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DIFFUS

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BBC's Radio 1 Rock Show

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Full Metal Jackie

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Whole Lotta Talk

FangirlMagazine for HorrorHound Magazine

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Era 6 Interviews

Part 1 (93X, 101 WRIF, KBEAR 101, Audacity Music, Planet Rock, WMMR, Overdrive, Morbid Podcast, Loudwire Nights, Diffus, Talkin Rock, Carina Bergfeldt, NME Sverige Radio, Rolling Stone UK, Grammis, Metal Hammer, Mistress Carrie Podcast, Rock Hard France, Chaoszine, Kim Rennie, Metal Hammer UK, Rolling Stone Brazil, German Classic Rock, Sweden Rock April 2025, Heavy LA, Rolling Stone UK)

Part 2

Rolling Stone DE

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Qobuz

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Oüi FM

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Dealer 2 Metal

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Radio Rock via alvaghoul

Bandit Rock Interview via alvaghoul

JJO Discover New Music

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Text Interviews (translations below cut)

Rock Tribune

Libération

exclaim!★@#

SVT Newspaper

Welt

Rock Hard Germany

Rock Tribune via ratboycopia

ON SELF-REFLECTION, OPTIMISM AND ANCIENT DINOSAURS

With the release of the concert film 'Rite Here, Rite Now' late last year, Ghost, the most famous Swedish export since Abba, their three-year tour cycle for the successful 'Impera' album came to an end. The final moments of the film saw the then-frontman Papa Emeritus IV, affectionately called Cardi by the legion of fans, tragically bidding farewell to his mother Sister Imperator. He was consequently promoted to the head of the Clergy (the mysterious entity that directs all of Ghost's ins and outs), and thus he made way for a successor. A new frontman in the world of Ghost of course also means a new album, but nothing was said about that at tirst. However, when it was announced a few weeks ago that a certain Papa V Perpetua would make his appearance at the beginning of July during the ultimate swan song of Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, an announcement could not be long in coming.

Text: Frederik Cosemans

On March 5th, the time had come: not only did the general public hear that a new album called 'Skeletá' would be released on April 25th, they also got the single 'Satanized' and a first glimpse of Papa V. However, the international press, and therefore also Rock Tribune, got the chance to chat with mastermind, all-round musical genius and man behind the many frontman incarnations Tobias Forge a little earlier.

In the days leading up to the interview, it seemed as if there was quite a game of panic soccer being played in the Ghost camp. After the sudden mention of Papa V Perpetua on the poster of the Black Sabbath show, something that seemed completely unintentional and suspiciously like a leak, all kinds of cryptic 'V is coming' announcements surfaced and The Clergy seemingly shifted up a few gears. Indeed, it looked like the press was hastily called together to minimize “damage” and get back on the ball. When we finally get to see Mr. Forge, back with a long mane and clad in an old school Repulsion shirt, on our screen, however, he looks quite relaxed and greets us in his own friendly, engaging, but also somewhat matter-of-fact manner.

When we ask him if our reasoning from above is somewhat accurate, he is a bit taken aback and therefore immediately sets some things straight.

“I do want to emphasize here that there is totally no leakage or anything like that. The organizers of the Black Sabbath show (including Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine as musical director, FC) have of course their own agenda and schedule over which we have no say. The reason that only Papa V Perpetua and not Ghost is mentioned, is of a purely practical nature. As you may have seen, there is a large number of real 'bands' on the poster, but also a large number of individual musicians. The bands, with the possible exception of Metallica, are probably touring at that moment and that makes it much easier to schedule them for such an event. However, we ourselves start our American tour a few days after that show and that makes it practically impossible to participate. There are simply too many people involved and the production is too big to be built up in such a short time. Not participating in the tribute seemed like a bridge too far for us, and that is why only Papa V will perform. There is really nothing more to it. So I am here, as planned, to do promotion for our new album.”

BLACK-OUT

The new album will be called 'Skeleta' and for a nice analysis of the musical content of that gem we would like to refer you to the extensive review at the end of this article. Here we will delve a little deeper into the underlying themes and concepts and also try to get a better picture of how exactly the record came into being. The enclosed biography, literally the only information available at the time, speaks in that respect of a real 'media blackout' that Forge is said to have imposed on himself during the writing, but again our interviewee has to correct this.

“That has been somewhat misinterpreted by the person who wrote the biography in question. Look, I did indeed almost completely shut myself off from all kinds of media for a while, but that only happened after November 6th of last year (despite the fact that Tobias does not mention any names at any time during the interview, we don't do that either, it is not difficult to find out who or what exactly he is referring to here, FC), when the record had already been written for a long time. After that particular date, I limited myself to checking a few mainstream media every day to keep a little bit informed about what was happening in the world, but for the rest I completely remained in the background and did not actively participate in discussions. After all, the internet is crawling with individuals who all claim to have the truth, but often completely miss the mark and therefore only sow panic. If you are exposed to that for too long, you start thinking extremely apocalyptic and the world changes into a very dark place. That detox was necessary for me personally, but in itself has nothing to do with making the new album. When I started 'Skeleta', so without a media blackout, I first looked back at its predecessor 'lmpera', an album on which I felt the need to speak out against all kinds of worldly mis-conditions and problems. That had to be different this time, because making a second 'lmpera' was simply not an option for me. I wanted to be more constructive and introspective this time and focus on things that I can do something about myself. You know, we could talk for hours about all the problems the world is currently facing, but that won't provide many solutions. All we can do is take comfort in the fact that the people who are responsible for a large part of all the misery today are old, have shitty karma and will probably have to lay their heads down sooner rather than later. It will come to an end, it simply cannot be otherwise, because history repeats itself time and time again. After the night always comes the day. The world has known dark periods before, but they have always passed and we have always emerged stronger. Statistically speaking, a large part of humanity will be able to recount the things that are happening now and regard them as history. But right now, at this very moment, I am personally powerless and I cannot possibly solve all the world's problems. After all, they are too big and too overwhelming. I am not a politician, but an entertainer. I try to create something that makes people feel good and make them have a positive attitude towards life. That's my job, that's why I'm here and that's what I focused on when writing this record. I have the enormous privilege that a fairly large audience is interested in what I do and I can't take that for granted. It's a kind of gift and it's kind of my duty to use it as best I can.”

MOVING MOUNTAINS

We would like to go a little more into detail into the latter. Through that gift and the platform and reach that Ghost offers him, Forge does indeed want to convey something to his audience. As he indicated earlier, this time he went about it more constructively and introspectively and therefore wanted to approach it in a much more personal way. Simple people like you and I may not be able to solve the world's problems, but we can take a good look at ourselves and ask ourselves what we can do. Change starts with yourself, people sometimes say. Is that also the meaning we should seek behind the title 'Skeleta', a clear reference to 'skeleton' or the inside of ourselves?

“In fact, yes. Look, I accuse the world and society of many things, but I am also the first to admit that I am guilty of many of those same things. However, admitting that alone means that I am at least prepared to do some self-reflection and want to make an effort to improve myself and the world around me. Again, I am not talking about political changes or improvements, that is almost impossible for people like us, but personal ones. I wonder how I can positively stimulate the people around me and help them move forward. It is sometimes said that social media has given the common man a voice and has whispered to him that with the right attitude and motivation he can achieve the impossible and move mountains. In itself there is certainly some truth behind that, but the sad thing is that many people mistake that for a kind of power. They think that they can change the way the world turns, just because they want to and shout loud enough, but that is not how it works. Mind you, I have that tendency too, but as I said I have the enormous advantage that I can effectively reach many people. I am not going to claim that my fans will follow me to the ends of the earth, but they are open to what I have to say to a certain extent. And if I can make people more positive about life in that way, then that makes me happy and I feel like I can contribute something good to the world. Because ultimately we must not forget that the world is a wonderful place with many more beautiful and good things than bad ones. And those old dinosaurs that are now desperately fighting for their lives and have the incredible gift of arousing bad feelings, they will soon be gone. Just because their lives are coming to an end, does not mean ours will too. Besides, and now we are getting very cynical, you can always take comfort in the fact that those individuals, who are sitting on their piles of money helping to ruin the world, need us desperately. They earn their dollars on the backs of millions of people and they want to keep it that way. They do not benefit from letting the masses die or leave them helplessy to their fate. Cynical, as I said, but somehow hopeful. The overall message of 'Skeleta' is that we should enjoy our lives to the fullest and not dwell too long on what comes after. Yes, the record is quite dark at times, a bit like these times, but there is still a lot of optimism and hope shining through.”

NOT ONLY FISH ON THE MENU

A next logical question to Tobias is whether this attitude and mindset also effectively influenced the composition of the new music. After all, working out texts and concepts is one thing, actually writing music is another.

“Well, during the writing process, music and texts are inextricably linked. It rarely happens that I write all I the texts first and then all the music or vice versa, because they should, at least in my eyes, complement each other. Sometimes I have to adjust the music so that a certain sentence comes out or feels better and sometimes certain parts of the text or vocal lines have to be reworked so that they blend better with the music. You have to sense what a song needs, so to speak.”

And is there also a kind of predetermined goal? Does Forge know in advance whether he is going to make a heavy record or rather give space to ballads? Is it going to turn out proggy or rather old school and retro?

“Basically I just start working out ideas. After a while, when I have finished a number of songs, I sort of take stock and see what else the record needs. After all I like variety and I don't find it interesting at all if, for example, there are ten 'Square Hammers' on the same album. I always compare it a bit to a dinner with several courses. If you were served fish from the first to the last course, you would be sick of it by the end, right? That's why I always want to balance an album a bit so that it remains interesting for everyone. What was noticeably different this time was that it quickly became clear that this album would not contain any instrumental tracks or intermezzos; it only contained songs with vocals. That in turn meant that certain songs would need longer instrumental parts so that some 'vocal breaks' could be inserted. I found that to be a very refreshing starting point, because I had never done something like that before. In the end, it comes down to the fact that a Ghost album has to be a kind of total package of different parts musically. If, for example, there were ten heavy songs on it that all followed the same structure, it wouldn't feel like Ghost to me.”

To us, 'Skeleta' feels like Ghost for a full 100% and we don't care what all the haters and grouches say. And as the name of the new frontman already indicates ('Perpetua' means 'eternal'): Ghost is here to stay!

***

Album Review

Three years after the release of 'Impera', a record that catapulted the Swedish Ghost definitively into the pantheon of greats, the masked act led by mastermind Tobias Forge has finished the next chapter for the success story. The mysterious and occult rock/metal of the first records has long since had to give way to a more slick, theatrical and even poppy hard rock sound, which has obviously earned the band a lot of detractors, but thus a lot more supporters. Fans who frenetically resisted the old work and prayed for a return to the roots with each new record may now put away their hopes for good, because 'Skeletá' makes it clear to us once and for all that the band will never, ever look back, but will continue to expand and refine their sound.

After all, opener 'Peacefield' speaks famous volumes in that regard. It is a grand, epic hard rock song with melodic harmony vocals, classy riffs, fine guitar solos, lots of synthesizers and a super catchy chorus. It is certainly not a bad song, it is even a very good one, but as an opener it is still

no ‘Kaisarion’ or ‘Rats’ and we honestly admit that it took a few listens before the penny dropped. The following duo ‘Lachryma’ and the by now familiar first single Satanized need less time, but basically follow the same formula. Although both songs are a touch more solid, they seem to have been plucked straight out of the eighties and the refrains irrevocably fix themselves in your brain with barbs.

On previous records it was about now time for an instrumental song or a short interlude, but there is no such thing on ‘Skeletá’ at all. Indeed, for the first time in their history, the band chooses to perform ten full-fledged songs and omit the fillers. Excellent move, if you ask us! In ‘Guiding Lights’ they may take a bit of a breather, it is ballad of the purest kind, but our heads are off if this is not going to be an ultimate sing-along moment during the upcoming tour. In the past, the lighters would have been brought out with certainty!

With De Profundis Borealis, some spirit creeps back in. The pounding rhythm and the, again, clever and devilishly catchy chorus make this rocker a real highlight. The following ‘Cenotaph’, referring to Queen, does the same thing again and clearly shows that Forge (or should we say Papa V Perpetua?) pulls out all the stops vocally on this record. 'Missilia Amore' is pure eighties hard rock (think Ozzy Osborne's ‘No More Tears’). 'Marks Of The Evil One' (with the catchy proclamation There! There!‘) if possible even more so and 'Umbra’, introduced by sinister synths that at times remind a bit of Jean-Michel Jarre. takes the crown completely. The combination of a clattering cowbell, flashing riffs, proggy guitar and keyboard duels and perhaps the best chorus of the whole album make the song a real stunner that will pop live. It closes with the sweet and perhaps a little too sticky ‘Excelsis’, a power ballad with a real Gary Moore solo and the unmistakable message that one day everyone will have to trade the spiritual for the eternal.

