Ghost

Sweden’s Ghost are a celebration of heavy metal’s roots in arena spectacle, occult sensationalism and headbanger anthems bursting with big hooks. Founded by singer and songwriter Tobias Forge in 2006, the band were initially shrouded in an anonymity reminiscent of Kiss. While Forge assumed the role of the ghoulish anti-pope Papa Emeritus, he christened his rotating cast of masked backing musicians the Nameless Ghouls. Ghost’s earliest recordings, including the group’s 2010 debut full-length, Opus Eponymous, lean heavily on Forge’s encyclopaedic knowledge of ’70s riff rock, Satanic mythology and old-school horror soundtracks. Beginning with 2015’s Meliora, however, the performers have teamed up with producers like Klas Åhlund (Katy Perry, Kesha), as well as a slew of outside composers, to modernise their deliciously sinister sound. The result: a string of hits—“Cirice”, “Square Hammer”, “Dance Macabre” and the provocatively titled “Mary on a Cross”—that revive the concept of heavy metal as pop at a time when the genre splinters into increasingly brutal micro-genres.