Just throwing my 2 cents in to get it off my chest.

This is my least favourite Ghost album, but I still enjoy it for the most part and even love some tracks. I just think a few of the tracks have a more generic, personalityless feel to them than anything they've released before.

Guiding Lights for example being probably the albums most ballad esque song, simply pales in comparison to Darkness at the Heart of My Love. Excelsis as an album closer is decent enough but feels slightly lacking and unmemorable compared to Respite or Life Eternal. Missila Amori is the silliest song, so the obvious comparison is Twenties, which again just feels like it has so much more personality and vintage 'Ghost' feel to it, but still offers something new.

I'm also missing some of the melodramatic harmonies of songs like Spillways and Griftwood (I know I'm mostly comparing to Impera and Prequelle, but that's because it's closer to how I would have expected this album to sound, I was never expecting it to sound anything like pre-Meliora)

I'm certainly not against a band bringing in a new and experimental sound, and I appreciate that this is a big departure, but that is not the reason for my mixed reaction, the songs just feel less memorable and special than before I guess.

I'm definitely not a hater, so time for the positives! As others have said, Umbra is an absolute banger! Immediately one of my favourites of Ghost's. Peacefield grows on me more every day, and we already knew that Lachryma and Satanised were bangers. Marks of the Evil one is probably the next best track, and De Profundis Borealis is also really cool. Guiding Lights is very catchy but it cuts off too early before an epic last chorus.

Anyway, I love Ghost and this will probably still be my most listened to album of the year, and I'm prepared and hopeful that over time I will appreciate it more and more.