It was the year of Ghost. The spooky, mish-mash of Satanic rock and metal has successfully exploded with the group’s fourth album, Prequelle, Forgoing the pope motif, mainman Tobias Forge introduced Cardinal Copia to the masses with a brilliant work of catchy tunes, profound instrumentals, saxophone solos (!), and pop sensibilities (gasp!). Ghost has quickly a turned into a love em’ or hate em’ band, but the Swedes have forged (no pun intended) onwards not giving a damn about anyone’s opinion. While the previous Ghost entries dabbled in ‘70s sounds, Prequelle seems firmly rooted in the ‘80s. Maybe they are slowly headed into the modern times with each release, but no matter as it is all about the present and Prequelle is a masterful record and earns the #5 entry on our list.+

As BW scribe Ryan Owenson opined in his review, “Prequelle is both an unexpected and yet very expected move by Ghost. On one hand, how could any of us have foreseen this level of refinement back in 2011? On the other hand, if you trace the evolution through Ghost’s discography, Prequelle is just such a natural (and obvious, in retrospect) endpoint. But where does Ghost take it from here? Does the band climb to even higher plateaus? Or will the next Ghost album be either the dread experimental album or the always appreciated return to the roots? Who knows, man. In the meantime, play ‘Dance Macabre’ repeatedly and marvel at Ghost’s improbable, and just really weird, success.”