G-G-G-Ghost!

Oh my oh my, on the 29th of January I saw the band Ghost play at The Complex. Ghost's debut album Opus Eponymous came out of nowhere and blew me away! With a Classic Metal sound reminiscent of Blue Öyster Cult, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath, but with the creepy occult lyrics of King Diamond/Mercyful Fate and the Black Metal scene; they forge their own brand of Extreme Metal. Ghost "Ritual"
Ghost "Here Comes The Sun" Beatles Cover 
If the Beatles sounded like this then they'd be a great band!

Quick Metal history lesson: The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) that took place in the late 70's and early 80's took what the early pioneers of Metal put out and went many directions with it. One eventually led to the Pop/Glam Metal that dominated MTV and the world in the 1980's thanks to bands like Def Leppard along with American band Van Halen. Power Metal was born in the early 80's from the NWOBHM too, however other European countries like Germany and Sweden became the major homes of this genre. Yet another direction came to be known as Extreme Metal. Extreme Metal was born after bands like Motorhead, Venom, and Hellhammer started to play a raunchier, rawer, and heavier style of Metal. Extreme Metal includes many genres including Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Viking Metal, Folk Metal and tons of other sub-genres of Heavy Metal. Back to Ghost...

Ghost are very into hiding their identities, the band members are only listed as "Nameless Ghouls." There are 6 members in the band, 5 of them where black cloaks and the singer dresses like a dead cardinal, going as far as having an old mans face mask with a large bulbous nose attached so well that when he walked out on stage I really thought to myself "Holy crap that dude is old!"

This was Ghost's first US tour, called the 13 Dates of Doom tour. Salt Lake City was chosen as one of those few 13 cities because The Complex is amazing at making SLC a new Mecca of Extreme Metal and also I believe that Ghost's label Metal Blade Records recognizes that the underground Metal scene in Utah is something serious. I've read many interviews from bands saying the most insane mosh pits and crowds they've had were in Utah. Lots of pent up angst I guess!

Ghost's "Nameless Ghouls"

I discovered two bands with Ghost that night. One being Canada's Blood Ceremony. They sound like if Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, and Deep Purple had a baby that sang like the chick from Jefferson Airplane/Starship (to me anyway)... then that baby was taught to write lyrics by King Diamond. I was soooo impressed with them, I've never dreamed a flute could mesh so well with that kind of playing. Blood Ceremony "Hymn To Pan" I talked to their bassist after their set and made him promise they'd come back to SLC (crossing my fingers he remembers that promise).

Blood Ceremony

The other band that came with Ghost was called Ancient VVisdom. Yes that is two V's instead of a W. Dunno why but that's cool with me. They have achieved something that is very amazing: making acoustic guitars sound evil! Their songs are simple but man they are catchy. Ancient VVisdom "Lost Civilization"