COP 03 / Case Study / Ghost B.C

Aesthetic

Similarly to Marilyn Manson, Ghost B.C rely on a religious theme to promote their band aesthetic and push their sales to the specific demographic of atheist metal fans. They are a swedish band consisting of a vocalist who goes by the name of Papa Emeritus III, and five instrumentalists who are only known as the 'Nameless Ghouls". Much like Slipknot who chose to for the most part keep their identities anonymous, in choosing to do this it maintains a level of mystery which goes hand in hand with the eccentric image of the band.


From the image above, it can be seen that the Nameless Ghouls keep their faces concealed by wearing identical monk-like attire. Papa Emeritus conveys himself as a 'satanic pope', dressing in a dark religious catholic inspired outfit with skull make up. He even wears a pope hat brandishing the band's logo.



Stage Presence

Since I've seen the band myself, I witnessed how they push this aesthetic even further by utilising a certain behaviour on stage. The vocalist used religious dialect throughout the performance, and adopted an almost 'holy' presence by waving around a staff with their logo on, and walking around carefully and gracefully which is much different to the way a lot of metal bands behave on stage.

 

Logo

The name Ghost B.C refers to 'Before Christ', arguably referring to the Holy Ghost. From the outset this is religious terminology.

The first image of their logo contains the band's name in an archaic typeface which is similar to the way early scriptures looked (using calligraphy and quills to write). The logo is embedded into the name, but is an upside down cross, communicating an anti-religious message from their initial aesthetic.

The second logo is more modern and clean through the use of vector shape, however the upside down cross is still used, but the G for Ghost is also implemented in the center.


Online presence

Ghost B.C always begin each announcement by stating that it is a 'message from the Clergy', (the body of all people ordained for religious duties, especially in the Christian Church). Ghost B.C clearly adopt a formal discourse that resembles themes you would hear at a religious location, with the vocalist taking on a form of leadership that is similar to the pope. A religious lexical field is also used throughout their online presence and their musical content, for example 'clergy', 'offering' and 'psalm'. 

Analysis

It is interesting to see how there is a correlation between using religious imagery and discourse within the heavy metal genre. Reasons for this could refer to how some (not all) of those who enjoy heavy music tend not to be devoutly religious. However there is no denying that although these bands may use religion to boost their band's image and convey it in a negative way, religion has been a large influence upon many of them. For instant, the 'devil horns' that many fans hold up in solidarity at a gig even refers back to religion itself, even if those doing the symbol do not realise it. 

"Religion itself is very important to heavy metal, where would legends like Slayer and Morbid Angel be without it? Metal has always expressed a deep reverence for power, and what greater power than the omnipresent force of the cosmos? Some perceive it as God or Gods, some perceive it as Satan, and some perceive it as nothing more than a functional force that keeps the universe rolling. All of these possibilities are astonishing, and have inspired the greatest sense of awe and wonder in mankind throughout history." (source)

So then, in relation to Naomi Klein, these bands use religious branding to aid their 'brand', and give the audience a sense of identity and unity with other fans. 

“Brands represent clarity, reassurance, consistency, status, membership - everything that enables human beings to help define themselves. Brands represent identity” (Klein, 2009, P 27)

KLEIN, N. (2009) No logo: No space, no choice, no jobs. 10th edn. London: HarperCollins Publishers.

Lynn, A. (2014) Heavy metal’s relationship to religion. Available at: http://www.deathmetal.org/article/heavy-metals-relationship-to-religion/ (Accessed: 1 December 2016).