists wouldn't hold a candle to Tina Turner to be honest. May this wonderful artist rest in peace. As for the heavy metal classic, Iron Maiden's former grumpy singer Paul Di'Anno has made unnecessarily nasty remarks about the cover while he should simply be grateful that anyone still remembers him, pays tribute to a song that is now forty-three years old and might even provide a new fan base. While Tobias Forge's enigmatic vocal style actually offers an interesting alternative to the original's rougher take, it's the instrumental work that bores to death. Aside a few minor keyboard sounds, the bass guitar, electric guitar and drum work sound almost identical to the original tune. In my opinion, it's essential for a serious attempt at a cover song to add your own touch to it and Ghost has certainly failed to do so in the instrumental department in this case.
As you can read, Ghost's Phantomime is still hit and miss even though it's slightly better than the previous extended plays consisting of cover songs. This release is however only recommended to avid collectors and faithful fans while anyone else can skip this release without any regrets. I would recommend Ghost to focus on its strong own material and stop releasing those extended plays in the future. One or two cover songs for limited editions or Japanese versions of new records are fine but those entire extended plays rather decrease the quality of the group's overall respectable discography.
Final Rating: 68%
Thème Magazine © - Hébergé par Eklablog