From The Pinnacle To The Pit

People seem to either love or hate Ghost. The band got a ton of hype in 2010, and Rise Above couldn't keep up with the vinyl demand for their Opus Eponymous debut. Ghost were probably the most talked about Metal band throughout 2011 and then came the eventual backlash. By the time the follow up, Infestissumam, was released in 2013, a lot of people had written the band off as some kind of hipster joke. I didn't buy into the hate at the time, but when the If You Have Ghost EP was released full of cover songs, I'd started to feel like things had been played out. When it was announced that Ghost would have a new LP this year, I was prepared to write it off.

Doug was pretty excited about the new release, but I was dragging my feet on it. The initial listen of the first single, Cirice, failed to move me...no matter how great that video was. I quickly put the new Ghost album out of my mind, but occasionally Doug would bring it up. "Hey man, Swedish pre-orders are up for the new Ghost LP". "New Ghost single is up on youtube"! Reluctantly, I dragged myself to check out the video for From The Pinnacle To The Pit. As soon as that bass line rumbled out of the speakers, my attention was captured, and I was knocked on my ass with how great the song was. Immediately following that song, I queued up the Cirice video to revisit the song, and to my surprise I loved that song as well. Yeah, there was no way I was going to be able to let the new Meliora LP pass me by.

While I enjoyed what I heard, I wasn't going over the top and ordering the Euro box set. Instead, I waited for the regular US pressing, and was very happy to see that the band logo no longer included the additional B.C. in the name. I guess that legal battle over the Ghost name was short lived.

Very cool packaging with the booklet showcasing artwork for each song on the record.

This album was definitely the surprise of the year for me.