| "Dance Macabre" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover art for the August 2018 release | ||||
| Single by Ghost | ||||
| from the album Prequelle | ||||
| Released | May 18, 2018 | |||
| Recorded | 2018 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:39 | |||
| Label | Loma Vista | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Tom Dalgety | |||
| Ghost singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Dance Macabre" is a song by Swedish rock band Ghost. It was their second single off of their fourth studio album Prequelle . It topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart for two weeks in February 2019.
"Dance Macabre" is a song from Ghost's fourth studio album, Prequelle. The song was debuted in a live setting, being played live at a surprise live show on May 5, 2018. [5] The studio version was previewed via the band's Instagram story on May 17, a day prior to being officially released. [6] Additionally, a separate version of the song, a disco remix version, was released on August 24, 2018, done by synthwave musician Carpenter Brut. [7] The remix had been requested by Ghost frontman Tobias Forge in April 2018, after Brut had opened for Ghost on tour in 2016. [8]
The song was later released as the second single from Prequelle, after "Rats". In February 2019, the song topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart for two weeks. It was the band's third consecutive song to top the chart, after "Rats" and "Square Hammer". [9] [10]
A music video was released on October 17, 2018. It was described by Consequence of Sound as "a homage to The Rocky Horror Picture Show." [11]
The song's music video features two men arriving at a house seeking entry to a party. One of the men is unsure, while the other is excited for the night ahead. They are questioned by a spooky man in facepaint, and then are promptly let in the house.
As the video progresses, the party grows more and more eventful while everyone is dancing. Meanwhile, one of the earlier men is seen dancing with a woman, who then bestows upon him the signature facepaint of Papa Emeritus. She then punches him in the left eye, giving him the iconic white eye as seen in the band's numerous vocalists.
Musically, the song was noted as having more of a "dance music" vibe than most of their work. Forge noted that when he originally wrote the song, he didn't envision it as a Ghost song, but once he started writing lyrics, he felt he could make it work as part of the album. Forge also shared the track with some "songwriter friends" of his, who encouraged him to use it as a Ghost song. [12] Forge was inspired by the music diversity that Queen would have with their albums, feeling that Ghost could similarly use some diversity. [11] Lyrically, the song is about the Black Plague – a theme across the entire Prequelle album – specifically about how people would literally dance and party until they died to cope with the illness. [13] [10]
Europe was in this turmoil in the late 1340s. The plague is extremely fast. It starts off as the worst flu you've ever had and then it just goes worse and then you're dead after three days. So people were lying in the streets — corpses and all the surroundings were just falling apart. All the brothels and pubs were thriving because people started partying literally like there was no tomorrow because they were gonna die. They were just going for it. "Dance Macabre" is capturing that joyous nocturnal sort of life in a disco song. [14]
Metal Injection identified the song as the standout track on Prequelle. [15]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dance Macabre" | 3:39 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dance Macabre (Carpenter Brut Remix)" | 3:37 |
| 2. | "Dance Macabre" | 3:39 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dance Macabre" | 3:39 |
| 2. | "Dance Macabre (Nocturnal Version)" | 3:30 |
Credits adapted from liner notes.
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [21] | Gold | 20,000‡ |
| Canada (Music Canada) [22] | Gold | 40,000‡ |
| Norway (IFPI Norway) [23] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA) [24] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
Fred Vincent Pontare is a Swedish songwriter, producer, and singer. He is also known by the mononym Vincent. He regularly collaborates with Salem Al Fakir as songwriting, producer, and duo Vargas & Lagola. Together, they have worked with many pre-eminent artists, including: Avicii, Axwell Ʌ Ingrosso, Madonna, Seinabo Sey and Lady Gaga. In addition to their songwriting and production work, they release alternative pop music as Vargas & Lagola.
Ghost is a Swedish rock band known for its distinctive blend of theatricality, heavy metal, and arena rock. Formed in Linköping in 2006, the band first gained attention with their 2010 three-track demo, followed by the 7-inch vinyl "Elizabeth" and their debut album, Opus Eponymous. This album, nominated for a Grammis and featuring the song "Ritual"—listed by Kerrang! as one of "The 50 Most Evil Songs Ever"—catapulted them to international recognition.
Nicholas Furlong is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. His work crosses several musical genres, ranging from dance, rock, and pop, to rap and hip-hop. He is also the vocalist and co-writer of the hit single "The Nights" by Avicii.
Tom Dalgety is an English record producer and audio engineer. He is most noted for his work with Pixies, Ghost, and Royal Blood. He was nominated for Grammy Awards in 2019 for his production work on the Ghost album Prequelle and production and songwriting on the Ghost track "Rats".
Meliora is the third studio album by Swedish rock band Ghost. The album was produced by Klas Åhlund and released on August 21, 2015. The album was generally well received, placing on several music publications' lists of the best heavy metal albums of the year and winning Best Hard Rock/Metal Album at the 2015 Grammis Awards. Lead single "Cirice" won the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. In September 2016, the band released a special edition of the album, called Meliora Redux.
