Live Review: Ghost, Witchgrinder

Although the majority wouldn't have recognised a Witchgrinder song if it broke into their house and stole their television, the band garnered moderate applause. Pass-outs not being permitted until set's end undoubtedly aided their cause, but heaving, pounding industrial metal played some part too. The 45-minute allotment did feel somewhat repetitious towards its conclusion – attributable to a lack of variety – but the Melbourne outfit were visibly ecstatic to be there.

“Let's say that rock'n'roll is the devil's music, and we know it for a fact to be absolutely, unequivocally true,” late comedian Bill Hicks once suggested. “At least he fuckin' jams!” Tongue-in-cheek or not, such a sentiment readily applies to occult Swedish collective Ghost. Flanked by energetic cohorts the Nameless Ghouls, as per usual donning hooded robes and masks to refrain from revealing their identities, vocalist and mock Satanic priest Papa Emeritus II emerged from the fog for opening track proper Per Aspera Ad Inferi's sheer bombast, clutching his Grucifix staff and crooning precisely. A dose of mystique and theatricality in 2014 is refreshing, especially when coupled with songs as infectious as Year Zero or Secular Haze. Covers of The Beatles (Here Comes The Sun) and Roky Erickson (If You Have Ghosts) slotted in with ease, while Ritual acknowledged their debut LP's more metallic edge. This was contrasted by the unholy marriage of Blue Öyster Cult and Pink Floyd which largely comprises more recent material.

A well-attended, albeit far from full venue perhaps suggested that sizeable buzz doesn't always completely translate to mass ticket sales, but those who did left decidedly satisfied. The frontman commanded his congregation with the simplest hand gesture, culminating in imploring them to “come together, for Lucifer's son”; earnestly sung in unison during closer Monstrance Clock. It was a fitting finale to an hour-and-a-half of blasphemous, unadulterated entertainment.