Ghost just recently released Impera and with the success of that album, more people are coming out to claim that Ghost has ripped off their style from King Diamond. In a new interview with Metal Hammer, the King and Mercyful Fate frontman had some choice words.
Some people have compared the two bands, but I never thought that. I very much saw them as a Blue Oyster Cult style band. I’m sure they have a little influence from us, and that’s a huge honour to hear, but they have their own style. I never felt that they were copying us. We have all these guitar solos, and they barely use any guitar solos on those first couple of albums.
He also went on to talk about their live shows and how both bands use comedic stylings or dark humor.
They also have a show which is completely different to ours. You see someone saying ‘Oh they got that from King Diamond and Mercyful Fate!’ but I don’t think that is true. It’s not like we don’t have any humour in our shows, but it’s very grotesque and twisted. With them I see it as a lot more tongue-in-cheek. Ours is horror show, they have jokes going back and forth during the show.
He rounded out the interview with some comments about Ghost and their songwriting.
I’m not so much into the pop side of what they do, but they’ve certainly done some very heavy songs too. They do it very well, they’re amazing songwriters.
Hear It From The King Himself About Ghost
So to all the people saying that Ghost has somehow “stolen” their act from King Diamond, they haven’t. Sure, they’re likely inspired by King Diamond, but who in metal hasn’t been inspired by the Danish master of metal. King Diamond is a legend, and like other theatrical musicians like Alice Cooper and KISS, people have been and will continue to be, inspired by them.
Ghost combines plenty of musical stylings and genres in their performances and albums. That’s part of the reason why they’re so popular. They appeal to a wide variety of people because they have poppy-sounding songs, mixed with songs about Satan, and then some incredibly heavy songs.
Like it or not, Ghost are here to stay at the top of the metal mountain.
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Source: Metal Hammer
