Opus Eponymous

Opus Eponymous is the “self-titled” debut album by the Swedish heavy metal band Ghost. The title “Opus Eponymous” is Latin for “self-titled work.”

Most of the album was written in 2007, around three years before it saw release on the independent Rise Above label.

A Nameless Ghoul has explained the origin of the album and, indeed, the band:

Very early on, when the material came together in the project phase before it was actually a band, when it was a logo and a couple of songs, it came together by itself because the material and the lyrics sort of screamed an over-the-top commitment to the dark side. It is hard to make that credible and really eerie. What we thought of when we heard the songs is basically a band that looks the way we do now.

A seperate interview allowed another Nameless Ghoul to expand on this, explaining:

While being together in another band, Ghost started when I played a riff to everybody else. I said that this is probably the most heavy metal riff that has ever existed. Then I showed them the opening riff to “Stand By Him.” When the chorus came to me, it haunted my dreams. Every time I picked up the guitar, I ended up playing that progression, and when I fit the words in, it seemed to cry out for a Satanically-oriented lyric. This was in 2006. When we came up with the name Ghost, it seemed only natural to build on the foundation of this heavy imagery. Within that concept, we were able to combine our love of horror films, and of course, the traditions of Scandinavian metal.