What 70s Music Has Over Modern Music

Since everything new is dross, let's take a trip back to the seventiiiiiieeeees! and ponderscuss (ponder and discuss) differences between broadcast live music then and now.

I emphasize live, broadcast music specifically because it's a barometer for what is marketable, profitable, modern, and getting people's attention on the merit of its artistic credibility. Now that's a combination that's not just assembled every day.

In the seventies, having your band perform live on broadcast television is what got you noticed and increased record and concert sales. Think of what it did for The Beatles a decade prior–bands in the seventies were riding that wave. Aren't they still? What is displayed on our modern version of 70s television, a combination of cable tv (negligible in comparison) and our vast interweb with its growing options of listening to and watching live and studio-recorded muzik, is different by a long shot.

And that's natural, right? Let's not get nostalgic here. Personally, I find great enjoyment in constantly seeking out new, awesome music. What is new is what is to be sought, in my opinion, but! the past is not to be discarded. It's integral to understanding why we have what we have now, why we are where we are.

Check out this band called Focus.


This was posted on r/Music by u/capt_jazz. Thank u/. I propose new Reddit slang:
    "thank u/" = "thank you, Reddit user"

Now, back to Focus. I like how the vocalist gets all kinds of silly with it, pulling out strange sounds. His organ is like Jon Stewart's desk.

The guitarist is really good. His introductory riffs and solos sound like a precursor to the 80s Metallica I love so much. The rhythm section as a whole vibes together well, with competent bass and drums.


This is just a song I like by Jethro Tull, entitled "Locomotive Breath." You can thank my father for this. And, while we're at it, this:


You dig that four-person vocal harmony? Really beautiful stuff. You can hear the Alman Brothers influence in that non-glassesed guitar player, which is kind of annoying to me, but at least he's really talented. I think the Dan dropped him by the time they released their greatest album, in my opinion, The Royal Scam.

Now let's zoom our gaze outward, like rising up off the earth to see the entire landscape around you. These bands, and by natural progression 70s rock as a genre, is almost invisible to young people today. This is the Baby Boomer stuff that's now becoming the style of the elderly. It's one small corner of the entire spectrum. I feel it's my duty today to bring some emphasis back to these styles. There are many to choose from, and indeed our music today will be a blip in the spectrum of music to come.

...suddenly I'm getting lost in the hopelessness of all this. If music does nothing but evolve, why study the past? ... I suppose I'm just a dorky historian. But lo! There are two distinct advantages to be had in this line of past-concentration. First, you have to know what to avoid; learn from the mistakes of others. But second, is that this older music contains a key something our modern music lacks—a life, a color, a vibrancy, which comes from natural instrumentation and real talent, unadorned by over-production and sound effects.

This seventies stuff is natural, pure. No auto-tune, no fake beats, nothing programmed, all organic. Music, played on instruments. Now consider Justin Bieber's "Baby." Consider the lip-synching scandals broadcast on SNL, or the live broadcast of Beyoncé lip-synching the National Anthem.

Where the heck did music go these days if we can't even trust Beyoncé to practice hard enough to give an honest rendition of one of our nation's most cherished musical numbers at a racially-monumentally important event, and to lie about it in front of the entire viewing world?

What's the point of lip-synching, anyway? To make it flawless? In my opinion, flaws are not to be excluded from one's music. They're as organic as life itself. No mistakes = no humanity.

Consider what's popular in rock music today. St. Vincent is pretty popular, but her music always annoys me. I'm more of a Chelsea Wolfe man.

Question: What would a modern band, maintaining a focus on organic instrumentation, have to do to make it in today's biz?

The answer is, has always been, obvious—hard work and daily practice. Make videos of yourself playing. Record demos. Buy equipment and clothes that make you look and sound good. Get shows. The bottom line is the same: Pay to Play. A combination of monetary and physical investment is all that is required. And who has time for that? Isn't there work to do? Aren't we the 99%? The gap between the wealthy and the poor continues to grow, as Marx predicted.

So now, the most popular music is performed (and not necessarily written) by those with too much time on their hands, those with nothing to complain about. The wealthy. And do the wealthy ever make music that really turns us on our heads? Hasn't the best music always come from those who suffer, those on the fringes, those with perspective?

A modern musical conundrum:

Seeing as there's almost no way to make money at it, where are we with music these days? It's less and less profitable as time goes on, yet people continue to churn it out, to make ever newer and newer music, because we love music, don't we? Humans need it. Music gives us beauty, real emotion, unobtainable thru simple vocalizations or unpracticed schlubbs or recording studio trickery.

