Before a vital spark can be buried deep,
It must be cleansed,
A soul given its best chance in the hereafter,
So call forth the sin-eater,
This soul worker will consume each lick of evil,
A feast at a funeral,
An ivory plate placed upon the husk,
Bread and grapes and coins pressed into cheese,
A glass of wine to wash down the sins,
The ritual cleanses the dead with knife and fork,
With each bite the deceased soul feels purer,
A spirit growing lighter,
Sanitised,
Absolved,
Saved.
On this night of nights,
Something releases a scream amongst screams,
Did you hear it?
That horror of the night,
That shriek of a feminine guise,
That ear splitting cry,
It came from that thing,
That spectral visage over yonder,
With it the eve grows foreboding,
A woman perhaps,
Beautiful yet horrific,
A monster perhaps,
Enticing yet bloodcurdling,
This season attracts such apparitions,
It comes with the territory,
Spectres abound after all,
So I must ask again,
Did you hear it?
The bog is woken up,
The murkiest waters even animate,
Murk becoming effulgent,
That fell flame hovering there,
The waters surface reflects it,
Phosphorescent in its disquiet,
Like a canvas painted by ghosts,
Some machination of the spirit realm,
That dread light,
It’s a foreboding lighthouse in the black,
Offering not salvation,
But a watery grave,
Is it a ghost?
Is it purely folklore?
Or is there a more cogent cause?
Science offering some motive.
On this night of nights,
The breeze is your only companion,
And it doesn’t mean well,
The aether hereabouts has a will of its own,
You feel a presence I’m sure,
A whisper on the wind,
Seething at the company of living souls,
You’re an unwelcome draught,
An intrusion into the night,
It rides about on the air cackling,
It’s a ghost,
A revenant,
A wraith,
It regards you with gelid eyes,
It moves in a gusty rave of enmity,
A hatred demonstrated on the raised pressure,
Its claws are the chills upon your shoulder,
And this spectre seeks to blow you away,
And it will.
Do not quake fleshlings,
When I wail,
When I shriek,
I do not wish terror upon you,
I yearn only to confess my sins,
I don’t have many guests,
I once lived,
I once loved,
Travelled many malms,
Thrust blades betwixt ribs,
I too suffered through loss and heartache,
I was a sinful man like any other,
I daresay much like you,
So don’t be afraid of my ectoplasmic visage,
Just lead your best life,
You’ll end up like me regardless,
A spectre,
Screeching your sins into the night.
That tenuous line between cognizance and sleep,
It’s a dangerous time for me,
When the sun no longer has my back,
And no valiant comrade can aid me,
The ghouls in my head stir,
Buried there by my own hand,
Silence is the loudest sound,
When the skeletons start to rise,
Dead hopes,
Spectral memories,
Wailing for my attention,
My skull becomes an echo chamber of a cemetery,
It becomes a deafening clarion call,
A deathknell for my peace,
A choir of revenants begin their concert,
Every historical ill laid bare at bellowing audacity,
Clawing at this mausoleum of my head,
Prelude to the nightmares to come.
I am dragged from my sleeping nirvana,
To a bedroom suddenly unfamiliar,
An unseen force holds me in place,
Diabolic manacles upon each limb,
The bed becomes a gaol,
The infinite weight of sleep paralysis,
I feel ominous eyes upon me,
Two corpselights in the corner,
Limpid apertures flaunting hells own fires,
Fixated upon me like an eagle spying prey,
There’s a malice behind them,
A demonic spite,
Ice-cold dread burning as the eyes approach,
Twin lasers cutting into my very bones,
As the eyes draw close,
Enough to feel the abominable heat,
Swelter emanating from them as if breathing,
They simply stare in ghoulish hate,
Holding inches away with their malicious effusion,
Feasting upon my soul in its throes of terror,
Until the morning comes with banishing sun.
Hello there inmates!
I hope that you have all been keeping safe and enjoying each day to the fullest. Another week has passed and its been quite an interesting week has it not? The US elected a new president (despite clamours of fraud), the UK has descended into a second lesser lockdown for some reason and my bike had its MOT and full service. It’s been a full one here at the asylum. My posting times have been all over the place I know, but I’m keeping my usual rate up I think. Apologies regardless.
Now on this day, it’s time for the next spurt of the Harlequins writing music! I’ve elected to create one of my single band editions once again. Showcasing a single band that I particularly enjoy and draw inspiration from. Can you guess who it is this time?
Recognise them? It’s alright if you don’t. This is Ghost. One of my favourite ever bands, despite them being a more recent discovery for my part (2-3 yeara ago). They are a metal band from Sweden that formed in 2006. They are known for their eccentric performance style and theatricality. As you can see in that photo, they focus quite a lot on their costumes. They resemble a twisted version of a catholic church group. This is deliberate. Most of their music sounds like a satanic ritual performed through the lense of Black Sabbath or Blue Oyster Cult. They satirise religion quite intentionally, highlighting the absurdity of some of its elements. I’d say some could even find this satire offensive or infantile.
I’m hardly experienced enough in musicality or instrumentation to be able to judge how the music stands up to the greats. But I find it amazing! The vocals are superb as ever. Its easy to head bang to, surprisingly easy to sing along to and also initiate the traditional air guitar move! Yet the lyrics are quite deep or nuanced when looked into. So, enough babbling from this madman, would you like to listen to some? I’ll share my six favourites as I usually do. Let’s get on to it!
So, join me as we delve into the satanic musical minds of Ghost!
Ghost – Ritual
Ghost – Witch Image
Ghost – He Is
Ghost – Year Zero
Ghost – Rats
Ghost – Cirice
So there we have it for our display of the band Ghost!
I hope that you give this band a try. They’re quite unique in my eyes and the singingis really quite grand. I’ll include the link to their website here so you can look into them further. Please do my friends!
So, here’s my usual social media bit! The asylum has a Facebook page, an Instagram account and a twitter accounta twitter account. If you enjoy what I do here at the asylum, please consider supporting me over at the Ko-fi page. Thanks for everything!
So as always, until next week have a very crazy week inmates!
WorldofHarley 