Remember the golden age of rock music? Sure, it used to be a time when rock stars would sail their chocolate-colored Rolls Royces into hotel swimming pools and where record labels offered their favorite musicians anything they wanted. But it was also a time, for the most part, when artists who could afford it made an album every 3-4 years, played shows that lasted an hour and focused all of their attention on a few singles and music videos, leaving most other of their tunes to fall under the “fluff” category.
You want to make it in the music industry nowadays? The only way that you stand any chance at all is if you’re prepared to outwork everybody else trying to do the same thing. There’s a reason we don’t hear many stories about modern-day Keith Richards or Johny Thunders. They’d quickly get outpaced by the competition regardless of their charm or songwriting skills.
More than anything, Love Ghost & Skold are two rockers willing to play the game. And the first rule of the game involves getting up every day, putting in the work, writing and recording a lot of songs, doing music videos and press photos, and touring. Once you’re done with all of that, you can start again.
Putting together a single would’ve made sense. It would’ve been quite a treat for fans of both Love Ghost and Skold. Assembling an album is quite more satisfying and, if you’ve followed the careers of both artists, makes a lot more sense.
After all, Skold is a devilish industrial-metal legend with the work ethic of a Lutheran preacher. His credits include Marilyn Manson and KMFDM, as well as many solo ventures.
Love Ghost is a highly modern musical project led by the same principles. Initially embracing a post-grunge sound, Love Ghost’s frequent singles and music videos show an artist determined to make the best of modern styles, internet promotion, and, like Skold of a striking visual presentation.
The duo has put in the work. But they’re clever not to lead with this. It’s a fun, unapologetic album about doing the kinds of things that only the devil and rockstars of old would approve of.
Starting out with sounds that mimic an official broadcast being taken over by dark forces, the album leads into the single “Nightshade and Cocaine,” where Love Ghost and Skold present themselves as dark princes who live in the shadows and routinely experiment with their own sanity.
The sense of drama is amplified throughout the record. Love Ghost and Skold make modern pop-infused rock here. But they’d like you to believe that they are creatures of a dying breed. “Great White Buffalo” featured an almost RHCP funky groove and a chorus demanding change for the powerful.
On “You Are The Gun (Valhalla),” the Swedish Skold helps create a gigantically moody soundscape over which Love Ghost provides the emotional lyrics. And on “Cemetary,” the duo welcomes horror-themed sounds.
And, while there’s a touch of melancholy about the record, a nod to 2000s emo-rock and later industrial-metal records, Love Ghost and Skold are, if nothing else, outlaws. Even when talking about ways to die and echoing Layne Staley on “Ski Mask,” the one thing that is clear is that the duo aren’t, at all, looking to lead regular lives.
They even allow themselves to indulge some revenge fantasies on the distorted choruses of “Payback.” And, finally, on the album closer, “Less Than Zero,” they announce their fated union to darkness, rock stardom, and vices in this order.
Love Ghost x Skold’s album is a dark, entertaining affair about being trapped in the life of a rockstar. Still, little of it would exist or sound this way had the duo not put in all of the work to make things happen this way.
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