'Skeleta' has become the superlative of its predecessor ‘Impera’ in almost everything (production, arrangements, vocals, instrumentation) and will certainly be a huge hit in terms of composition. The old fans who have felt alienated from the band for a while will not be won back with this album, everything has become even bigger and more equal, but the general status has undoubtedly increased a lot. And that is. once again. completely justified! (FC)

Libération via alvaghoul

Tobias Forge, Ghost singer and gentle apostle

The singer of the Swedish metal band speaks as an optimistic and warm oracle, while counterfeiting the Catholic liturgy and having fun with Satanism.

Tobias Forge in Paris, February 18, 2025. (Samuel Kirszenbaum/Libération)

by Virginie Ballet and photo Samuel Kirszenbaum

Without becoming mystical, we almost saw a sign. Mid-February: Pope Francis has just been hospitalized when we are about to confess a self-proclaimed pope of another kind... He too is familiar with conclaves, and claims that this ceremony presides over the sacrament of his diabolical stage alter egos (Papa Emeritus, Cardinal Copia...), all inspired by the Catholic clergy, in a marketing rite carefully orchestrated for each album release. White smoke: this time, to accompany the sixth opus of his band, Ghost, the Swedish metal pope, Tobias Forge, renamed himself Papa V Perpetua. Far from the flamboyant mitres, contact lenses and spectacular makeup that he is accustomed to, he is a forty-something with the look of a soft rocker – long hair, laced boots, and a red devil tattoo on his arm – that we meet during his visit to Paris, well before the Pope died.

A disconcerting normality for someone who has long hidden his face and true identity, until legal proceedings brought by former musicians regarding the distribution of the band's income forced him to drop the mask in 2017. Talkative and warm (he left us with a hug), Tobias Forge now seems ready to lay himself bare, in keeping with this album, which he considers "more introspective and personal" than the previous ones, focused on love, hate, death. All this to tunes closer to hard rock than heavy metal, which probably explains his success with the general public (more than 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify, three million subscribers on YouTube, sold-out world tours). Cursed be the unbelievers and guardians of the temple of pure sugar metal, who never fail to mock a "soup" deemed too commercial, accompanied by abundant merchandising, even eyeshadow palettes: with the faith of recent converts, they are told that criticism is easy. The acrostic too, as proof.

Sweden. Born in Linköping, a city of 160,000 inhabitants 200 km south of Stockholm, where he lives today, Tobias Forge and his brother Sebastian, thirteen years his senior, grew up in a poor neighborhood, raised by a mother who curated exhibitions for the municipality. His father, on the other hand, rebuilt his life and started another family, a wound that undoubtedly contributed to young Tobias's desire to turn to the "dark side." As an "immature and difficult to manage" child and then adolescent , Tobias Forge was introduced to rock at a very early age by his brother, a vinyl collector who fed him Kiss and Mötley Crüe from the age of three. The bottom line: at eight, the kid took up the guitar, practicing his skills on The Doors, Pink Floyd, and other Rolling Stones, and dreamed of "becoming Keith Richards ," no less.

Arts. Interested in spirituality but not religious, his mother, an art lover, took him at a very young age to visit the Catholic church in his hometown, "one of the largest and oldest in the country, Protestant for 500 years," to introduce him to architecture. "It's always been an inspiring place for me, as captivating as it is frightening." The building, with its walls adorned with graffiti of children while away the boredom during catechism centuries before, had "all the hallmarks of horror movie castles," imbued with a kind of "energy" that gave him the feeling he could hear the walls whispering. It must be said that in this family, fond of reading and the seventh art, Tobias Forge got a taste for genre films at a very young age, shivering with delight at The Shining, The Silence of the Lambs, Rosemary's Baby , and The Exorcist. It is here, in these demonic references as well as in the world of British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber , that Tobias Forge will draw inspiration to knit the pseudo-Satanist theatrical concept of Ghost. The other founding act, he explains, lies in the awareness of a form of hypocrisy within Christianity. This is revealed to him by one of his teachers, a woman "claiming to be a defender of good, of light, but who in real life was dark, bad, wicked, devoid of empathy."

Telephony. A rather average student, "angry and arrogant," Tobias Forge "hates school" and therefore doesn't spend time there. He takes a day job as a telephone operator, and at the same time tries to break into music, via a succession of bands with moderate success, to say the least. Secretly, he hopes to be spotted by a record company, which, won over by his talent, would write him a check for a million dollars, send him into the studio, then on tour, financing the rock star destiny he has always dreamed of. Spoiler: things didn't turn out that way, far from it. Until he was 25, Tobias Forge fumbled around, before finding the recipe that would finally make him take off. Except that in the meantime, he, who had been single for a long time, with "all the time possible to indulge in his dream," met Boel, a trained pharmacy technician, who would become his wife. Together, they had twins, now 16 years old. It was she who convinced him to "break free from the shackles" of his job to devote himself solely to music. At the dawn of the 2010s, Ghost began to make a nest on Myspace. At the same time, Sebastian, the older brother, died of heart disease. Consecration came the following year for Tobias Forge, when Metallica co-founder James Hetfield endorsed the fledgling band by appearing in a T-shirt with his image at a festival in Sweden, praising "a breath of fresh air for metal."

America. Obviously, the decorum surrounding Ghost is hard to accept among some Catholics, who have sparked protests denouncing an "attack on their faith." Tobias Forge, for his part, defends the right to satire and says he is open to dialogue with those who, increasingly numerous in the West, are "moving away from the Enlightenment" because they have lost their meaning, turning to religion or populist movements, between which this history and politics enthusiast draws a parallel. Donald Trump's re-election worries and despairs this fervent equal rights activist, but he wants to believe that karma will reverse itself, that "idiots" and "dictators" will not last forever, neither in the United States nor in Russia.Christmas. Although he owns a second home in the countryside of the archipelago, this "urbanite at heart" quickly gets bored far from the hustle and bustle of the city: "The noise of a busy street and people calms me and stimulates my inspiration." A wine enthusiast and former martial artist, Tobias Forge, although claustrophobic, is planning to try scuba diving. He says his children have had a "major impact" on his ability to concentrate. To our great surprise, the father confesses to celebrating Christmas, but not "for the birth of Christ." His twins were born on December 24th, which is pretty damn good.

exclaim!★@#

A Ghost album starts as a solitary endeavour for bandleader and frontman Tobias Forge. Though his band has become known for its elaborate concepts, following an occultist clergy and Forge himself cycling through multiple figurehead characters, he says the accompanying fictional story isn't on his mind when he writes music.

"When making records, don't really pay too much attention to the lore," he explains. "The lore is external; the lore is the church with its congregation, and when I'm writing music, that's the scriptures that are being sent out to the congregation, if you will."

Forge's band, founded in Linköping, Sweden, have garnered worldwide recognition since being unleashed on the global heavy metal scene with their 2010 debut album. With album number six, Skeletá (due out April 25 through Loma Vista Recordings), Ghost are now bona fide arena headliners, thanks to Forge's creative architecture and theatrical songwriting, the hallmarks of their sound simply being Forge's instinctual style.

"Usually, when I put my hand on a song or I create something, it has a little bit of a DNA, and I guess I have a way to write that might be signature for me," he tells Exclaim! "I always want to write songs that I don't have; I always want to make a record that I've never heard before, albeit influenced by something. But it's actually getting harder and harder."

Writing a new song feels like being a detective solving a homicide, as Forge, nothing if not true to the spirit of his band, puts it. Each case has a new victim, different leads, and perhaps an unexpected culprit.

"You never really learn," Forge says. "I know how to have written that [previous] track, but I don't know how to write this new track. I just have a lot of tricks up my sleeve, but I don't know if that's what we need to make this song fucking awesome."

Forge doesn't want to spill too many details on where the Skeletá cycle will take the accompanying storyline, but he offers a hint as to what awaits fans. The band recently introduced Forge's newest protagonist, Papa V Perpetua, fraternal twin brother of predecessor Papa Emeritus IV, formerly Cardinal Copia, who has been promoted to clergy leadership.

"Let's put it this way: this album is about healing, and healing in combination with hope to become a more solid human to function in a more solid society where we're a little bit more nice to each other and to ourselves," says Forge. "Right now, Cardi is very out of place. And it would be nice if it ended with him feeling better about his position."

Ultimately, though, Forge sees an eventual end to the Ghost lore, looking to a future where music and theatrics take centre stage, admitting he can find it limiting in a way to have to fit his lyrical content into the plot.

"With the risk of sounding like I'm complaining, which I'm not, at points I've found myself envious of bands like Foo Fighters or Pearl Jam, who can just exist," he says. "They can just show up and everyone wants them to do what they're really good at, but the nature of my band has been creatively intuitive, but practically not as intuitive, because it's meant that you always have to create lore that most other bands don't have to. That's obviously a creation of my own — that's my fault, so I'm not complaining."

Fifteen years into his career with Ghost, Forge says the world-building can get laughable at times, but also believes the fantasy components are more exciting now than they were five years ago: "As a storyteller who has ambitions to evolve as a storyteller into different media, it's enthusing," he says. "I like that part."

Skeletá is the sound of Forge's most fully realized vision yet, with infectiously catchy songcraft, equal parts soaring synth leads and diabolical riffing and plenty of Forge's upside-down prophesying. Forge feels that Ghost are past freshman status, considering himself a sophomore or junior of the metal scene now. After carrying the torch for heavy music and reaching levels of success few newer metal bands have achieved in the past decade, Forge sees more life in heavy metal now than he did when Ghost started taking off.

"I've been heartbroken many times over the last 10 or 15 years over bands that quit, died, stopped functioning or disappeared," he says. "I don't want that, but it's just the way of the world."

To keep the live concert circuit alive, Forge says promoters and venues need to have a bank of big-name acts to choose from, enough that festival lineups can feature different headliners year by year. "Metallica can't headline everywhere all the time," he says. "It doesn't work. Ten to 15 years ago, you had a lot more headliners who were good for 40,000 people. In the festival world, you need bands that have a pull."

To Forge, metal may be the only musical style to exist that consistently attracts new generations who embrace the genre's entire history, while still existing outside of the mainstream. "There's this embrace of styles because it seems to be reaching the same people still," he explains. "It's the same outsider in school, the same intellectual comic reader, the same horror buff who starts liking bands. And your gateway in might be through Slipknot, or it might be through Sleep Token now — or Ghost. But it all leads back to all these other bands, so there's this great heritage movement that keeps on spawning new bands."

Ghost's Skeletá tour cycle will see the band embarking on an ambitious global arena trek, aptly dubbed the Skeletour. Having gone through extensive band rehearsals and worked with two collaborators to conceive a larger-than-life stage show, Forge says he is able to give more of his energy to his own performance without the added pressure of being the sole director of a show this size.

"In the band we have a very strong tie to Canada because our bass player is from Toronto, so every time we're in Toronto specifically, that's a semi-homecoming," he says. "There are really no superlatives that don't sound tacky to say how great I think the country is."

Forge has a long list of favourite Canadian bands and artists, from Leonard Cohen and Neil Young to Rush and Danko Jones to Voivod, Slaughter, Sacrifice and Blasphemy. "There's a lot of Canadian music in my life that has been ever-present," he says. "But I'm also a hockey fan, so if I ever have a day off, we try to go see hockey. Because of our Toronto connection, the Maple Leafs would be the go-to team."

Leaving us with a promise to Canadian fans that Ghost will be coming through on the Skeletour — and that it will be during hockey season — the newest era of Ghost is just beginning.

"I wish for it to end with me wanting more," Forge says. "That would be a great achievement."

SVT Newspaper

Writing a new album is like a giant murder investigation, says singer Tobias Forge. Watch him explain why in the video above.

Ghost: "Every album is like a new giant murder investigation"

New introspective album, new pope and world tour.

But then the future is unclear for the band Ghost.

– I want to be able to enjoy more, says frontman Tobias Forge.

Every new album is a reaction to the previous one, Tobias Forge has previously said. So this time too – even though the predecessor “Impera” is musically related to the new “Skeletá”, the lyrics are now significantly more introspective and based on basic emotions such as love, hate and sadness.

– Instead of talking about specific things that happen, we talk about the reaction, explains Tobias Forge to SVT Kulturnyheterna.

The theme not only served as a setting, but also as a motivation to actually write the music, says the frontman.

Unclear future

A new album means a new world tour for Ghost and a new stage show with a new stage persona, or so-called pope. This one has been named Papa V Perpetua, but Tobias Forge doesn't want to reveal what kind of character it is.

– You don't know until you've done fifty gigs, he says.

What happens after the tour is also unclear. Previously, Tobias Forge has always had a long-term plan for Ghost, and knew roughly what the next step was. But after “Skeletá”, the future is uncertain.

Could this be the end for Ghost?