"Cirice" is a song by the Swedish rock band Ghost. The track was released as the lead single from the group's third studio album Meliora. The song peaked at number 4 on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart, and won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2016.
Franck Hueso, better known by his stage name Carpenter Brut, is a French darksynth artist from Poitiers, France. He has released three EPs, EP I (2012), EP II (2013) and EP III (2015), which were collected and released together as the album Trilogy (2015). He later released three additional studio albums, Leather Teeth (2018), Blood Machines OST (2020) and Leather Terror (2022), along with one live album, CarpenterBrutLive (2017). He has also contributed original music to a variety of soundtracks, both for film and video games.
Gunship is a British synthwave band formed in 2014 by Dan Haigh and Alex Westaway; they were later joined by drummer Alex Gingell.
The discography of Ghost, a Swedish rock band, consists of five studio albums, one live album, four extended plays (EPs), thirteen singles and fourteen music videos. Formed in Linköping in 2008, Ghost is composed of nine anonymous members – vocalist Papa Emeritus and eight instrumentalists known as "Nameless Ghouls". After a self-issued demo, the band released its full-length debut Opus Eponymous on Rise Above Records in October 2010, which reached number 30 on the Swedish Albums Chart. "Elizabeth" was released as the sole single from the album in June.
"Square Hammer" is a song by Swedish rock band Ghost. It was released as the lead single from the group's second EP Popestar. The song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart in January 2017, making the band the first Swedish band to top the chart. "Square Hammer" was one of the official theme songs for NXT TakeOver: San Antonio.
Tobias Jens Forge is a Swedish singer-songwriter and actor. He is the leader and primary songwriter of the masked Occult-rock band Ghost, performing live as their vocalist under the stage names Papa Emeritus and Cardinal Copia. Although the band was formed in 2006, Forge's identity as the Ghost frontman was only confirmed in 2017, following a lawsuit by former band members due to a royalty dispute. Prior to finding success, he was in several other bands, including Repugnant and Crashdïet, under the stage name Mary Goore.
Vargas & Lagola are a Swedish songwriting and production duo of Vincent Pontare and Salem Al Fakir.
Prequelle is the fourth studio album by the Swedish rock band Ghost. It was released on 1 June 2018 and produced by Tom Dalgety. The album's first single, "Rats", was released ahead of the album on 13 April, and as of 28 July, had peaked at number one for seven weeks on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart. The second single, "Dance Macabre", later topped the same chart for two weeks as well. The album marked the band's strongest selling debut to date, landing at number 3 on the Billboard 200, selling 66,000 copies in its first week, with 61,000 of those being "traditional" album sales. The album's themes include medieval times and the Black Death, along with more contemporary subject matter.
"Rats" is a song by the Swedish rock band Ghost. It was released as the first single from their fourth album Prequelle. The track topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart in July 2018, and was nominated for the Best Rock Song Grammy Award at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
A Pale Tour Named Death was a concert tour by the Swedish rock band Ghost in support of their fourth studio album, Prequelle. Before the tour had been announced, two arena shows in Los Angeles, California, and New York City had been announced. The official tour was announced on 11 June 2018. It began on 9 September 2018 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England, and concluded on 3 March 2020 at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, Mexico; the latter concert was dubbed A Final Gig Named Death.
This article summarizes the events related to rock music for the year of 2018.
"Faith" is a song by Swedish rock band Ghost. It was their third single off of their fourth studio album Prequelle. It peaked at number six on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart in September 2019.
"Under the Graveyard" is a power ballad by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne. Written and produced with Andrew Watt, it was released as the vocalist's first single in eight years on 8 November 2019. The song was released as the lead single of, and packaged with, Osbourne's twelfth studio album Ordinary Man in 2020, which was his first album since Scream in 2010. The song features Watt on guitar, Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. The song reached number one on the US Mainstream Rock chart in December 2019. A music video for the song, which was teased on Osbourne's official Twitter, was released on 19 December 2019. The song has been described as a "massive", "booming", "searing" and "epic" power ballad by Music Mayhem, Billboard, Revolver and Ghost Cult magazines, respectively.
Impera is the fifth studio album by the Swedish rock band Ghost. Released on 11 March 2022, it was produced by Klas Åhlund who also produced the band's 2015 album, Meliora. The release of Impera was preceded by three singles: the first, "Hunter's Moon", was released on 30 September 2021 in support of the 2021 slasher film Halloween Kills with a version being a part of the film's closing credits; the second single, "Call Me Little Sunshine", was released on 20 January 2022 and the third, "Twenties", was released on 2 March 2022.
The Imperatour was a concert tour by the Swedish rock band Ghost in support of their fifth studio album, Impera. Following its announcement on 20 September 2021, the tour began on 25 January 2022 at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada, and concluded at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Australia on 7 October 2023.