Since the best music comes from those who suffer for their craft, and I'm sure this can be proven somehow, musicians could align together, like the heroes in Atlas Shrugged, and refuse let the world hear their music, could abandon the world, until the world is so sick of its own bullshit that it comes crying back to us, begging for a taste of these exciting new sounds we're all pioneering in the underground.

The dream is yet alive.

Vhol — S/T Album Review

Vhol. This is the new shit your grandma hates. I'm very excited about this release.

It's so nice to hear such sophisticated metal played by such talented musicians. No emo bullshit. No weakness. Play "Arising" right now.

Exceptional musicianship. Mixed perfectly. A fascinating record.

The band's bio on Profound Lore Records says it's not black metal but a smashing together of lots of different genres.

BTW, typos and spelling errors abound on that bio. This is why black metal cannot yet trespass into the realm of mass appreciation—its fans often do not take the time to properly promote it to intelligent people.

And he goes on to claim it's not black metal? NOT BLACK METAL? No dude, this is black metal. This shit is dark, menacing, sounds like it was written and played inside a burning church, and has all the elements of black metal.

Hey Profound Lore, can I work for you? I'll clean up your website, no problem. I got you on this. I need $45K/year.

It is Ludicra, but faster. It's Hammers of Misfortune, but less medieval. I think John Cobbett really nailed it with those ideas, and in fact what he wrote and his band created, I assume, goes far above and beyond what he expected it etre.

The first track is black metal. The second track is black metal. The third track is black metal. It's fucking black metal. But it's not exactly black metal—the singing gets really clean and dynamic with boy-girl harmonies, followed on either side by black metal shrieks. The guitar isn't overly overdriven, the bass has just the right tone and is present in the mix, and the drums are also just mixed perfectly in there, played on a fantastic-sounding kit. All that, and it still feels like black metal.

I know, I'm in love. I'm gushing. But I really can't think of a bad thing to say about this release. I don't want to, though, it's obvious, right? Just let me be obsessed with this thing a while longer, I'll stop blabbering about it soon enough.

VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol VHOL Vhol 

On Megadeth's "Supercollider," a Track-by-Track Analysis

I'm skipping the first few tracks. It's my prerogative.

Burn is pretty good. Mustaine gets pretty old-school blues with the lyrics here, which is okay because he delivers it well. But it doesn't really lite my fire all the same.

Built For War. I like how the lyrics are structured during the chorus. I like when Dave screams.

Off The Edge is preachy and annoying.

Dance In the Rain starts with good intentions of conveying all-encompassing government surveillance into our private lives, a very real possibility in our world today, but the music and the vocal style just keeps it in the mediocrity range.

By the end of the song, though, you have a sort of Part II. That's what Mustaine does well, he crafts whole pieces and makes chapters out of them. I love it, it's like legacy building. Part II of DITR is fucking awesome--the fast guitars that made Megadeth a legend back in the day. Also Dave starts fucking with vocal processors and it sounds really mechanized, like some kind of industrial thing. I think it's very cool. It also relates to the theme of the lyrics, double cool.

Beginning of Sorrow is good, but is he preaching about abortion? That's annoying. As if any mother needs some man to tell her that abortion is hard to deal with.

The Blackest Crow starts well with guitar-jo. It's not a banjo, but it's some kind of guitar-banjo instrument concoction. Pretty cool. I like that, that's inventive. The song's imagery reminds me of Lucretia. It's about a relative of Dave's that succumed to dementia. Perhaps his aunt or mother. It's a great theme for a song, it's touching, and real. The vocals are pretty cool. I like this song. The guitar solos are particularly good here, too. The Mustaine/Broderick combination really works to convey that special, characteristic Megadeth sound.

And when I hear Ellefson's bass come in, I realize how intricate his bass lines are here. Finally! Let that bassist shine already, Mustaine! Megathians love Ellefson!

Forget to Remember. Ah. So we're drifting into Lacuna Coil territory now. Great. No, it's good. It's fine. Go ahead, Megadeth, do that and gain some more followers.

I do like Mustaine actually singing, though. His voice is the right amount of gravel and note-accuracy, and of ... HOLY SHIT THAT LAUGH IS CREEPY (around 2:00--listen for it) ... corniness and enthusiasm with restraint.

