Looking back to the second era, where the visuals of the band seemed more religious.
I wanted to create an illustration that reflected the mediaeval iconography we saw. I came across the story of the āDevilās bibleā (Codex Gigas), a real book.
Briefly, in this story a monk sentenced to death sells his soul to the devil.
The devil provides him with a book of ultimate knowledge, which the monk uses to bargain for his life.
I thought it would be cool to link these ideas and have āPapa Emeritus IIā actually writing the āDevilās Bibleā in a classical scribes pose.
The second era of āGhostā lends itself to this story very well. The fall of religion is a large theme in this album and a monk giving up his faith to the devil seemed a great companion to the album.