When Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge initially conceived this covers assortment, it was meant to be a full-length fairly than an EP. In truth, he recorded 5 extra songs along with the Genesis, Iron Maiden, Tv, Stranglers, and Tina Turner covers that seem right here. “I had simply come off making the IMPERA album, and I simply didn’t have the power to undergo one other full-length album course of,” he tells Apple Music. “That deflated me slightly, however as quickly as I cut up the record in half, I noticed there was a rock connection in these 5 songs. It simply felt like a extra cohesive and enticing answer. As with so many issues in life, you simply must rethink your thought and swiftly it feels a lot extra doable.”
What hasn’t modified is that Phantomime is a companion piece to Ghost’s aforementioned 2022 album. “It’s the identical manner that Iron Maiden’s Stay After Loss of life is clearly very linked to Powerslave,” Forge explains. “When Phantomime comes out, we’ll nonetheless be on the IMPERA tour. And even the art work between the 2 releases is linked. However we used completely different artists as a result of it was fascinating to see another person’s tackle virtually the identical factor.” Under, he discusses every observe.
“See No Evil”
“For these of you who know Tv, even after they performed upbeat music, they performed so gentle. They sound like they’re taking part in in entrance of 10 folks at CBGB’s, which they in all probability did on the time. That doesn’t say something in regards to the high quality of the writing. I like the primary two information they made, Marquee Moon and Journey—it’s actually good songwriting, however the supply may be very subdued. I felt if we did a Ghost model of this, it’s going to really feel extra like a really tight Rolling Stones in 1982, taking part in on cocaine. So, this is sort of a hyperbole-steroids model of the track.”
“Jesus He Is aware of Me”
“Had it not been for Disturbed, I’d say that ‘Land of Confusion’ would’ve been on the record as nicely, as a result of it’s a extremely, actually good track. However the motive I’m selecting these fairly than an older Genesis observe has nothing to do with me preferring the newer Genesis, after they turned extra of a pop band. It’s just because these songs are slightly bit extra up for interpretation, whereas a variety of their outdated prog songs aren’t straightforward to interpret due to the grandiosity of the preparations. And ‘Jesus He Is aware of Me’ felt like such a given. It felt tremendous related, and it translated rather well.”
“Hanging Round”
“I selected this very a lot for the primary riff, which may be very swinging. It has a cool swagger that I’ve all the time favored, that I believe in some ways has influenced my writing earlier than. And like The Stranglers, we undoubtedly use keyboards as a lead instrument in a manner that almost all exhausting rock or metallic bands don’t—I undoubtedly assume our frequent denominator is The Doorways. That is in all probability certainly one of The Stranglers’ extra well-known songs, no less than amongst followers, that’s primarily based on a sure groove like that. There are different excellent, robust Stranglers songs, however this one additionally has the lyric about Jesus ‘hanging round’ on the cross.”
“Phantom of the Opera”
“That is in all probability the track on the EP that, no less than musically, is truest to the unique. However when it got here to the lyrics, I received the thumbs-up from [Iron Maiden bassist/lyricist] Steve Harris to change them a bit as a result of the character Papa must be, on this case, the Phantom character. Whereas within the authentic, the best way Paul Di’Anno sings it, he’s slaloming between being Christine and the Phantom after which this third-person perspective. So the unique lyrics are slightly complicated, which I hadn’t seen earlier than, regardless of listening to the Iron Maiden track many, many occasions. Once you begin breaking these songs down, you hear them in a brand new mild with a brand new ear.”
“We Don’t Want One other Hero”
“As a songwriter who realized by listening, I can’t learn music. I don’t know virtually any of the scholastic a part of music. But when I can bear in mind the melody of a track, like I did this one, I can often decipher from reminiscence what the chord sequence is—as a result of there’s often not too many to select from. However with this Tina Turner track, I couldn’t actually decipher what the third chord was within the refrain. And that’s as a result of it’s truly simply two. That’s why it sounds prefer it does. Once I figured it out, I used to be like, ‘Motherfucker! So good.’ And that was the push for me. I needed to formulate this into a much bigger, extra hard-rocking track as a result of it’s so good and so well-written.”
