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Karakter: 4/6

How about that? Another Swedish musical entity by the name of Ghost albeit a totally different one to the more famous and renowned outfit that is currently all the hype all over the world and on everyone's lips in all corners of the metal milieu. Long before Mr. Forge launched his act, there was a band named Ghost featuring the extremely talented musician and producer Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity), and this nicely packaged and cool-looking digipak collection contains an astounding thirty (!) tracks that were composed and recorded between 1983 and 1988. Although there is a certain naivety to the song material, there is also an awful lot of youthful energy, enthusiasm, and passion on display here. The riffs, vocals, and solos are all over the place yet it is borderline unfathomable that kids in their very early teenage years were capable of crafting catchy and entertaining cuts such as these. Not surprisingly, the production values are pretty lo-fi, but in a charming and endearing way and one can easily hear all the instruments, so no complaints there, really. It all sounds just the way some old obscure demo tapes from the glorious eighties are supposed to sound like. Ghost were clearly inspired by KISS and other magnificent 70s and 80s hard rock giants, and there is nothing original about what these kids did back then as such, but that does not change the fact that "1983-1988" is a lot of fun to listen to and that Ghost had a knack for coming up with hook-laden songs that were simple and direct without sounding entirely one-dimensional.

The album contains demo recordings, live tracks, and rehearsals, and it goes without saying that this is an interesting release from a historical point of view. Any fan of Swanö's work ought to check it out, and those of you who are curious as to how Swedish hard rock from the deepest pit of the 80s underground scene sounded might give it a shot too.

 

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