That laugh threw me for a loop. Totally awesome. These are the studio tricks that add flavor to the songs and keep Megadeth relevant. They're pretty much just another aging metal band though, they never really leave their box.

I wish the band would do tread new ground--not further into pop territory, but into new forms of metal! Mustaine could really rip some black metal styles and throw some evil solos over it all.

That's what I'm trying to do with Freeze, incidentally. Keep watching us, we're going to blow up.

Holy shit, what's going on with Don't Turn Your Back...? Total Pink Floyd intro, leading into some pretty awesome double-kick metal riffage. The verse is kinda tired, but the chorus rocks. I like the melodies. Okay, while I was writing and bitching about how I wish Megadeth would leave their box, they do it. It was only a minute and a half song intro, but still. It was enough. And the proceeding song is really good. I admit: they're more than just another aging metal band.

I think about the metal scene here in Seattle. If some band this good at their instruments started playing shows, they'd blow up. The locals here are dying for some brütal, accurate speed metal.

Okay, time for the last song on the album. I'm expecting Megadeth to rock me. You've got to save one of the best songs for last, right? Burn out rather than fade away? Let's listen.

Cold Sweat. Okay, some old school riffage in my left ear, then in both, then some real AC/DC type shit. Pretty cool. Judas Priest influence big time. Awesome. Fucking 70s and 80s metal style. Not the complex riffage of Burnt Ice or Ashes In Your Mouth, not even the speed of Victory or FFF, but ... it's totally awesome. Okay, for the final track, Megadeth went in a new direction, and I think that's cool. It really works here.

It kinda leaves you on a high note. The song is pretty easy going and almost positive with the feeling it leaves you. The guitars are fucking sweet, the bass and drums fucking rock. I like the ending too. The lyrics are about being afraid and paranoid and stuff, but it's really fun to listen to.

Good job, Megadeth. Better than Risk and Cryptic Writings combined.

Seattle Black Metal: A God or an Other

Here's an up and coming Seattle black metal band with a sweet new record, released yesterday, April 19 on Alive and Breathing Records.

A God or an Other recorded "Towers of Silence" as a three-piece and it's quite good. The album is streaming on their Bandcamp page.

They've got a definite psychedelic black metal thing going. It's brutal and it will take you out of your body, lifting your soul above the trees.

I think TOS is fucking awesome. Way to go, guys. This album rules. The band traverses all corners of the black metal universe, from the old and crusty to the new and spacey, to the French stylings of Deathspell Omega, and to the Cascadian rhythms of Wolves in the Throne Room. But they've got their own thing going on, that's unlike either of the above bands.

Everything's on point here. Producer John Lervold did his job well. The guitar, bass, drums, and vocals are mixed evenly so that you can hear everything. I like being able to hear bass in black metal, it's nice, because the guitars are always so gainy and crushing. The guitar's tone is tamed down a bit, just enough so that he's not too far out there in the land of treble and distortion. It's kind of like an organic distortion.

Well-played, instrumentalists. Good job on the vocals, guitarist.

Pvre cvlt.

Seattle black metal. Hail. Modern metal that does not suck.

Running favorite track: Unbroken Reign of Glacial Death. An other good moment is when Xibalba goes from lightning-fast and accurate black metal to crushing doom. Wykkyd.

Fuck you if you don't like this post with awesome videos and sweet advice from a seasoned studio tech

This guy has inspired the shit out of me. Here are two videos from Spectre Media Group and Spectre Sound Studios, entitled, "How to get your band ready for the studio."

Sunn O)))'s "Big Church" rearranged for orhcestra

This is a link to a Bandcamp page for one Joshua Carro. He's a classical musician and writer.

The song of his I'm linking you to is his rearrangement of one of my favorite Sunn O))) songs, "Big Church (megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért)."

Portal: A Metal Profile

Allow yourself to become terrified.

Kanye West, "Yeezus" album review

Yeezus is dope.

Now, I began this piece as a way of talking about some of Kanye West's less-finer points. So I figured, before I become a tool and start agreeing with the complaints about Yeezus from The Huffington Post, I should get my facts straight and actually listen to the album.

"Fight Fire With Fire"'s riff B

So check this out. Metallica's "Fight Fire With Fire," the opening track from the album Ride the Lightning.

