If You Have Ghost

After simultaneously elevating and skewering the black metal scene with their riveting yet almost cartoonishly evil 2013 major-label debut, Infestissumam, Ghost B.C. (the B.C. is silent everywhere else but the United States) turned their greasepaint and pontiff hat-adorned heads to less Lovecraftian fare with If You Have Ghost, a five-track EP that should lay to rest any notion that the Swedish occult rockers are goat blood-drinking Burzum disciples. Consisting of one live cut ("Secular Haze") and four Dave Grohl-produced covers, a fittingly opulent goth pop take on Roky Erickson's "If You Have Ghosts," a surprisingly robust and muscular rendition of ABBA's "I'm a Marionette," a meticulous reading of Army of Lovers' "Crucified," and a rendering of Depeche Mode's "Waiting for the Night," it's a serviceable bit of self-generated fan fiction. ~ James Christopher Monger