– You never know, says Tobias Forge, but emphasizes that he has no such plans, but rather wants to live more here and now and enjoy the success of the band.

Welt via alvaghoul

“Churches scare me”

In his youth, Tobias Forge was fascinated by the occult; today he considers himself a humanist. A conversation with the singer of the Swedish heavy metal band Ghost about good and evil.

Ghost is one of the most successful heavy metal bands of our time. The occult show of the always masked musicians led by Swedish singer Tobias Forge has already won a Grammy Award. Forge slips into the role of a Pope Emeritus on stage. Their last album, "Impera," also reached number one in Germany in 2022. Among Ghost's greatest successes are songs like "Mary On A Cross," in which Forge sings about a lost love he would crucify like the Virgin Mary before letting her run away. Their next album, "Skeleta," will be released on April 25th, followed by a world tour that will make four stops in Germany starting April 23rd. The new single is called "Satanized," and deals with demonic possession, blasphemy, and heresy.

Anyone who talks to Tobias Forge needs strong nerves and a lot of patience. He appears for our interview in a Berlin hotel without his garish mask, a slight, unassuming man with long hair—an introverted, liberal-minded individual. However, he often talks about evil as if it were self-evident and omnipresent. He would like the world to be different from its current state—and that includes not only some dangerous political leaders, but also religions playing a dubious role for him.

WELT: You once said, "I only live for certain moments. In between, I have to let my thoughts run free." Are you with me right now?

Tobias Forge: Oh yes, I am. I generally struggle with living in the here and now. I'm really trying to get better at it. I want to create moments where I can pause and embrace the present. But that's very difficult for me. I've always been somewhat out of touch with reality. From a purely professional perspective, I've managed to use that as a strength, because it's my job to create things. From a psychological perspective, it's certainly not great to always want to escape. When your head is telling you to move forward, but you find yourself moving backward. I'm somewhere, but not present. But that doesn't mean I can't also enjoy the moment. At the moment, I'm enjoying sitting here talking with you.

WELT: You talk about your escapes from everyday life. In Ghost , you hide behind costumes and masks. What are you escaping from?

Forge: For many years, I ran away from the answer to that question. As an adult, I'm trying to grapple with it to find out exactly that. As a kid, I thought that if I succeeded in becoming a rock star, I could transform into a different person. Ironically, that's exactly what happened. But as a kid, I thought it would happen automatically. Because someone with my background from the streets of Linköping where I grew up could never be interesting enough to become everything I felt inspired to become. Who was I, anyway? Over time, though, I realized that was nonsense.

WELT: So you escaped from yourself and ended up with Ghost?

Forge: I thought to myself: If I can't become a rock star, I at least need a hobby where I can be creative, some kind of outlet. Something with which I could pursue what I liked: rock music, theater, the devil. All those things. And then, after all those years of initially not getting anywhere with my music, it suddenly happened. A door opened. And I thought: "Oh shit, I'm on the right path. This is the train I always wanted to take."

WELT: You mentioned the devil rather casually. Do you believe in him?

Forge: For me, Satan is primarily a fictional character who exists largely in a pop-cultural sense, which is very different from the biblical understanding of the devil. He, she, it thrives primarily in rock 'n' roll and movies and serves as a symbol of excessive emphasis on the intellect, liberation, and rebellion. The devil is anti-authoritarian, funny, clever, and stands for sexual freedom and, in general, the freedom to control one's own body.

WELT: How did you discover your interest in Satan?

Forge: I come from a music scene in Sweden where Satanism and the devil had a lot of appeal. I always loved hard rock, death metal, and black metal . Satan is a common symbol there. As a teenager, when your brain is still a kind of mush, so for me in the early 90s, black metal was more than just a style of music, it was a youth movement completely dominated by us teenagers. People talked about the evil in the world. Since then, all the musicians from back then, especially those dark Norwegian bands, have become some of the nicest people on the planet. Lovely grandfathers with long beards. Absolute humanists.

WELT: What does it mean to you to be a humanist?

Forge: A humanist sees the world as a good and beautiful place. But to do that, they first have to fight through all this darkness, like we used to.

WELT: What do you mean by that?

Forge: It's something like a therapeutic endurance test. Even if it's purely mental, a kind of exercise. Some will discover afterward that they're capable of doing even more evil than what's already happening in the world. They have no idea what we played with as teenagers back then.

WELT: What did you do?

Forge: Let's just leave it at that. You see, as a child I grew up in a very liberal home. We were all very gentle and lenient with one another. Outside of my home, however, I was exposed to people who were very religious. They proudly called themselves Christians, but were actually very evil. To me, they represented restrictions and rules. They were petty and mean and did little for the common good. That's how I learned my life lessons, and one of them was: Satan, as a pop-cultural figure and as the Antichrist, was a symbol of progress and openness, not an apostle of regression and backward thinking. There were so many religious conflicts in the world, and in Sweden in particular, we dealt with them strangely. If you were religious, you were supposed to live like a farmer.

WELT: How do you see it today?

Forge: Let's ignore Satan as a symbol of hard rock music and horror movies. If we talk about the devil in more old-fashioned terms like good and evil, things could hardly be more confusing than they are right now. For me, all of Satan's biblical characteristics—that is, the seducer, the traitor, and the evil in politics—are present. These are people who bear all the hallmarks of the Antichrist, but want to represent the good side to us. Or so they claim. They represent ecclesiastical values, and we simply don't want to recognize their true, devilish attributes.

WELT: So you don’t appreciate church values?

Forge: You know, I've always been a humanist. And almost all of my thoughts and feelings about what I think people should be like are in stark contrast to how the church describes a God-fearing Christian to me.

WELT: So you believe that we would be better off without the church, without religions, per se?

Forge: I'm not against every kind of religion. I just have something against those that demand that their followers submit and repent. They do so by making sacrifices, in whatever form. These can also be financial sacrifices. That should open people's eyes.

WELT: But everyone can decide that for themselves.

Forge: Exactly. But devoutly religious people use the church to criticize others for the lives they lead. That's what happened to me: People criticized the street I lived on, criticized my parents for the way they raised me. This is something that those who consider themselves to be entitled to be kind to others allow themselves to do. I believe that if you don't want to be treated badly, you shouldn't treat others badly either.

WELT: Faith can move mountains, as the saying goes. It gives you strength, not power.

Forge: I'm convinced that the day we're able to leave religion behind, we won't give up the idea that there's something out there we don't know. I'm really open to it. There are things I can't explain. And I think that's a good thing. We don't know what happens after death—I think that's a good thing, too. I'm not saying like an atheist: There is no God, there's nothing out there. I have no idea if there's anyone or anything out there. But I don't like the fact that there are people who tell us they know that. They're lying!

WELT: Do you love the unknown because it also scares you a little?

Forge: Probably. I'm very afraid of the dark, but I don't know why. Strange, isn't it? And yet it's true. At least I've learned that everything you're afraid of feels better when you unite with it. And that's what I try to do. I've always been fascinated by the dark, as well as horror movies.

WELT: In Ghost, you play the role of Pope Emeritus, a pope who has been relieved of all duties. Joseph Ratzinger served as Pope Emeritus from 2013 to 2022. Did you like the German Pope Benedict XVI ?

Forge: Yes, absolutely. And I really had to chuckle when he became emeritus. For me, the name was actually just a joke. When it actually happened to him, it suddenly wasn't funny anymore. I think popes have a gigantic task ahead of them, at least they used to. These days, they're taking a step back and staying out of all the global business. I've noticed that religious leaders are behaving more like influencers these days.

WELT: Did you learn anything from the original Papa Emeritus?

Forge: No. My role as Pope Emeritus in the concert was never intended as an insult to a living pope. The role has symbolic value for me, just as effective as the devil or the devil cult.

WELT: Do you go to churches?

Forge: Yes, it always gives me a strong visual thrill. Especially when it's an old Catholic church. They're so imposing and full of frightening images. For me, weaving into that iconic world is very therapeutic, because it doesn't necessarily symbolize a positive force for me. A church may seem beautiful to many, but I also know many bad things that look very beautiful. Churches scare me!

WELT: Your new album “Skeletá” is a dialogue with yourself?

Forge: Yes, I think it's something like an internal dialogue. And at the same time, reflective of my own weaknesses and mistakes. But it's also reflective of the world I live in. Even though the last song is mostly about death, about the end, the real message is: If you hear this, logically you're alive. So the overall message is hope. I want to make the most of my time on this planet. The best way to live your life is to make the world the best place possible. How? By trying to do more good than bad.

WELT: Are you a do-gooder?

Forge: You can't do everything right, and you can't expect life and everything you do in life to be 100 percent good. However, that doesn't mean you can't change. That you can get better and move things forward. So if you try to laugh more than you cry, everything will move forward. And if you try to make more people happy than sad or angry, then you're certainly already on the right track. That's the only thing I can do in my life. I can't change elections, but I can try to give people hope.

WELT: So is that the real message of the album, that the dark times are coming to an end?

Forge: I don't mean the literal end of something that will never return, but rather the mysterious nature of certain eras. Most people feel the world is currently moving in the wrong direction. I, on the other hand, believe that everything moves in circles, in cycles. What's happening now just has different names than before. In the liberal Western world, we want people to be happy. We want peace, so the current situation frightens us. It's night right now—but it will soon become day again.

To person

He hails from the small industrial town of Linköping, about 200 kilometers from Sweden's capital, Stockholm. Tobias Forge developed an early fascination with the occult and viewed the devil as a fatherly friend. Forge initially played in the death metal band Repugnant before founding Ghost in 2010. For a long time, he tried to remain anonymous. He was inspired by the make-up-wearing US rockers KISS. However, he came out in 2017. He constantly changes his outfits on stage. The 44-year-old is married and has 17-year-old twins with his wife, Boel. At Forge's request, the concerts are cellphone-free. He says: "An audience that actually watches the concert is a happier audience.

Rock Hard Germany via alvaghoul

THE PRINCIPLE OF HOPE

The numbers speak for themselves: Over five million YouTube views and almost ten million Spotify streams for 'Satanized, the first single from the new album "Skeletá" - and all of that in less than four weeks. There's no question that GHOST can still consider themselves the band of the hour, and interest in the multinational group around Swedish frontman and founder Tobias Forge will remain unbroken in 2025. We traveled to Berlin to talk to Tobias personally about the past, present and future.

The press day takes place during the Berlinale in the famous Soho House near Alexanderplatz. The streets are busy, the hotels are fully booked, the weather is bitterly cold. Only a handful of journalists are invited to a personal audience, and the 44-year-old welcomes them one by one in a large and stylish conference room on the second floor of the magnificent building. From a visual perspective, Tobias has changed since our last conversation, which took place in 2022 on the occasion of the release of “Impera”. He now wears his hair much longer, but it is no longer dyed. He also grew a beard. Overall, he's a bit reminiscent of the young James Hetfield. But of course all of that is just a minor matter, after all today it's supposed to be all about music. “It’s nice that we’re meeting in person this time,” he opens the conversation. "I don't know if you feel the same way, but I perceive people very differently on video calls than face to face."

You could almost be said to have prophetic qualities, Tobias: The lyrics on the 2018 album “Prequelle” revolved around the topic of plagues, and the subsequent tour had to be canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "Impera", published to coincide with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was about the collapse of empires. Things haven't changed for the better since then. What world-shattering events can we expect in the next few years after the publication of "Skeletá"?

He grins wryly: If it were up to me, the lyrics of the opener "Peacefield" would shape world events in the near future. It would be great if the record turned out to be "prophetic" once again, because "Skeletá" is all about hope and resilience. As long as we are able to listen to music, we are still alive. A circumstance we should rejoice in."

A topic that you took up last year with "The Future Is A Foreign Land on the soundtrack of your concert film Rite Here Rite Now". The music and lyrics stood in stark contrast to the gloomy images that scrolled across the screen during the credits.

»I generally find it easier to express myself in contrasts than to be direct - which may be due to my rather dark, sometimes cynical sense of humor. Many things that happen in the world seem almost absurd. Overall, the situation in the world does not present a good picture at the moment. However, I firmly believe that everything will change for the better in the end, no matter how much certain politicians may resist it. The main protagonists who are currently determining the fate of the world are two old men whose time will come sooner or later. In a sense, we are witnessing their last breaths; a death rattle that affects entire world events. When I say that the future is a blank slate... that the future is a foreign country..." - jp), what I mean is that we can take our fate into our own hands and change things for the better. This is something that younger people in particular should never forget. The time of the despots will run out at some point, and in all probability we will experience this moment - just like the end of the war, because nothing is forever. In my opinion, it is important to keep reminding ourselves of this fact of utmost importance.

