Singles Roundup: Ghost, Neal Morse's trio, Michael Romeo, & Serious Black

January was an incredibly busy month, so let's take a moment to look ahead at what the future has in store for us with these recent singles.

Ghost - Call Me Little Sunshine

The new Ghost album is one of the most anticipated releases of the year, and so far, I can't say I'm very excited. I was not a fan of "Hunter's Moon", and this second single isn't pointing in a better direction. Ghost, at their best, are able to blend cheesy levels of darkness with pop songwriting. This song is lacking the latter part. The whole appeal of Ghost is their sing-along choruses that make you laugh when you realize most of the songs are supposedly about disease and the devil. This song, however, falls flat when it comes to that hook. The last album was their most pop yet, and I can understand the desire to correct course so the more 'true' rock fans won't be upset, but this goes too far in the other direction. It will still be a hit just based on their name, but the song itself is weaker than anything on "Prequelle", and I'm afraid the album will follow suit.

D'Virgilio, Morse, & Jennings - Everything I Am

The second single from this intriguing side-project, this song delivers everything I could want from it. Gentle acoustic guitar and warm vocal harmonies abound, giving the song a wonderfully inviting tone. It's a beautiful little song, one that cleanses the palate from the usual prog these three engage in. There is a beauty in simplicity, and that shines through when you get a song that makes the most of it. Making music can sometimes be easy, and that's what this song sounds like. It's easy listening for times when life is easy.

Michael Romeo - Divide & Conquer

This song confuses me a bit. It's melodic, technical heavy/power metal, and it's got all the guitar wizardry and vocal power you could want, but there's a question lingering over it. Dino Jelusick is a hell of a singer, and he does a fantastic job delivering a strong melodic chorus. He fills the role Russell Allen fills in Symphony X admirably. The question is why? This could easily be a Symphony X song, and I would presume such an album would have more hype behind it than a solo album, so I'm a bit curious why songs that could easily belong to the main band are being used for this purpose. That's not important, mind you. The song is great, so it doesn't really matter what format it is coming out in.

Serious Black - Out Of The Ashes

This band can do no right in this album cycle. Starting off with a cover, they now move to this pathetic song. As a song, I guess it's fine. What has my ire up are the lyrics to this thing, wherein the singer is telling off a woman who has left. He called her a drugged-up whore, then says she isn't pretty without makeup, and of course he blames her for everything. Considering the band has said this new album is 'deeply personal', it makes me want to smack them with a heavy object. Rock and metal have long been filled with misogyny, but in this day and age someone along the line should have thought better of this stupid song. Even if the woman is what they claim, it's probably because like this song, Serious Black can't satisfy anyone.