DARKNESS descended on South Wales on Saturday as Grammy-winning doom metallers Ghost glided in for the second date in their Popestar tour.

After what seemed an eternity of piped choral music, fans soon rocked to the riffs as frontman Papa Emeritus III strutted his stuff in his trademark robes and bishop's mitre complete with inverted cross.

Opening tracks included Square Hammer, Pinnacle to Pit and Secular Haze, before Papa paused to ask 'How are the Welshmen?' (cue cheers from all), 'How are the Welsh women?' (cue cheers from the girls). 'I was asking the men...' he leered, in his creepily Hannibal Lecter-ish voice. Made me and a fair few others grin. This was unease at its best.

Back to the music, fans were treated to superb blasts of Body and Blood, Year Zero, Ritual and that Grammy-scooping cracker Cirice. For the encore, bodies surged and fists pumped as Monstrance Clock shook the dust from the girders.

Ghost as a band divides opinion among fans in that broad church called Metal; they'll always be accused of being a rip-off of the likes of Mushroomhead, but quite frankly does it really matter? Fans pay their money, they get a group with a strong and memorable image, a good tight sound and an air of mystery thanks to a deliberate lack of human identity behind those unnerving masks worn by the instrumentalists.

Worshippers can see them again when they support Iron Maiden this coming summer.