To be a little more specific: Look out the window (he points towards the Berlin skyline) and look at your own country. How many people might have thought 80 years ago that the Second World War and the collapse of the previous order would herald the end of the world? This certainly also applies to those who had to sign the surrender here in April 1945. These people saw their world in shambles because they had lost everything they believed in. And yet it took less than a decade for humanity to recover on a large scale. What's more: the world even experienced a new upswing in many areas.<

As long as there isn't a new Middle Ages like the one after the collapse of the Roman Empire...

»I'm pretty sure that won't happen. The elites cling to their wealth with all their might. This in turn depends on the majority of humanity being reasonably well off in order to remain solvent. As soon as the powerful have money, they will find a way to restore peace - if necessary through a violent replacement of heads of state. Nobody is invulnerable, history has shown that time and time again. As bleak as the world looks at the moment, there is still a lot of hope in the future.<<

Has your attitude towards this changed? "Rite Here Rite Now" was characterized by positive, life-affirming moments. These ran through both your announcements and the story part of the film. In the past, I didn't necessarily always have this impression.

»You're constantly evolving, but at their core, GHOST has always had a life-affirming message. From a content perspective, I see Rite Here Rite Now" as an appeal to enjoy life to the fullest as long as you can. Existence is certainly not always a walk in the park, and our characters in the film also become aware of that. After the events of Rite Here Rite Now", Frater Imperator (formerly Papa Emeritus IV, the current incarnation of the GHOST frontman-jp until the announcement of "Skeletȧ") is unhappy about his degradation. The thing is, though: he wasn't actually demoted, he was promoted. Although he had to step down from his position at the edge of the stage, he is now the head of the church. Likewise, there are those who regret having traded the beauty of youth for the wisdom of age - a paradox. Coming to terms with change and perhaps even embracing it always requires strength. One of life's greatest challenges is to overcome these imponderables while remaining positive. Of course there are always bad phases in every person's life, but the goal should be to let the good ones outweigh the bad ones.<<

Does your new alter ego Papa V Perpetua agree with his predecessor in this regard?

»The two are completely different people, although they are also closely related in the band's mythology. To be completely honest, I can't really grasp the "new one" myself; that's why it's difficult for me to characterize him at this point in time. I give my alter egos space to develop and breathe naturally, I don't plan them completely in advance. The conclusion that Frater Imperator finds in the events of "Rite Here Rite Now" was also due to such a development.<

So the plot of the film wasn't planned long in advance?

»Not in detail. "Rite Here Rite Now" came about at a comparatively late point in our career. Many bands release a DVD after every tour, which is out of the question for GHOST. In return, we were able to make the thing much bigger and also fully connect it with the mythology that has grown around the band over time. From the outside, my behavior in one thing may seem quite paradoxical: on the one hand, I'm a control freak who wants to keep the reins of the band firmly in my hands... on the other hand, I have I have no problem sitting back and waiting once something has started. This also applies to concert tours, for example: I never watch recordings of our shows while we're on the road, because I'm naturally very critical and don't want to overanalyze the performances. If I started to weigh in on my every move, I'd have a problem anyway. The only GHOST shows I ever watched in full were the two we recorded for Rite Here Rite Now. I looked through all the material together with an editor to make a selection for the film.

Was it important to you not to just release a “normal” live recording, but to offer fans a more opulent experience?

"I had the idea years ago to combine the concert experience with story elements. I approached various people who were basically open-minded but didn't fully understand the idea. I was asked again and again whether I would imagine the result to be like the Metallica film, but I had something completely different in mind. As the plans became more concrete during the last album cycle, the question of financing inevitably came up. We presented the project to several large production companies, all of which We were told that the market for live films was dead. Looking back, I have to smile about this fact, because we were probably just a little too early. A short time later, Taylor Swift released her concert film "The Eras Tour", which was a bombshell and made a lot of money. Now, of course, GHOST aren't as big as Taylor Swift, and production companies primarily look at the band's streaming numbers when it comes to such ventures. Despite all the rejections, I refused to lose faith in the project. I found it almost funny that in return I was offered to make a film that focused mainly on the story aspect and was only spiced up with a few live shots. However, that was absolutely not the project I had in mind, so I politely but firmly declined. I couldn't understand why a live DVD with a small, strange story portion could be too much to ask for. At the end of the day I decided to finance the production myself because otherwise I would have either not had a film at all - or just one that would have been made with major compromises. Since I was sure that the only way to take GHOST to the next level was with the film, I had no other option. I didn't want to end the "Impera" cycle in the same way as all the other album and tour cycles before it - also with regard to the approach of "Skeletá"."

It sounds as if the creation of a new GHOST album is more complicated than it appears from the outside. Do you really make the success or failure of a new record dependent on the progression of the background story?

>In a way, yes. If we hadn't made the film, we would have had to tell the story elements in short video episodes, as we have done in the past. That just didn't feel right. Mythology is now an integral part of the GHOST cosmos. The fans want to know what happens next, and we have fun continuing to spin the story. A DVD has also been requested by our fans for a long time; So why not combine the two? I'm glad that we went through with the project as originally planned and didn't make any compromises. And the fact that the film didn't flop in the end also makes me happy (laughs).<

Did you allow yourself at least a short break after the tour and filming, or did everything just happen in quick succession afterwards?

»The original plan was for me to work on the production of “Skeletȧ” immediately after returning home. However, I quickly realized that this simply wasn't possible because I was completely exhausted from the previous years. So I forced myself to take a break, but once again it wasn't particularly long. When I start concretely planning a new album, I usually already have song ideas in hand, sometimes even finished pieces. The first step I usually take is to push all the ideas into one shared folder. That happened for “Skeletȧ” in December 2023. I told myself that I would take a longer break once the album was finished. How well this plan worked became apparent when we had to have the already finished record mixed again (laughs). I'm afraid that I'm just not allowed to take longer breaks. It remains to be hoped that this will change in the future...

How did “Skeletá” have to be mixed twice?

>Quite simple: I was totally dissatisfied with the first mix. We recorded the album in Stockholm and I was personally present throughout the entire recording process. I then handed over the material and went on vacation with my family. Of course I got constant updates via email, but I really hate having to judge a mix on the go. You sit in some hotel room and listen to things on headphones instead of on your home system or studio equipment. This is really anything but ideal. I raised these objections, but due to the original deadline we had set for the album, there was no other option. I had a hard time evaluating the mix according to the circumstances

Things sounded “okay”. When I received a test pressing after my return and heard the record on vinyl for the first time, it hit me. My worst fears had come true. There was no other way: We threw the deadline overboard and mixed the entire material again.<<

Does that mean that the record would actually have been on the market much earlier?

>>If we could have met the deadline last August, yes.<<

The new mix can easily be described in one word: powerful. While the songwriting is more rooted in AOR than ever, the guitars sound pretty damn heavy.

He laughs: And I'm glad that's the case. You're right, basically "Skeletá" is a true AOR album. Some time ago, Tom Scholz from Boston launched a signature guitar box, the Rockman. Even though the guitar sound you get with it is basically really thin, it sounds totally eighties. The thing is also really, really loud. The decision to record "Skeletá" with the Rockman was made early on because I was really into it. ren, almost nasal sound. In addition, I recorded all the guitar tracks in full distortion using Marshall speakers. In the first mix, the Marshall tracks were so far in the background that they were barely noticeable. This made the material sound really thin. You have to underfeed the Rockman so that it sounds really good. We did this in the second mixing pass. Basically we just made the Marshall tracks a little louder and didn't change much else. It's fascinating what a difference such a relatively small step can make. If I had heard the stuff directly in the studio, we could have saved ourselves the second run-through.

Are you completely satisfied with the end result?

»Yes, absolutely. Last summer I was pretty exhausted and burnt out. That was the reason why I went on vacation at all during this critical phase. After the first mix, I reached a point where I no longer liked the record itself. That's a really unpleasant feeling and unfortunately happens to me on a regular basis during our productions. I end up totally saturated with our own material. The fact that we took a short break before the second mix had a positive effect on my state of mind. I was able to re-evaluate the production with some distance, and suddenly I liked the songs again.

You often hear, especially among critics, that a good song remains a good song, even if it was produced poorly.

»That's basically how I see it. Nevertheless, of course you want to get the best out of your own work. There are good reasons why so many people like the records that were made in the Sunlight or Morrisound studios at the time. The things just sound incredibly powerful, round and cool. I own countless albums that, objectively speaking, were recorded, mixed and mastered poorly. Despite these circumstances, I love them for who they are and what the musicians have created with the resources at their disposal. Would it hurt my love if they had recorded with a higher budget and more time in a decent studio? Certainly not. The records would probably be much better. You always hear, especially in the underground, that there is a creative master plan behind these bad productions. I think that's nonsense. People simply worked with what was available. Sarcófago decided to produce “I.N.R.I.” in 1987. certainly not consciously decided between a good studio and a less good studio for the worse one.

“Skeletá” was then completely remixed

For the lyrics of “Skeletá” you took a more personal approach than on the last two albums.

"Prequelle" and "Impera" were strongly influenced by my observations of society, politics and general world events. In contrast, “Skeletá” is more of an introspection.

Of course, my emotional world is not unique: the things that go on in me also affect many other people. While "Prequelle" can be described as political to a certain extent and "Impera" as thoroughly political, it was important to me this time to make an album that is apolitical in the broadest sense. You could certainly read a political statement into some of the tracks, for example "Peacefield", but even there it is essentially about conveying feelings.<

Musicians have been hearing more often recently that they want to distance themselves from political statements. 20 years ago this would have been unthinkable in rock and metal.

"I believe that the times when rock music had to be political are long gone. That's probably the way things are. Rock'n'roll, metal and punk emerged as youth movements at the time, and many of the young people involved wanted to change something. This music has now been listened to for four generations. I think it is illusory that such a large number of different people can even begin to agree on a common denominator in political terms. You certainly also have to remember that you inevitably have a part of the youthful idealism The punks from back then are now 50 or 60 years old, and of course they now see the world differently. In addition, there are no longer just black and white, but countless shades of gray, all of which are in conflict with one another. Only when it comes to questions of faith. When someone asks me what I believe in, I usually answer, "In the greater good." I value personal freedom and basically just want everyone to be nice to each other and happy. How is this supposed to succeed? I'm stumped. However, I am in the fortunate position of having a voice that is heard and I also use it to spread a positive, life-affirming message.

Did you find it difficult to write a more personal, introspective album instead of another one with a concept?

»The answer to this question is complicated. It's generally not difficult for me to write down my feelings. I decide on a case-by-case basis how much I then screen them out and what I ultimately allow to become public. The next step is to knit song lyrics from the loosely written thoughts. This brings with it its own challenges, because the texts not only have to make sense in terms of content, but also sound good. Writing lyrics is a game of words, and some just don't sound good in the context of a song, no matter how hard you try. As before. As already mentioned, I am also very self-critical. This also sometimes becomes an obstacle.<<

During the early days of GHOST, all members made every effort to keep their identities secret. The fact that they finally came to light is mainly due to the legal dispute that you and your former colleagues fought with each other. Would a personal album like “Skeletá” have been possible before?

»The loss of anonymity had a variety of effects. One of them is that I can text more freely than in the early days. I now find the content horizon of the first album to be extremely limited. We probably wouldn't be sitting together today if I hadn't relaxed the concept over the years and still only wrote occult texts. Because hand on heart: after a while, this content would have become quite repetitive and boring. Social commentary on “Opus Eponymous” and “Infestissumam” was only possible behind closed doors, for example in 'Stand By Him. After the unwanted outing, I had to get used to being perceived as the person behind the mask, but in the end, the loss of anonymity opened many doors for me."

#era 6 #interviews #tobias forge #diffus #BBCs Radio 1 Rock Show #Full Metal Jackie #FangirlMagazine #horrorhound #Youtube

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copias-thrall · 2 months ago

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Because Tumblr hates two videos in one post

#nameless ghouls #costume design #collars

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copias-thrall · 2 months ago

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Listen. Listen listen listen.

📸 Carlos Duro for King Kong mag

#papa v perpetua #papa v #papa perpetua #every girl crazy ‘bout a sharp dressed man #era 6 #Mr. Ghost will see you now

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copias-thrall · 2 months ago

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The Ghoul collars are a collab between Fraulein Kink, fetish ware, and Bootzy Couture, designer dog collars.

#era 6 #nameless ghouls #ghoul collars #costume design

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copias-thrall · 2 months ago

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TAIL SPOTTED

#era 6 #skeletour #papa v #papa v perpetua #papa perpetua #I am looking disrespectfully #skeletail

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copias-thrall · 2 months ago

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Era 6 Interviews

Part 2

Rolling Stone DE

youtube

Qobuz

youtube

Oüi FM

youtube

Dealer 2 Metal

youtube

Radio Rock via alvaghoul

Bandit Rock Interview via alvaghoul

JJO Discover New Music

youtube

Text Interviews (translations below cut)

Rock Tribune

Libération

exclaim!★@#

SVT Newspaper

Welt

Rock Hard Germany

Rock Tribune via ratboycopia

ON SELF-REFLECTION, OPTIMISM AND ANCIENT DINOSAURS

Text: Frederik Cosemans

When we ask him if our reasoning from above is somewhat accurate, he is a bit taken aback and therefore immediately sets some things straight.

