"Christian Metal". These words can trigger the innermost hate from the more extreme metalheads, probably because we often connect Heavy Metal music to some sort of evilness, "badassness" or whatever. There have always been Christian bands, however, that managed to explode this imaginary – and quite dumb – barrier of prejudice by creating quality music and, well, kicking ass. Rob Rock, Impellitteri, Stryper, Mortification and Theocracy are some examples of that.
So here we are, after more than 10 years of struggling against the viciousness and cruelty of the scene, presented once again to a Theocracy album. The musical genius Matt Smith and band show us once again their (not so) unique take of Power Metal with Bible-themed lyrics, melodic parts, emotional renditions and epic atmosphere. Ghost Ship has a frantic start in "Paper Tiger", a fast-paced track commonly adopted by the band to lift the spirits right from the start. This is constructed to be as melodic and catchy as possible, and was cleverly put as an opener. All of the songs in here are quite reminiscent of Theocracy's past works, so don't expect a change of tide or any sort of experimentation. There are heavier parts here and there, like in the main verse of "Wonder of it All" and other selected bits scattered across the album, but the main course here is sugary, catchy Melodic Power Metal, all well executed and equally well crafted. As always, Matt Smith was in charge of the producing, mixing and engineering processes and delivered a clean job with those.
Ghost Ship is a good effort and should entertain you when you need to blow off some steam from the denser and darker music. All in all, it's not in the top-notch Power Metal releases of the year nor stands close to Theocracy's masterpiece As the World Bleeds, but it is quite fun.
