GHOST has unveiled “Lachryma,” the second advance offering from the GRAMMY-winning Swedish theatrical rock icons’ feverishly anticipated new album, SKELETÁ, out April 25 via Loma Vista Recordings.
Arriving in tandem with a lucid nightmare of a video featuring Papa V Perpetua’s first full performance as newly anti-christened frontman, “Lachryma” is quite possibly the most emblematic example to date of GHOST’s signature balance of dark lyrical foreboding and irresistible melodic uplift. Following closely on the hooves of first SKELETÁ single “Satanized”—dubbed a “catchy goth-rock epic” by VICE and hailed by BROOKLYN VEGAN as “the band’s trademark occult rock sounding as equally eerie and triumphant as ever”—“Lachryma” supplants the demonic hooks of its predecessor with a purple haze of sonic flourishes that accomplish something even more insidious: a bonafide modern day rock anthem about weeping. The sweet turns sour, the vile rot attacks, yet you can’t stop singing along… even as the purple tears begin to fall, as they’re flowing
GHOST’s sixth psalm, SKELETÁ, is its most unflinchingly introspective work to date. Where previous GHOST albums dealt largely with chronicling and/or observing outward facing subject matter—such as IMPERA’s meditations on the rise and fall of empires and its predecessor Prequelle’s evocations of the ravages of era-defining plagues—SKELETA’s lyrics render the distinct individual emotional vistas of each of its 10 songs in one-on-one fashion, at times as if in a dialogue with oneself in a mirror. The end result is a singular collection of timeless, universal sentiments, all filtered through a prism of a uniquely personal point of view.
The physical manifestation of SKELETÁ will be heralded by the recently announced SKELETÁ-Eve Midnight Sales. Reclaim the night with your fellow GHOST faithful, as you celebrate the arrival of SKELETÁ at one of the many participating stores around the globe at midnight (local). Fans who purchase the new album at these ceremonies can have it marked with a Grucifix stamp, as they join GHOST in reviving and continuing the hallowed rock and roll tradition of the midnight mass sale.
SKELETÁ IN STORES APRIL 25