BLACK-OUT

MOVING MOUNTAINS

NOT ONLY FISH ON THE MENU

***

Album Review

Libération via alvaghoul

Tobias Forge, Ghost singer and gentle apostle

The singer of the Swedish metal band speaks as an optimistic and warm oracle, while counterfeiting the Catholic liturgy and having fun with Satanism.

Tobias Forge in Paris, February 18, 2025. (Samuel Kirszenbaum/Libération)

by Virginie Ballet and photo Samuel Kirszenbaum

exclaim!★@#

"I've been heartbroken many times over the last 10 or 15 years over bands that quit, died, stopped functioning or disappeared," he says. "I don't want that, but it's just the way of the world."

Leaving us with a promise to Canadian fans that Ghost will be coming through on the Skeletour — and that it will be during hockey season — the newest era of Ghost is just beginning.

"I wish for it to end with me wanting more," Forge says. "That would be a great achievement."

SVT Newspaper

Writing a new album is like a giant murder investigation, says singer Tobias Forge. Watch him explain why in the video above.

Ghost: "Every album is like a new giant murder investigation"

New introspective album, new pope and world tour.

But then the future is unclear for the band Ghost.

– I want to be able to enjoy more, says frontman Tobias Forge.

– Instead of talking about specific things that happen, we talk about the reaction, explains Tobias Forge to SVT Kulturnyheterna.

The theme not only served as a setting, but also as a motivation to actually write the music, says the frontman.

Unclear future

– You don't know until you've done fifty gigs, he says.

Could this be the end for Ghost?

– You never know, says Tobias Forge, but emphasizes that he has no such plans, but rather wants to live more here and now and enjoy the success of the band.

Welt via alvaghoul

“Churches scare me”

In his youth, Tobias Forge was fascinated by the occult; today he considers himself a humanist. A conversation with the singer of the Swedish heavy metal band Ghost about good and evil.

WELT: You once said, "I only live for certain moments. In between, I have to let my thoughts run free." Are you with me right now?

WELT: You talk about your escapes from everyday life. In Ghost , you hide behind costumes and masks. What are you escaping from?

WELT: So you escaped from yourself and ended up with Ghost?

WELT: You mentioned the devil rather casually. Do you believe in him?

WELT: How did you discover your interest in Satan?

WELT: What does it mean to you to be a humanist?

Forge: A humanist sees the world as a good and beautiful place. But to do that, they first have to fight through all this darkness, like we used to.

WELT: What do you mean by that?

WELT: What did you do?

WELT: How do you see it today?

WELT: So you don’t appreciate church values?

WELT: So you believe that we would be better off without the church, without religions, per se?

WELT: But everyone can decide that for themselves.

WELT: Faith can move mountains, as the saying goes. It gives you strength, not power.

WELT: Do you love the unknown because it also scares you a little?

WELT: In Ghost, you play the role of Pope Emeritus, a pope who has been relieved of all duties. Joseph Ratzinger served as Pope Emeritus from 2013 to 2022. Did you like the German Pope Benedict XVI ?

WELT: Did you learn anything from the original Papa Emeritus?

Forge: No. My role as Pope Emeritus in the concert was never intended as an insult to a living pope. The role has symbolic value for me, just as effective as the devil or the devil cult.

WELT: Do you go to churches?

WELT: Your new album “Skeletá” is a dialogue with yourself?

WELT: Are you a do-gooder?

WELT: So is that the real message of the album, that the dark times are coming to an end?

To person

Rock Hard Germany via alvaghoul

THE PRINCIPLE OF HOPE

As long as there isn't a new Middle Ages like the one after the collapse of the Roman Empire...

Does your new alter ego Papa V Perpetua agree with his predecessor in this regard?

So the plot of the film wasn't planned long in advance?

Was it important to you not to just release a “normal” live recording, but to offer fans a more opulent experience?

Did you allow yourself at least a short break after the tour and filming, or did everything just happen in quick succession afterwards?

How did “Skeletá” have to be mixed twice?

Does that mean that the record would actually have been on the market much earlier?

>>If we could have met the deadline last August, yes.<<

The new mix can easily be described in one word: powerful. While the songwriting is more rooted in AOR than ever, the guitars sound pretty damn heavy.

Are you completely satisfied with the end result?

You often hear, especially among critics, that a good song remains a good song, even if it was produced poorly.

“Skeletá” was then completely remixed

For the lyrics of “Skeletá” you took a more personal approach than on the last two albums.

"Prequelle" and "Impera" were strongly influenced by my observations of society, politics and general world events. In contrast, “Skeletá” is more of an introspection.

Musicians have been hearing more often recently that they want to distance themselves from political statements. 20 years ago this would have been unthinkable in rock and metal.

Did you find it difficult to write a more personal, introspective album instead of another one with a concept?

#era 6 #interviews #tobias forge #Rolling Stone Germany #Qobuz #Oüi FM #Dealer 2 Metal #radio rock #Bandit Rock #JJO Discover New Music #Rock Tribune #libération #exclaim!*@#SVT Newspaper #Welt #Rock Hard Germany

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copias-thrall · 2 months ago

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NEW MARY H E L L O ?!?

📸 Alex York at source

#alex york photos #mary goore #repugnant #sorry for duplicates I was over excited

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copias-thrall · 2 months ago

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NEW MARY H E L L O ?!?

📸 Alex York at source

#mary goore #Alex York photos #repugnant

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copias-thrall · 2 months ago

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Did you know that you can order the official tour version of the new album? It comes with a photo print from the night of your event.

Manchester - https://intlbodega.lomavistarecordings.com/collections/skeleta-mcr

Glasgow - https://intlbodega.lomavistarecordings.com/collections/skeleta-gla

Birmingham - https://intlbodega.lomavistarecordings.com/collections/skeleta-bhm

London - https://intlbodega.lomavistarecordings.com/collections/skeleta-ldn

(Non-UK dates don’t appear to be live yet.)

***

Each night of the tour has an exclusive shirt available for £10 cheaper exclusive to Ghosts official Amazon store

https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/GhostOfficial/page/7F4C7C38-DFBA-4922-B658-C96738229831

#ghost merch #skeletour

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copias-thrall · 2 months ago

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Children of Manchester!

Thank you all for -so resolutely- kicking off the Skeletour with us last night.

You rawked… We’re back.

/ A Nameless Ghoul

📷: Ryan Chang

#crashing out #skeletour #manchester ritual #ryan chang #lessss gooo

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copias-thrall · 2 months ago

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Rolling Stone UK

youtube

New Tobi interviews!

93X

youtube

101 WRIF

youtube

KBEAR 101

youtube

Audacity Music

youtube

Planet Rock

youtube

#tobias forge #era 6 #interviews #rolling stone uk #Youtube

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copias-thrall · 3 months ago

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"Ripping through every poem, like a vampire should—and it takes one to know 'em, like I knew you would!"

#the band ghost #papa v perpetua #nameless ghouls #lachryma

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copias-thrall · 3 months ago

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Sweden Rock April 2025

Translation under Cut

Heavy LA

Translation under cut

Sweden Rock Src

SWEDEN ROCK APRIL 2025

GHOST

INTO THE BONE MARROW OF "SKELETÁ"

The timetable cracked. Tobias Forge was not happy with the original mix and went back to the drawing board. Now album number six by Ghost is finally released and it's really time to dig into the bone marrow of "Skeletá".

AV ANDERS LUNDQUIST, PHOTO MIKAEL ERIKSSON / M INDUSTRIES

Tobias Forge and I are meeting for Ghost talk on Valentine's Day. In the previous two weeks, we have, strangely enough, bumped into each other on three different occasions. First at Heavy Load legend Ragne Wahlquist's funeral. Then out on the town, when Tobias and his wife were probably on their way home. And finally at the preview of the documentary "Becoming Led Zeppelin".

However, the time for our interview about the new album "Skeletá", which is released on April 25 and is preceded by the tour premiere for Ghost and their new frontman Papa V Perpetua, is all the more scheduled and takes place at one of the record company's offices in Stockholm. As we don't really have time to finish - Forge is very chatty when he gets started - the whole thing is supplemented by a telephone interview exactly two weeks later.

You've said in previous interviews that Ghost's American record company disliked the fact that you've worked a lot "locally", i.e. mainly recorded in Stockholm, with Swedish musicians - and also with Swedish producers. Klas Åhlund produced both 2015's "Meloria" and 2022's "Impera". On the new album "Skeletá" you have for the first time since the debut album "Opus eponymous" (2010) produced an entire album yourself under your alter ego Gene Walker. What did your American record company think when you said you wanted to produce the album yourself? Would they have preferred a famous American producer or do they trust you after all the success?

- This time there was very little friction, actually. Now I'm making it sound like there was only friction before - and of course there wasn't. But certainly over the years there has been a wish from their side that I would embrace the opportunities that were given to a greater degree. If I'd been 20 years old, I probably would've moved to the United States and just been there. But I'm not - I have a family and so on. But given the amount of time I invest in promoting the record once it's done, I want them to respect that I want to work this way. Then we can always have a discussion about who we should work with and over the years there has been a lot of back and forth. I also want to put forth a small reservation: I am the producer of the album, but this time I've also worked with Vincent Pontare, Salem Al Fakir and Max Grahn.

The songs I did with Max we produced together, so to speak, and the ones I did with Salem and Vincent we produced together. However, the term producer means slightly different things in the pop and rock worlds. In hard rock, it's almost become as if the person recording is the producer - and that's not true. Then you are a sound engineer. I act as a producer in the way you do if you're an old-fashioned rock producer. This means that I partly decide how the guitars should sound, how the drums should sound and so on, partly over the record as a whole. The composition of everything. "That song can't be included, because the other one takes the corresponding place." Kind of like a producer would work if a new band came in that didn't know what to do. The others didn't have that responsibility.

Isn't it difficult to lack a sounding board when you alone are responsible for the overall production and thus also the vision?

- Sometimes.

What does it look like when you as an artist discuss with yourself as producer Gene Walker? Are you forced to "bulldoze" sometimes?

- Absolutely.

Can you give an example?

Long silence.

- Good question... Right now I don't offhandedly have an example.

I'm thinking, for example, of moments when you realize you've been on the wrong path and have to stop yourself and start over with a different angle, or maybe think bigger.

- You come up against things like that every now and then in such a process. Irritable things happen when things don't turn out as planned. The biggest thing this time was that we accidentally made a record that was way too long, which was a bit annoying.

Too long to fit on a vinyl record, you mean?

- Yes.

How did you solve that?

- Unfortunately, we had to go through the mixing process itself twice. We recorded until last July. In July/August, the record began to be mixed by Andy Wallace (who mixed the previous three albums) and that mixing could only take place where he was. I couldn't be there so it happened via link, which I have now sworn I will never do again. It's not possible for me to mix that way. So sometime in August, when the album was "finished" so to speak, I heard that it sounded completely wrong and understood that I had to go back and "kill the darlings". And then you have to do it a bit as an uphill battle. People say, "No, no, your ears are exhausted" and the "Chinese democracy" flag comes out. That was followed by a few days, maybe a week, when I thought, "Am I crazy? Doesn't this sound weird?" You know. Enter in first person: "Does this really sound accurate?" In with the next one. Same question. And then they say, "Now that you say so..."

Who did you trust?

- No one, in the end.

But who did you play it for?

- I asked everyone close. And as soon as I noticed that they noticed it too, I realized it wasn't finished. I was not completely satisfied with the mix as some shortcomings had arisen. This was because the mixing itself was done in a pair of specific speakers, in a studio in the USA, and I had listened in a pair of misleading speakers on the road. Then you miss things. As soon as we opened up the mix again with assistant mix technician Dan Malsch - and Andy Wallace, who was on the link because he was on a safari vacation - in a studio in Stockholm, the relatively small adjustments were easy to implement, but they improved the result considerably in my opinion. I have to be in the same room as the mixer to be able to hear the exact same thing. It was in November that we re-mixed the record and I'm very happy that we did, even if it meant that it was delayed.

How satisfied are you with the final result, compared to the first mix?

- Now I'm 90 percent satisfied. Then I was 60 percent satisfied and I was about to say screw it. Then I noticed how hard it is when you're tired and how important it is to invest in rest for the ears - and to rest from a project. Now I understand that people reading this may be thinking: "That's easy to say, it's a matter of cost." And it absolutely is. But it was also about making time to do something that doesn't cost money. So to simply just pause and come back with "new" ears.

There must have been a time pressure as well, apart from the financial.

