Ghost is the smartest band in the world

The hard rock band Ghost is debuting it's new leader, Cardinal Copia, on a tour that swings into Houston Tuesday, May 8. The hard rock band Ghost is debuting it's new leader, Cardinal Copia, on a tour that swings into Houston Tuesday, May 8. Photo: Mikael Eriksson / Mikael Eriksson Photo: Mikael Eriksson / Mikael Eriksson Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Ghost is the smartest band in the world 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Since we’re writing about a band that trades in sacrilegious motifs, let’s start this story with a statement that will get the rock congregation in a minor uproar: Ghost is the smartest band in the world.

Forget Radiohead’s (one time) economic foresight or U2’s ability to sneak its music into every iPhone on the planet. Swedish quasi-metal band Ghost, which covers the faces of its musicians with masks that have no mouths and two horns, has the most intelligent act in rock.

The premise is simple: Despite dressing itself in the theatrical garb of satanism — those demonic masks, a frontman who is the anti-Pope, songs about mummy dust — Ghost writes some of the most melodic music in the hard-rock game right now, with vocals as smooth as stained glass.

And, really, if you’re Satan, trying to seduce the world with music, you’re not going to be selling the masses Slayer riffs that run at 220 beats per minute, or vocals that approximate a Vitamix shredding a stalagmite. Nobody is selling their soul to that soundtrack. But they might fall under the dark prince’s thrall after being swooned by songs that play so upliftingly and melodically they could pass as Contemporary Christian Music tunes — but with, you know, lyrics about the devil being born to a human or rituals of damnation.

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That’s why Ghost is the smartest band in the world. It understands that if the devil was trying to seduce us, he wouldn’t be screaming and playing speed metal. He’d be wooing us with rising rock choruses, syrupy Roky Erickson covers and dramatic connections to religious corruption.

“The point was for it to be theatrical,” says Tobias Forge, the voice of and creative force behind Ghost, which will play the Revention Music Center Tuesday evening. On stage, he dresses as a fallen vicar and sings the band’s tunes like they’re twisted church hymns, elongating syllables and layering background vocals to the point they could pass as Christian chorals, or the music to “Rosemary’s Baby.” Either way, there’s heft and hooks in this marriage of visuals and music.

“I always wanted to write more dramatic music with an X amount of turns and twists. I like it when, in my world, it’s very gripping,” Forge says from a phone in Hollywood. “And I guess that seemed to work with the overall aesthetics with the band and the visuals, to make it fall into the category of what you call a ‘hymnal.’ But in my world, that’s how you write a pompous banger.”

This album cycle — the new “Prequelle” drops June 1 — Forge has abandoned his papal look for the visage of Cardinal Copia, a younger face for the band with Old World stylings. Naturally, the driving theme is still Satan.

More Information An Evening with Ghost When: 8 p.m. Tuesday Where: Revention Music Center, 520 Texas Details: $38-$58; reventionmusiccenter.com

“I am gravitating toward the more somber illustration of things, and I like the symbolism of the devil,” Forge says. “He’s been a good companion.”