Swedish metal band Ghost scores its first top 10 album on The Billboard 200 with the debut of Meliora at #8 (just over 29,000 units - nearly all from pure album sales), reports Billboard.com.

The set, which is the act's third studio effort, follows the #28-peaking Infestissumam, which was released in 2013 and has sold 66,000.

Meliora tracklisting:

“Spirit”
“From The Pinnacle To The Pit”
“Cirice”
“Spöksonat”
“He Is”
“Mummy Dust”
“Majesty”
“Devil Church"
“Absolution”
“Deus In Absentia”

Album stream:

“Cirice” video:

When the Pontiff visits Philadelphia, for the World Meeting Of families, September 26th - 27th, the City of Brotherly Love will almost completely be closed down, for security reasons. Bridges closed for days, all the major highways in and out of the city, shut down and a several square mile grid of downtown restricted to travel on foot. Thus many of the city's museums, theaters, and concert venues will close.

The opportunity to play a few blocks from the real pope was too rich to pass up. The booking was no coincidence. Promoter Sean Agnew saw potential in billing the act as "Ghost vs. Pope," a religious head-to-head, a "Battle For Philadelphia." The concert sold out almost immediately.To promote the Philadelphia show, the band produced mock-evangelistic videos of an older, sinister woman preaching from a pulpit.

"The band wanted to get really creative, and have their own Ghost motorcade where the singer would go around the city," said Agnew, who runs R5 Productions. "We had these great ideas to create an alternative to the Pope. But more and more stories started to come out about the lockdown. We had to scale back."

In the end, the real Pope won.

The Union Transfer, on Spring Garden Street, is inside the "traffic box," the zone created by the city of Philadelphia to restrict traffic. While the front door of the venue is technically outside the box, parking in the rear lot or anywhere near the building will be nearly impossible. Not only will loading-in the band's large stage props - suggesting a black mass - require divine intervention, curtailed train service throughout the city will smite the travel plans of most fans.

Citing logistic complications, Ghost has postponed its Philadelphia concert to a friendlier time, the following Tuesday.

Ghost have announced dates for their Black To The Future North America 2015 tour.

Tour dates:

September
22 - The Fillmore - Washington, DC
23 - Newport Music Hall - Columbus, OH
25 - Stage AE - Pittsburgh, PA
27 - Terminal 5 - New York, NY
28 - House of Blues - Boston, MA
29 - Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA (Changed Date)
30 - Metropolis - Montreal, QC

October
1 - Sound Academy - Toronto, ON
2 - The Majestic Theater - Detroit, MI
3 - The Riviera - Chicago, IL
5 - Liberty Hall - Lawrence, KS
6 - The Pageant - St. Louis, MO
8 - The Civic Auditorium - New Orleans, LA
9 - The Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA
10 - Beacham Theatre - Orlando, FL
11 - The Ritz - Tampa, FL
13 - House of Blues - Dallas, TX
14 - Aztec Theater - San Antonio, TX
16 - Sunshine Theater - Albuquerque, NM
17 - Sumitt Music Hall - Denver, CO
19 - Knitting Factory - Boise, ID
20 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
21 - Roseland Theatre - Portland, OR
23 - Warfield - San Francisco, CA
26 - The Mayan Theater - Los Angeles, CA
27 - Knitting Factory - Reno, NV
28 - The Depot - Salt Lake City, UT
30 - Northside Park Theater - San Diego, CA
31 - House of Blues - Las Vegas, NV

November
1 - Monster Mash Festival - Phoenix, AZ

Ghost have also announced the first dates for their European headline tour, taking place in November/December. Confirmed dates can be found below:

November
16 - Cologne, Germany - Live Music Hall
18 - Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Den Atelier
19 - Geneva, Swizerland - L’Usine
20 - Vienna, Austria - Arena
22 - Budapest, Hungary - Barba Negra Club
23 - Milan, Italy - Live Club
24 - Lyon, France - Le Radiant
25 - Madrid, Spain - La Riviera
27 - Porto, Portugal - Hard Club
28 - Lisbon, Portugal - Paradise Garage
30 - Barcelona, Spain - Apolo

Decebmer
1 - Toulouse, France - Le Bikini
2 - Clermont-Ferrand, France - Cooperative de Mai
4 - Munich, Germany - Backstage
5 - Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli Vredenburg
8 - Antwerp, Belgium - Trix Hall
9 - Dortmund, Germany - FZW
10 - Hamburg, Germany - Markthalle