- There was absolutely time pressure and almost all musicians today can probably relate to that, regardless of what level you play at: that these days you have to book everything so far in advance. Everything has to be planned and there are so many forces that decide, for example, when tickets are to be released. There is a lot that has to be synchronized and it's very unsexy to talk about. But it makes you aware of the timing required so that it doesn't go wrong. I had a vision of being finished by a certain date, so that after that I could be off. So I stressed to be able to be off and it didn't work. This means that my free time has been used up. At the same time, it also provided a sense of calm once I slowed down and took the hits that resulted from moving the goal post.

Several Ghost albums refer to a certain era. "Skeletá" is described in the press material as introspective, but isn't that more of a state or a feeling?

- You can say that.

How did you come up with that concept?

- I probably got a little too much "cred" for my alleged clairvoyance on the earlier records, with plague and falling empires, and I felt that it wasn't really meant that way. So I tried purely thematically to write more... "down to earth" is probably the wrong phrase, but more about heart topics. Clearer and more basic topics - and thus more personal. Hence the album title "Skeletá". It was close. In English you would probably say "close to the bone". It really scrapes into the bone marrow.

When I listened through "Skeletá" the first time, I thought that almost every song was a potential single or a possible radio hit. Is there a risk that the album will have a shorter lifespan when the songs are so immediate?

- Good question. You try to write as well as you can. But sometimes, when it comes to the whole of it and the arrangement of the scenes... On previous records, the songs have been 80 or 90 percent songs with vocals and one or two have been instrumentals, plus little "snippets" that have sometimes been in between songs. During the creation of this record it hit me from time to time: "Am I making a mistake by not including an instrumental song?" But then my inner dialogue continued: "Who decided that? Well, me." I have pissed this territory myself. It's not like I always have to have a certain percentage that is exempt from singing. There are still long unsung parts, for example in "Umbra" which has a damn long part that is completely instrumental. And if you count how much of the record has instrumental parts in playing time, it surely corresponds to an instrumental song.

Or more.

- Yes. When you sit down with all the demo versions and put them in some kind of order for the first time, you get a pretty good synopsis of how the record feels and in this case I didn't feel like there was a seven minute long instrumental song missing.

What do you play yourself on the record?

- A little bit of everything. I've played bass on all the records. This time there was a lot of backing guitar and guitar solos on "Marks of the evil one" and closing "Excelsis". The other guitar solos are played, as on the previous album and the cover EP "Phantomime", by "Kulle", that is Fredrik Åkesson from Opeth.

Let's talk about the new album's songs. Opener "Peacefield" has a perfect mid-tempo that will probably get the audience's heads moving. A very complete song in that it is both catchy and rich in content. Is it possibly intended to be the opening song during the upcoming tour?

- That's the idea. Now, we usually open with the first song on the latest album at the time, so it probably won't be much of a surprise to anyone. It's more of a tried and true tradition. If many of the songs on the record are introspective, this particular one has a more positive message for the listener. These are dark times but…

..."it gets brighter again"?

- Exactly. Light a candle.

The guitar sound and the "single string" riff makes me think of the opening of "Poison" by Alice Cooper. The solo as well.

- It's probably because of the range used in "Poison". I started by writing the intro as a kind of school graduation song in the style of "Den blomstertid nu kommer", something that is also a huge part of my musical heritage. Although everyone in Sweden says that. However, I had an enormous fascination for Nordic song structure, classical music and psalms. It was difficult to find a transition from the intro and the verse ended up having the same chord progression as the intro. I don't remember if it was Vincent's or Salem's idea to try to find a completely normal rhythm to the same melody, but I went at it and worked hard on that transition. I often sit and play the songs on acoustic guitar and play some kind of verse versions of them and discovered that it was very loosely shaped during the verse and the up-beat, before the straight chorus comes. I also remember someone saying it was almost like "The riddle" with Nik Kershaw.

A reference to 80s pop again.

- Exactly. It's a melody that's not difficult to remember, but it is difficult to remember all the chords because they don't come naturally when you hear the melody. Just like with "The riddle" and some Swedish songs. "Den blomstertid nu kommer" changes chords for almost every new note in the song melody. It's not the Ramones!

The second track is "Lachryma" which you co-wrote with Max Grahn. The word means "tears" and if you just listen to the song you can easily think it's called "Crying", but you undeniably work hard to find interesting words for the song titles.

- Of course the song can't be called what is repeated in the chorus! (Big smile)

The song feels like an unforced and natural sequel to "Cirice", which received an American Grammy in 2016. "Lachryma" is also, in my opinion, the best song on the new album.

- Cool! I think so too. It's also a single. One of the reasons why I chose this particular one is that it is very representative. It contains just the right amount of recognition factor and signature, despite being a new song. That cannot be said about all the songs on the album.

Yes, it feels like an archetypal Ghost song.

- You often have a way of writing and also tend to come back to certain things. You shouldn't be afraid of that either. I mean, what if Carl Larsson had come in and said: "Isn't this damn commoner style a bit annoying?", haha.

Although it is natural that you sometimes get tired of your own ideas.

- Sure. But I don't sit and write songs every day and I don't sit and enjoy what I do every day either. Then you go crazy.

"Satanized" undeniably feels like a perfect title for a Ghost song.

- I had actually already written it for "Impera". If you listen to the demo from that period, the whole foundation is there. But "Impera" producer Klas Åhlund rejected it. And it's different what "push" you want to put behind something. It's not so fun to force a song if the other person doesn't like it. I want the person to get excited about it and hear what I hear. So when Klas rejected it, I felt: "Screw it then." The same thing has happened with many songs, that they have been moved from one record to another. Later, I showed "Satanized" to Salem and Vincent and they were immediately hooked. With it, I was trying to get in a song that could have been a cool hit by Scorpions in 1976. The kind of song that I know I would enjoy myself and that a bunch of buddies born in the 60s will think is hilarious. I don't know if the song is a hit in real life, but I love it. It smells very "Rockpalast" and Klaus Meine to me.

Let me check what I have made note of about "Satanized". Ah, I wrote that it "reeks of Michael Schenker Group and Gary Moore".

- You see!

The extremely tight staccato guitars also remind me a bit of Saga, while the chorus makes me think of more synthetic 80s groups like Ultravox and songs like "Dancing with tears in my eyes". A bit solemn, almost high-pitched. Which are also words you yourself have used in the past to describe Ghost.

- Yes, I'm not afraid to take big swings. Incidentally, I really love "Dancing with tears in my eyes". It absolutely belongs to "the soundtrack of my life". I always say that what I grew up with, if I'm going to get to the root - my ancient influences - are partly big records like "Never mind the bollocks" by the Sex Pistols and "Ride the lightning" by Metallica, but also radio to a very high degree. In my kitchen we had the radio on non-stop from the time I was born and I devoured everything until the mid 90s when I had no time anymore. I was born in 1981. Add to this a brother who was born in 1968 and you get the idea. From 1983-84 I was very interested in music and everything that happened on TV and VHS was filtered through my home via my brother, his girlfriend and pals.

"Guiding lights" feels like a power ballad with a musical feel and also a very good vocal effort in a key that suits the voice perfectly.

- It has an interesting history. On two separate occasions I had recorded ideas on my dictaphone, which I often do at home as my daughter has a piano in her room. If you play the melody on a piano (Forge hums the tune), it's so simple that you almost get annoyed by it. On the original demo, the melody is combined with the most common chord sequence in the world. But it stuck right away. And then I just had the line "that the road that leads to nowhere is long". And it was simple. Then there was the second part (singing again) which sounded very much like Italian "horror/zombie/beyond" and early VHS from Video Invest. Then I had two separate things that appealed to me. Then I was contacted by a woman who was in charge of music for the TV series "Arcane". She asked if I would like to write a song for a particular scene in the series. This was probably 2022 or early 2023. I hadn't even seen the series in question. But she said "watch it and remember that song that Imagine Dragons had in the series got really big". Then I watched the series and thought that it would probably be possible to do something clever with it. But there were some difficult guidelines for how to write the songs - that you should write with a certain person in mind. Plus I didn't really have time, because I was collecting material for a new Ghost record. So I sent what I just described and they replied "this is great, it could be the theme of the whole series", kinda. I was in between tours so I contacted Max and a day later we had "Guiding lights". We sent it off - and didn't hear a damn thing. Later we were told that they had decided on a different setup for the scene and they used a Chinese artist instead, as it was an international project. So nothing happened. But it turned out to be a good album song.

"De profundis borealis" is a fast, fiery song with the snare drum "on one".

- It was also never intended to be anything other than an album song, if you have to speak so categorically. But during its creation I of course tried to make it as concise and effective as possible in its storytelling.

Was there any song that was particularly difficult to write, personally?

- Yes. There are touching moments in many songs where I felt it was "close". "Cenotaph" was hard. It is about the loss of someone and how to deal with it. But it's written so that the listener can apply the song to their own, corresponding experiences. Once you've written something, recorded it, and sent it out "into the ether," what it means to you tends to cool off while hopefully starting to mean more to others.

Speaking of "Cenotaph": is it a coincidence that it's both about death and has the same rhythmic figure as Black Sabbath's "Children of the grave"?

- Yes, it's probably a coincidence. There was no thematic thinking, but then it is self-evident that when you hear the rhythm (singing) you think of it, if you grew up with Black Sabbath.

The boogie riff made me laugh out loud. It's almost Status Quo-esque.

- Exactly. The idea was for it to be an uplifting song about something most people associate with "woe and horror". There would be something disarming and almost comical. Then again, I don't know if Status Quo are comical, but if you hear that kind of boogie woogie tendency, there's something about it that often makes people happy. Humor, joy and an upbeat atmosphere.

I once put on an old compilation album with Status Quo. My then teenage son came and asked if it was a joke tape I was listening to.

- Haha! You can think that. I know a lot of people born in the 60s and earlier who would be quite provoked by that comment, but Status Quo have aged in a way that people have created some sort of caricature of them. Joke rock, kind of. As a songwriter, it's a risk you take, but I'm a fan and can see it from multiple angles.

If it had been a normal band, the next song would have been called "Love rockets". Of course, Ghost strives to be more interesting than that and so it's Latin and mystery in the form of "Missilia amori".

- I played it for Leffe Edling from Candlemass and he also wondered if it was called "Love rockets". "Of course not," I said, but it's admittedly hard to deal with it without people starting to refer to it as just "Love rockets."

It has a classic hard rock riff of the kind Def Leppard wrote for records like "High 'n' dry" and "Pyromania". A song that sucks you in.

- You mean a song that gives a certain blow?

Yes - in a positive sense, that is.

- It is meant to be exactly the kind of song that was written in the 80s. Typically cool, heavy songs that are just as suitable for headbanging as for stripping. It doesn't have that many elements. The method I used when writing it was to keep it very simple in sound and arrangement. Making a lot out of a little. A bit like a chef's challenge: open the fridge and make a good dish from what's there! If you succeed, it can be fantastic.

What is the textual theme?

- It would be something hard and mechanical. It's written from the perspective of the main character, who is some kind of middle ground between dictator and robot. It has feelings to some extent but is extremely insensitive to how the other party feels and sees any form of denial as unacceptable, whereupon one invades the other country and calls it love.

A geographical rape, in other words.

- Yes, exactly. This is of course also represented by other things in society. Not understanding that owning another person or another country is not a right. That you have to deserve it. In this way it is also related to Iron Maiden's "Run to the hills" and a number of other songs.

Were you thinking about Russia's invasion of Ukraine when you wrote it?

- It's an absolutely fantastic coincidence... But it's absolutely not a political record.

In "Marks of the evil one" it's time for some evil again. It's Ghost after all. Forge creates a triumphant feeling when he sings things like "the marks are spreading everywhere" and "disciples of the evil one". The song has an interesting and damn nice slightly odd verse melody. It feels worked through. In addition, letting a synth play in unison with the vocal melody strengthens the clarity.

I take it to mean that "Marks of the evil one" is about the four horsemen of the apocalypse?

- Yes, in the first place. If you read the text and understand that it is about that, you also understand that it is being explained in some kind of dummy perspective, where you have simplified the whole story. Much as if it was a cool story that you tell around the campfire when grilling hot dogs. That's kind of the point: that it's a bunch of fools who sit and make biblical interpretations for each other. Musically, it has no direct model. What sold the idea when I came up with the song - apart from the chord sequence and such - was that it has exactly the same rhythm throughout the entire song. I'm usually used to doing a lot of different rhythms. Klas Åhlund thinks that I constantly exaggerate it with a lot of syncope. That there is a lot of prog death. It's something that I myself clearly understand. You shouldn't make it more complicated than it is.

What do you mean by "prog death"?