Album Review: De Arma, "Lost, Alien, and Forlorn"

Out July 2 on German label Trollmusic, De Arma's debut full-length Lost, Alien, and Forlorn is worth hearing. It mixes depressing, eighties-style goth material similar to Killing Joke, with lots of very lightly distorted guitars playing single strings that ring out in minor scales. I'm hearing a big Agalloch influence too. The vocals are comprised of both quality, harmonized singing and some black metal screams.

Metal-Tarnishing News: As I Lay Dying in the Headlines

This happened. As I Lay Dying's frontman is in some pretty hot water.

First, what I learned in my law class, and The Thin Blue Line, is that

Ghost - live in Seattle, April 27, 2013 - review

Guys, do you know what happened last night. Do you even know? No. You don't even know, man.

Megan and I saw Ghost last night. Ghost. The motherfucking

Two Music Videos I Keep Showing To My Family

I've been watching these two videos by Ghost B.C. a lot and I thought I'd share them. They're cool.

Secular Haze

Year Zero

Ghost B.C. have released these in preparance of its upcoming sophomore album Infestissumam, to be released April 16.

They're streaming the entire album. Be sure to click the arrows near the bottom sides to scroll thru the images.

This is their website.

Remember, kids--the "B.C." is silent.

Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. Ghost B.C. 
Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam Infestissumam 

Live Review: Ubik at the Highline

Ubik played The Highline on March 29, and they rocked. Hard. It was my first time seeing them, and it had been a long time coming. I’d been hearing about them for a few years by then. Let me get two things out of the way right off the bat: this band is awesome, and this is gonna be a glowing review. You owe it to yourself to see Ubik, and they deserve the exposure for the work they put into their craft. Their show ranged from beautiful moments of emotional clarity to terrifying, dirty, metal dredging doom.

Google “Ubik” and they’re the second entry on the second page (the 13th hit)—not bad for sharing thier name with the title of a Philip K. Dick novel.

How they settled on “Ubik” is a long story, according to rhythm bassist Joel Fletcher. Many moons ago, before they had settled on a name, lead bassist Eric Charles was reading another Dick novel that included something called a “Rictus.” During a practice, the band were close to settling on Rictus as their moniker, but they wanted to sit on it for a week before making a final decision. This was a good idea—during that week they made a disappointing discovery.

“Every 2-bit Casio player or high school goth band or boring new age hippy rock trio had already plastered the internet with their own ‘Rictus’ band,” Joel said. When the week was over, Eric was onto another novel by Dick—Ubik. In keeping with the theme of an item from a Dick novel, they went out on a limb and settled on Ubik. The rest is history.

Full disclosure: I played with Joel in Born Without Blood, and we’re good friends. That didn’t, however, influence my growing infatuation with this band’s performance as it unfolded. In look, sound, and concept, they’ve got their game down, and they know how to entertain.

Plus they have a really energetic and charismatic singer in Michelle Pannell. When the show started she was immediately in character, pacing back and forth furiously, staring at the stage floor, ranting. Just ranting. Pointing and wagging her finger at the images in her mind, clenching the mic. Her vocal performance stretched the gamut from sweetly-sang, clear, elongated tones from the belly, to quick-fired bursts of word after spoken-ish word, to screams of absolute savagery.

Their drummer, Tyler Griffith, was a perfect, funky metronome. His style reminded me a little of Deftones’ Abe Cunningham. Griffith is a short, buff, skinny dude with shaved blonde hair and a lip ring. He played shirtless in true rock form. Definitely got a hip-hop sensibility about him. He kept time really well—especially during my very favorite part, at the end of the set, when they started to gradually slow down from fast punk music to drudgingly slow doom. It was so awesome.

That was my favorite moments of the show. The band slowed the tempo, letting the bassists’ tones ring out in a very prolonged fashion and shake my entire body. Meanwhile, Michelle was screaming like a maniac into thick, wet reverb and delay, extending her rage to the heavens, while Joel, Chris and Tyler stayed tight during a consistently-slowing tempo—not an easy task for a rhythm section. It was intensely distorted, low-toned, and unrelenting. I love doom.

In case you haven’t figured it out from my vague explanation, there are no guitars in this band—just two basses. And their humans are both over six feet tall. It all works sonically because Joel plays with his big, meaty fingers, slapping and plucking those strings like a practiced caveman, producing thick tones. He’s not afraid to play chords, either.

Eric, The Mad Scientist, wearing a white UBIK lab coat and black tie at the show and sporting his approximately 15-pedal-strong board of various and sundry effects, plays his bass with a pick and turns his e.q. toward the treble end of things.

