Ghost’s decade-long rise from blasphemous occult metal provocateurs to Def Leppard-channelling arena rockers has inspired a growing army of knock-offs.
All-female four-piece Dogma are the latest. Their eye-catching if shamelessly transparent spin is to dress as sexy undead fetish nuns while churning out 80s-inspired Euro-metal with sub-Pornhub titles such Carnal Liberation and Bare To The Bones.
Yet for all their unoriginality, Dogma know how to write a big tune. My First Peak, lascivious seduction story Made Her Mine marry and the blockbusting Father I Have Sinner marry raunchy lyrics to the kind of bolshy anthems rock bands seem to have forgotten how to write. Pseudonymous singer Lilith gets heated up on shagging-on-an-altar celebration Bare To The Bones, even if it leans heavily on Ghost’s magnificent Danse Macabre.
There’s a decent helping of anti-religious transgression amid the titillation, and just the right amount of hard rock cheese for those who miss the old days. The perfect soundtrack to a late Halloween.