- That you do so many clever things in a song that the listener loses the thread. And if the listener has lost the thread, the song has somewhat lost its role. That doesn't mean you can't listen to a song that's difficult. But when you present a song that you want the listener to absorb, you enter into some kind of pact where the songwriter has taken it upon themselves to guide the listener through the song, so that the person has ultimately had an experience and understood it. Someone like Mikael Åkerfeldt does that with Opeth's music too, but with much, much more advanced songs. But since I often say that I make songs that are somewhat easier to get into, it's easy that I, who sometimes try to do Mikael Åkerfeldt-esque things, might add an element where listeners who think it should be easier to understand are turned away instead of having an aha-experience. And then I have failed.

"Umbra", which roughly means "shadow", again presents 80s-scented synths in a real uptempo song. It's easy to associate it to Billy Idol with Steve Stevens on guitar. As previously mentioned, the song has a long instrumental part that includes an intense, stereopanned duel between guitar and organ.

Tell us about "Umbra".

- During the songwriting process, I felt that the theme of the record was a bit heavy and that a large part of being human is not to engage in cerebral gymnastics, but that there is a "physicality" and drive that is just as important, if not more important. One of our most basic drives, which makes most of us feel very good. And it's a lot of fun and extremely important, especially when you're doing it. And it has to do with the coital.

I don't know that word.

- It means dirty. So the text and content have roughly the same function as "All you need is love" for the record. Now the listener has waded through eight songs of rather difficult reflections on how it feels to live. Now we throw in a pretty basic guideline: after all, this is among the most important things we have. "Umbra" is there to illustrate the playfulness and fun of that part. Then it is in and of itself woven and draped in a dark cathedral where the play takes place.

As the closing track we have "Excelsis", an epic ballad in 6/8 time with a "We are the champions" feel. But of course it's about death.

I understand you like REM. But instead of "Everybody hurts", "Excelsis" could have been called "Everybody dies".

- Yes, exactly. If "Umbra" is the last scene of the film, this is the song on the soundtrack heard during the credits. If you want to end on a "high note", you can end with "Umbra", but if you want a final splash, you have "Excelcis". The message is nice: if you're listening to this song, which is about death, you're obviously alive. When you have finished listening, you are of course welcome to listen again, but the song's message is: "Go out and live your life - because you are alive!"

LA Heavy Src

LA HEAVY APRIL 2025

“I STILL THINK THERE'S A LEVEL OF SOUND PERFECTION I HAVEN'T REACHED”

Over the last decade, Ghost has cemented itself as one of the most influential and successful bands in rock and heavy metal. Their meteoric rise from small clubs to headlining festivals and selling out arenas around the world is a testament to their unique approach: a combination of theatricality, mysticism, and an accessible yet powerful sound. With a visual identity that evokes religious symbolism and a stage presence that turns every concert into a ritual, the band led by Tobias Forge has achieved what many contemporary acts can only dream of: becoming the natural successor to the large metal bands that have dominated the genre for decades JOSÉ CRESPO had the privilege of meeting with Tobias in London to meet POPE V PERPETUA for the first time and to speak to us exclusively in Spain about 'Skeletá', the band's long-awaited sixth LP, which will be released on April 25th, and the monumental tour that is about to begin and that arrives in Madrid (Palacio Vistalegre) on the 30th of this month.

LONDON: THE REFUGE WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

London is a city with a special weight in the history of rock. From the gloomy alleys of Camden to the most iconic theaters, it has been the birthplace of countless bands aspiring to greatness. However, few have achieved the status that Ghost holds today. For Tobias Forge, the British capital represents much more than a stop along the way; it is the place where everything made sense, where for the first time he felt that his group had a greater destiny than he had ever imagined. On a cold, gray day, settled into the elegant but discreet Mandrake Hotel, he recalls Ghost's journey, from those uncertain days to their consolidation as one of the most important bands on the scene today

North London, and Camden in particular, hold a special place in the band's history. There, at the iconic Underworld venue, Ghost played their second show, an event that at the time may have seemed like just another one, but which marked a turning point in their career. With a melancholic air, Forge relives that decisive moment. "I didn't know what to expect," he says, immersed in memories. "We had just played the Hammer of Doom festival in Germany, where the reaction was cool. We weren't turned away, but there wasn't an explosion of enthusiasm either. We arrived in London and Underworld was completely packed. We only had our first album on the road, it had been available for five days, and there were already hundreds of people singing our songs. At that moment, I knew Ghost was more than just an experiment."

Over time, the mistaken belief has taken hold that Ghost's UK debut took place at the majestic Royal Albert Hall, but the reality is very different. The band started on the humblest circuits, facing tough nights and audiences that didn't always welcome them with open arms. We had terrible nights. We opened for bands whose fans didn't want to see us, like on a tour with Paradise Lost. I remember the show in Bochum, Germany, out of the 800 people there, at least 799 hated us; they didn't want us there. But there was one guy in the front row who loved the band, and it turned out to be Mille Petrozza from Kreator," he recalls with a laugh. "For several years, we went from playing in places where everyone wanted us, like in Camden, to stages where the audience wasn't interested in us at all. But that's part of the process for every band trying to break through."

Now, with five studio LPs, a Grammy, huge venues selling out all over the world, the theatrical release of their film, and millions of followers online, it might seem like everything about Ghost has been a meticulously calculated plan. But for Tobias Forge, success wasn't always so obvious. "On days like today, doing these interviews, it seems like the band is going in the right direction," he says with a smile.

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS: MYSTICISM, ANONYMITY, AND A RELENTLESS VISION

Since their inception, Ghost has managed to combine an accessible sound with a theatrical image and an enigmatic concept, thus achieving an unprecedented impact on the rock and metal scene. But was it part of a calculated strategy from the beginning? "Yes and no," he answers. "I never thought that anonymity would be beneficial for commercial success. It actually goes against the idea of getting bigger. I had an artistic vision, and I didn't know we would be successful. Then I adjusted my strategy as we went along."

Over the years, Ghost has built a unique identity, with each album representing a new era spearheaded by a distinct character, while always maintaining the mystique surrounding the band. This approach has been key to their success, allowing for a constantly evolving narrative, similar to what Iron Maiden did with their iconic Eddie or what Alice Cooper achieved with his theatrical alter ego. "People tend to forget that Vincent Furnier isn't just Alice Cooper, he's a character," reflects Forge. "And in a way, what we do with the Popes in Ghost works in the same way."

The initial anonymity helped forge the aura of mystery, although Forge admits it wasn't always easy to maintain. "There was a point where we couldn't hide it anymore, but the concept was still bigger than ourselves," he explains. "The important thing was that the audience continued to connect with the character and the story rather than with whoever was behind the mask."

THE MAGIC OF MARKETING AND THE POWER OF ICONOGRAPHY

One of the most fascinating aspects of Ghost is their mastery of marketing, turning religious symbols into tools to build their aesthetic and message. "It's a satirical point of view about the Catholic Church. If anyone is offended... well, that's the idea," he states matter-of-factly.

The use of Catholic and Satanic imagery has been a hallmark of the band, but Forge makes a key distinction. "If you think about Satan from a religious point of view, it's a completely different thing than what he represents in popular culture," he explains. "In music, in literature, in film, Satan is not just the enemy of God. He's the character that symbolizes defiance, independence, hedonism. He's the guy who says, 'Do what you want, have fun.' And that's something that people have always found appealing."

This strategy has not only helped Ghost stand out in the industry, but has also allowed the band to connect with an audience looking for more than just music: a visual and conceptual experience. "Ghost is not just a band, it's a show and a constantly developing story," he says with a twinkle in his eye. "Every record, every tour, every Pope, has their role in this narrative. And I think that's part of what keeps people interested."

WHITE SMOKE

Once again with another impeccable marketing campaign, on March 5, 2025, the world witnessed the white smoke in Las Vegas, a symbolic event marking the arrival of Papa V Perpetua. Far from the solemnity of Rome, this new Pope fits much more with the spirit of Sin City, a place where spectacle and theatricality reign. At that same instant, Ghost announced to the world their long-awaited sixth studio album, "Skeletá," which will be released on April 25

La Heavy had exclusive access to this information long before. Minutes before the meeting with Tobias Forge in February, in London,

José Crespo had the opportunity to see some unpublished images of Pope V. Before accessing this material, Ghost's management team demanded the signing of a confidentiality agreement, so as not to spoil the campaign prepared for Las Vegas.

The first thing that stands out from that session is the imposing stature of the new Pope. "He is a very tall Pope," those in charge of the band's team repeated, emphasizing that his stage presence would be one of the most striking to date. His attire consists of black and purple robes with silver details, with a matching miter that reinforces his figure of authority. But the most striking thing is his mask, which only covers his eyes and nose, leaving the lower part of his face visible. For the first time, despite the makeup, Tobias Forge's facial features are clearly distinguishable, a decision that marks a break with Ghost's previous Pope designs

Despite the insistence on the subject during our chat in London, Forge avoided talking about Papa V Perpetua at all costs, dodging any questions about his personality or role in the band. "It's something that will be revealed in due time. I'm not yet comfortable talking about the new Pope. He and I still don't know each other well enough," he said firmly, making it clear that the mystery remains a fundamental part of Ghost's mythology. However, he did agree to talk about the previous Pope, Emeritus IV, who, according to Forge, has mixed feelings about his "replacement." "He's been promoted," he commented with a sarcastic smile. "The problem is, he thinks he's been deposed." For Tobias, the previous Pope clung too closely to the glitter and glory of the character, so giving up the throne has not been something he has accepted easily. "He doesn't really like being the boss; he just wants to get out there, be in the spotlight, and have a good time. But now he's not happy with having someone else over him." It should be remembered that unlike what happened with the previous Popes, Emeritus IV is still alive, so it is a mystery what will happen to him, but "he will continue to be part of the family."

SKELETÁ: A MORE INTROSPECTIVE WORK

If Impera was an album that explored the rise and fall of empires, 'Skeleta' represents a 180-degree turn in Ghost's artistic direction. Forge didn't want to repeat himself with respect to his previous work, but rather create something with a different, more emotional and human approach. "During the composition of 'Skeletá', I felt that the previous album, 'Impera', focused a lot on external structures, on society, on power systems. I didn't want to make a continuation of that; it didn't inspire me, it wasn't what I needed, and I also didn't feel like it was what people expected of me."

Instead, he wanted to immerse himself in an album that dealt with fundamental human feelings. "I wanted to make an album that spoke about love, hate, hope, regret, acceptance, self-deception... emotions that have been with us forever and will continue to be there long after we're gone." With this philosophy, 'Skeletá' is presented as a more introspective work, seeking to connect with the most primitive essence of the human being

As for production, this time Forge took on a more complete role as general producer, without the need for an outside contractor. "On the last four albums, I've worked with creative collaborators. Before, I used to do everything myself because I have a very holistic way of writing. When I make a riff, I'm already hearing in my head how the drums, bass, keyboards... everything should sound." However, he still knows how to delegate. "I realized that if someone is better than me at something, why not let them do it?" That's why, on 'Skeletá, he once again enlisted Frederik Åkesson of Opeth for the guitar solos, as well as Salem Al Fakir, who contributed his mastery on the piano. "Frederik plays guitar a thousand times better than me; he gives my demos another dimension. And Salem is a incredibly gifted pianist. "Music improves when you allow the experts to do their work," Forge acknowledges.

One of the most striking decisions on 'Skeletá' was the absence of instrumentals, something that had always been present on Ghost's albums. "I decided this one would have ten songs with vocals. We already have enough instrumentals in our discography, so I wanted to focus on composing a completely sung album," he says. However, each song made up for that absence with instrumentally richer passages: "If a song wanted to be longer, I let it be longer. I didn't worry so much about the radio format this time; I just let the songs develop as they should."

A LOOK AT THE WORLD THROUGH SKELETÁ

The new album is a reflection of the contrasts that have always defined the band's music: the grandiose and the intimate, the celestial and the profane, the epic and the introspective. Among its most striking songs are references that explore spirituality, the power of temptation, and, surprisingly directly, current geopolitics.

The album opens with "Peacefield," a song that establishes an atmosphere of solemnity and ascension from the first seconds. An angelic choir gives way to an explosion of guitars, creating a cinematic effect that introduces the listener to the universe of 'Skeletá'. "I wanted the opening of the album to have that feeling of elevation," explains Forge. "The initial chorus is almost celestial, a sense of ascending to heaven before the guitar bursts in and brings us back to reality." With a sound that connects to the previous album, 'Impera,' but with a denser emotional charge, this beginning sets the tone for an album that aims at the deepest part of the human condition

Among the most conceptually charged tracks is "Missilia Amori," whose title plays on the irony of war and love, fusing the language of war with emotional obsession. "It's the idea of one side demanding love from the other through violence," Forge reflects. "I don't know if that's love, but it's often mistaken for such." In a context where international tensions and armed conflicts are part of everyday life, the song feels more relevant than ever

But beyond its geopolitical interpretation, "Missilia Amor" also presents a stark vision of the human condition and how power becomes a refuge from the decline of values. "I'm not saying this album is completely free of social commentary," Forge clarifies, "but instead of approaching it from a political perspective, I've taken it to a much more earthly and natural level. In the end, everything we're seeing is perfectly human. Even the most inhuman characters are human at their core, figures who struggle because they have difficulty accepting reality. They are dictators who want to rule the world, but can't because they are incapable of relating to it. In the end, what they're doing is desperately clinging to life."

