Ghost Frontman’s Former Band Magna Carta Cartel Releases New Track “The Sun & The Rain”

Before there was Ghost there was Magna Carta Cartel, a Swedish alt rock group featuring future Ghost members Tobias Forge, Martin Persner and Simon Söderberg, the latter two of whom left the group in recent years with Söderberg currently entwined in a messy lawsuit with his former employer. Persner revived Magna Carta Cartel after departing Ghost in 2016, and today they’ve released a brand new song called “The Sun & The Rain.”

Since the vast majority of folks reading this were likely drawn in by the Ghost angle, let’s start with the similarities: you can definitely hear them. MCC are quite a bit lighter than Ghost, but there’s a certain sense of melody construction that you’ll recognize (which makes sense, since Persner contributed writing credits to some of Ghost’s tracks). So while “The Sun & The Rain” on the surface sounds more like The Gin Blossoms than Black Sabbath, it’s got a distinct sense of catchiness that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Ghost album with a little extra distorted guitar and some minor chords thrown in. It’s definitely its own beast, though, as you’ll hear when you press play on the tongue-in-cheek video below.

“The Sun & The Rain” is a standalone single for the time being, but Europeans can catch Magna Carta Cartel on tour this fall. Dates underneath the embed.

Sep. 28 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Nalen Stora Salen
Sep. 29 – Gothenburg, Sweden @Sticky Fingers
Sep. 30 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Pumpehuset
Oct. 02 – Hamburg, Germany @ Logo
Oct. 03 – Berlin, Germany @ BiNuu
Oct. 04 – Cologne, Germany @ Luxor
Oct. 05 – Paris, France @ Etoiles
Oct. 06 – Leiden, Netherlands @ Gebr De Nobel
Oct. 07 – Biebob, Belgium @ Vosselaar

[via Blabbermouth]