All in all, Ubik gives you a full experience. They enrich you with all kinds of sounds and images and then send you on your way. 12 out of 11 stars. Fuck yeah, Ubik. You guys rock.

Ghost--new upcoming album, teaser single, singer-switchover-ceremony, conspiracy theory

Ghost is poised to release a new album, and way they've been leading up to it has been very impressive and entertaining. By releasing bits of information here and there, they leave a breadcrumb trail for fans to follow, in keeping with their theme of converting fans to flock.

It's impressive to me from a PR and marketing standpoint. Ghost wants you do some digging to discover them, and when you do, they give you moments of simultaneous excitement and dreadful fear.

They do this musically, as well, completing the theme in a very circular fashion, synchronizing sound & image--you hear them and immediately think, 'Huh, that's not so bad--pretty cool seventies-style heavy rock with a nice, mellow yet clear singer and a modern sensibility.' But then you listen to what they're saying and see what they look like live, and it takes on an entirely new meaning. They make sure you become invested in them and then drop a bomb on you. It's genius.

At that point of true Ghost discovery, every fan has to make a choice as to whether or not to listen to Ghost, and Christians particularly should have a hard time with this. The band writes lyrics promoting Satan in the same style that Christians use lyrics to promote Jesus, turning the church service upside down, or rather displaying a mirror-image of one.

In considering this, one should keep in mind that this is all a money-making venture for the band. Whether or not they believe in what they're saying, a reason to respect them is they don't cut corners as per their releases, live & interview appearances, and perhaps most importantly their online presence. As such they run their operation quite well. They play their cards close to their chest and their record company is seemingly helping them as per media direction. So of course they're gonna make a lot of money.

But at this point one has to wonder--how much is the business of music being integrated with Satan? Is the band akin to Famine from Gaiman & Pratchett's Good Omens?

To this I answer--an infinitesimal, tiny, tiny, tiny amount to that which it's been integrated with Jesus. So who's worse?

This, I believe, is a question central to the Ghost experience.

(OMG brutally good idea--a modern Good Omens movie for which Ghost provides the soundtrack!)

Leading up to their sophomore album "INFESTISSUMAM," Ghost hired a guy to create a preview/teaser website somehow containing the new single they've been playing live lately, SECULAR HAZE, and he wrote a blog entry about it. Very cool, until you get into all that coding language and your brain says, "No, you're not gonna go to school for two years in order learn to read that right now."

The site with the candles and the individual tracks was particularly striking to Megan and I, both huge Ghost fans, as we came across it innocently one night about a month or so ago. At first I was just highlighting one of the candles and we were like, "Wow, circus music. Great. Ghost's new direction is like Heroes's last season=shit piled on shit."

Then we moved to the other candles and were like, "Aaaaahhh!" We had that really impressed, 'Ah-ha' moment, realizing what Ghost was doing, how they were fucking with us, and how badass the whole thing was, with the scary clock ticking in the middle the whole time. Well-played, Ghost.

Check out this video from this Swedish website. They're a Swedish-based entertainment news org. Recently, Ghost switched singers, and they had a sort of singer-switchover ceremony, live. On-stage.

Need I say more?

Admittedly my, "OH HELL NO" reflexes went off the first time I heard they were changing singers. I'm delighted to report, dear readers, that I cannot immediately discern any difference between Papa Emeritus I and II. It seems like they tried very hard to get someone who looked and sounded like the original Papa Emeritus. I mean, he sounds really, really similar. It's eerie. It's like he was created in a vat of Cylon-resurrection slime with Papa I's DNA.

Megan and I got to thinking, What if they didn't switch singers at all and ARE JUST FUCKING WITH US?

It would be beyond genius, and I've got their whole scheme figured out. First, the original Papa Emeritus I stays offstage, singing along to the band playing onstage. Second, they've got some other schmuck, whom we'll now refer to as Imposter Papa Emeritus I, in the real Papa Emeritus I/ Imposter Papa Emeritus II's usual white, evil-Pope garb, but lip-synching with a mic that's turned off, onstage and acting the part, while the real Papa Emeritus I/ Imposter Papa Emeritus II is backstage, singing what the crowd is hearing.

Third--the mic handover. It goes like this: fake Papa Emeritus I hands mic over to Original Papa Emeritus I/ Imposter Papa Emeritus II, sound guy turns mic on. Papa I continues singing, but onstage.

I don't think they actually did that, by the way.