Ghost - Skeleta

on Violet Vinyl 2022's Impera jolted Ghost out of cultdom and into the stadium, reconfiguring their black mass for the masses with a bold pop-metal makeover. Auspiciously converging with the death of the 266th pope, Skeletá marks the debut of Papa V Perpetua, who now wields the scepter after the "promotion" of Frater Imperator, his fun-loving fraternal twin, to head of the clergy after his coronation hot-air balloon ride concluding the 2024 concert film Rite Here Rite Now. With his palatial purple vestments and macabre half-veil (his real lips!), Perpetua is steelier and moodier than his predecessor, yet Tobias Forge, the man behind the mask, remains an engaging and crafty showrunner, steering Ghost into darker waters while continuing to mine the vestiges of Kevin Seal and Adam Curry-era Headbangers Ball. "Peacefield"'s choral opening yields to a bright, palm-muted riff and Forge's clear, reedy tenor before doing everything it can to not break into Journey's "Separate Ways." Anchored b