The image of aging world leaders trapped in their own delusions of grandeur resonates as one of the album's great metaphors. "If we remove the context of their position and look at them as that eccentric uncle we have in the family, sitting at home and clinging to the past, we realize that they are actually dying men. They cling to power as an extension of life itself."

On the other hand, "Satanized," the album's first preview, shows a darker, more theatrical Ghost. With a hypnotic rhythmic base, a catchy riff, and a guitar solo with marked '80s influences, the song introduces the listener to an atmosphere of demonic possession and internal struggle. "It's a song about temptation and the fear of losing control of oneself, about the weight of guilt and the fight against something that has perhaps already consumed you without you realizing it."

The music video for "Satanized" reinforces this narrative with a disturbing cinematic aesthetic, where the line between the sacred and the profane blurs. In an unexpected twist, Tobias Forge appears in the video, although unrecognizable thanks to the use of facial prosthetics that hide his features, a decision that adds an even more enigmatic air to the production. Additionally, for the first time in a Ghost music video, the Nameless Ghouls and Ghoulettes appear without their iconic masks, taking on the roles of monks and nuns in a disturbing ritual. The image and music intertwine to offer an immersive sensory experience, consolidating Ghost's theatrical identity and its ability to tell stories through symbolism

"IT'S NOT ABOUT BANNING TELEPHONES, BUT ABOUT PREVENTING PEOPLE FROM SPENDING THE CONCERT RECORDING IT INSTEAD OF EXPERIENCING IT"

THE MOST AMBITIOUS TOUR... AND WITHOUT MOBILE PHONES

As I have already pointed out, the United Kingdom has played a fundamental role in the band's growth, not only because of that legendary second concert in Camden, but because it has been the starting point for several world tours. Now, in April, the band will repeat history by beginning their new tour in British territory before landing in Spain on April 30, where they will offer a full show at the Vistalegre Palace in Madrid

"I would love to play a festival like Resurrection Fest, but we've always tried to avoid festivals at the beginning of the tour; we want people to experience the full show," he says. "We like to start in places where the audience has a special connection with the band."

With a more ambitious production than ever, Ghost is embarking on their biggest tour to date. "I know for a fact that the show is bigger than we've ever done before. Is it better too? I think so. We intend to improve on the previous tour," he states confidently. But beyond the technical display, one of the most significant changes will be the innovative decision to restrict the use of cell phones during the concerts

"I think people will love it, they just don't know it yet," he says with a smile. In a world where some people watch concerts through a screen rather than experiencing them, Ghost seeks to offer an immersive, distraction-free experience. The band won't be removing phones from attendees; instead, they will be kept in special bags that will remain closed during the show and can be unlocked at the end or in designated areas. "It's not about banning phones, but rather preventing people from spending the concert recording it instead of experiencing it."

The idea has already sparked interest from other bands. "There are very important groups that have told me they're waiting to see how it works for us so they can copy the same idea in their shows," reveals the singer. For him, this measure is part of an effort to bring authenticity back to live music. "When you go to a concert, you shouldn't feel obligated to document everything. We want people to be present, enjoy the show, and let themselves be carried away by the music and the energy of the moment."

But the absence of phones won't be the only thing that makes this tour a unique experience. Ghost will also have an increased number of Nameless Ghouls and Ghoulettes on stage, an expansion in the lineup that promises an even more powerful sound and a more spectacular stage performance. In addition, the band members will present new costumes, designed exclusively for this leg. "People will discover all this at the first show in Manchester; I don't want to give anything away."

Ghost has proven itself a band capable of taking on massive audiences, something it has learned from its experience sharing the stage with rock and metal giants. "You can't open for Metallica feeling small. You can't go on stage with the attitude of, 'Oh, I'm just an opening act.' If you do, you're dead," it states with conviction

The band has spent years opening for other major acts like Iron Maiden, facing crowds that, in many cases, weren't there to see them. "You have to go on stage with the mindset that you're important, that your show is just as relevant as the main band's. If you don't believe in what you're doing, the audience won't either."

The tour will include stops in Europe, the United States, and Latin America, with a closing show in Mexico City that won't be one. "It'll go on a little longer. We haven't announced everything yet," Forge reveals.

With a more ambitious production, an innovative phone policy, and a revamped lineup, Ghost's new tour will not only be their biggest undertaking to date, but also a testament to how the band continues to evolve and redefine what a rock concert means in the digital age

With 'Skeletá,' Ghost continues to build on its legacy with a work that not only seeks to make a musical impact, but also to provoke deep emotions and reflections. With the arrival of Papa V Perpetua and the beginning of this new era, Ghost reaffirms its ability to reinvent itself without betraying its essence. And with Tobias Forge's tireless ambition, its ascension to even higher heights is guaranteed. "I still believe there's a level of sonic perfection I haven't reached,"

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Ghost SKELETÁ LOMA VISTA/CONCORD/UNIVERSAL Reflecting on the Essentials

by Thomas Weiland

It's not easy to reach the next level when you've taken over rock domination like Ghost did with with IMPERA. Now, after three years, we have the result in front of us—and what a way they have found! Their sixth album does not begin with a long instrumental, but with a compact intro that lies somewhere between a church choir and Enya. Yes, Enya (spoiler: Tobias Forge might also like it a little soft in 2025). Before anyone gets the wrong idea, the frontman sings the opener “Peacefields” down familiar paths. A guitar riff digs into the bones, the melody could be from Journey, and there is also a message: Forge wants peace like the rest of us, but there are despots who are against it. “The dawn of prosperity, a faded scar, and in the calamity a slaughtered tsar,” he observes. This is unquestionably political, but it's similar to the intro. Ghost doesn’t want any detours; they focus on the point, on the skeleton.

“Lachrymar” and “Satanized” are dominated by hard metal riffs. “De Profundis Borealis” sounds more artistic, like Blue Öyster Cult or Rush. “Guiding Light” is a ballad, like “Nothing Else Matters”. The love rocket melody in “Missilia Amoris” is unstoppable; it hammers its way in. There are surprises at the end. Umbras is driven by a beat that sounds suspiciously like “Love is A Battlefield.” The keyboard solo sounds like prog patriarch Keith Emerson. “Excelsis” is a fine finale, sensitive and harmonious, even embracing. “Come with me to the rainbow's end, come with me to the holy land,” pleads Forge. He can rest assured. Huge crowds will follow him and the band, lured by a blend of metal, classic rock, and classic pop that captivates from start to finish and will stand the test of time. Papa is the greatest.

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Translation under the cut

You will quickly notice when reading this interview, Skeleta, Ghost's sixth album, seems to mark the end of a cycle for Tobias Forge. After fifteen years of an exhausting climb to the summits, the singer and multi-instrumentalist seems to finally want to take some time to enjoy the view. Already, as a preamble to our discussion, Tobias explains to us a drastic change: as soon as he can, the group will avoid air travel, which involves too many hours of stress in airports. Ghost will in fact prefer the bus in order to gain peace of mind. Information which, under the guise of a technical detail, says a lot about the state of mind of an artist who has not counted his hours, his months, his years, to get to where he is. You probably also guessed it from the sight of our five different front pages: the opportunity to celebrate this end of an era was too good not to invite you, in addition to reading the philosophy of a Tobias Forge as cerebral as ever, to a retrospective of the journey of the different Papas who have succeeded one another within Ghost since its recording debut in 2010. Habemus Papam!

Rock Hard: Before tackling this new album, let's come back, if you wish, to the feature film Rite Here Rite Now released last year (Cf. RH#255). We know how challenging tackling a rock film is, as Metallica was able to realize, for example, with the commercial failure of Through The Never (2013). Now that the film has been released, what is your assessment of it?

Tobias Forge: Completing this film proved to be perilous, quite simply because other groups before mine, notably Metallica, had produced films that the music business labeled as "live DVDs"... So finding financing was complicated. We spoke with HBO, Netflix, all the biggest platforms, and all their representatives told us: "No, no one wants to watch filmed concerts! ". We then told them: “But it’s not just a concert! It’s also a film!” To which they replied: “Oh? Like Metallica's? (He mimes an embarrassed silence): “Um, yes, I suppose, in a way…” . We tried to explain to them that the story we are telling with Ghost is different and that our fans are waiting to know what happens next, which already marks a small difference. Ghost is not Metallica, we don't have the same approach. I understand their economic point of view, because they considered the project as a musical film. Bottom line: we didn't get any funding. But since I was already too committed to this idea and we had started production, it was too late to turn back. I therefore decided to rely on one of our partners, namely Trafalgar Films, which is not a production company, but a distribution company. This has a network and cinemas. We did a simulation with its representatives, which allowed us to conclude that we could broadcast the film in around twenty countries by organizing perhaps a thousand screenings.

(He sighs) That's when you start to count: "If I invest in this project, maybe after a few years of operation, the result will be satisfactory." Finally, we exceeded a thousand theaters, I don't know exactly how many, maybe 2,000 or 3,000. There were many more screenings than expected and the result is that... we more or less broke even! (laughs) Which is great! We won nothing, lost nothing. We're right on the money and it's a great result. I didn't make this film to make money, but because I had already written a story that had to be completed with this one. If the film couldn't have been made, we would have had to take all the shots of the story that we had filmed and release them in the form of small episodes. resign yourself to thinking that the project was impossible to complete? We finally found a way to beat the system, I was able to do the episodes, make my film and we had our live DVD... but it was no easy feat! (laughs) Especially since working on the album in parallel made things even more complicated!

It is true that you simultaneously developed the film and the album, the two being interconnected...

That, in retrospect, wasn't so smart! With these two simultaneous projects now complete, I'm happy with the result, but it hasn't been a mentally pleasant process!

Especially when the experience comes after fifteen years of a very busy career: six albums, two live albums, four EP's and a film. It's a lot in a little time! Don't you ever feel overwhelmed by Ghost? Can the group sometimes represent a kind of weight in your eyes?

I don't think I ever really felt Ghost like a burden...until recently. During these fifteen years that you mention, I worked non-stop. Even though we didn't record during the pandemic period, I worked on Impera (2022). My only luxury at that time was to work at a slightly slower pace. It also allowed me to spend more time on this album. In fact, every record since Opus Eponymous (2010) has been the subject of the same process: during the Opus Eponymous tour, I recorded a first version of Infestissumam (2013), which I completely re-recorded once the tour ended. And to do this, I immediately reinvested in the studio. I remember that the last concert took place on a Saturday and that, by the following Monday, I was already on a war footing. Ditto for Prequelle (2018). And when a new album is completed, the concerts resume. Luckily for me, every time, and especially right now, I feel that people's level of interest in our music is increasing. Our tours are also getting bigger and bigger, and all of this keeps me motivated and helps make my efforts enjoyable, even if composing in the studio doesn't compare to touring. However, I clearly feel - and I say this even as I prepare to hit the road again for 18 months - that I have reached a point in my life where I need to change, to do something else...

Slowing down can also be good for creativity…

Exactly ! This is in no way unnatural. How many bands released their first album in 1980 and continued continuously beyond 1995? Apart from Motörhead, not so much! To answer your original question, is Ghost a burden? For fifteen years, no, that was not the case. But I'm definitely starting to feel that when we finish this cycle, I might need to find a hobby! (small laugh) Simply so as not to feel that everyone expects something from me…

Above all, the more time passes, the greater the risk of disappointing this expectation...

It's safe! This is another aspect of being an artist. I'm sure you and your readers are just as interested in the history of rock and the bands as I am. And, statistically, I know that, sooner or later, the quality of my work will decline, that's in the order of things...

Have you already prepared yourself for this “fate”?

I would have to be stupid to think that I am embarked on an infinite journey to the heights. I'm lucky with this new album and the new cycle that's coming, this tour more massive than ever, but I know full well that this progression won't be constant for the rest of my life. The only thing I can do is rejoice in the fact that I have managed to release six albums and have generated so many people's interest in this new record and this tour. It’s a remarkable thing, a dream come true! But the difference between the me of today and that of fifteen years ago is that, to achieve this result, the one I was at the time engaged a mode (he takes a breath) "next! next! next!" ?». Maybe it's age, but I'm aware of the fact that I don't know for how long I'll have the luxury of making records, of generating the interest of millions of people... How many times will Matthieu (Ed: Drouot, his French tourer) play me at Bercy? Maybe the next album will be shit, that things will decline, which isn't a problem... Even if we play at... hesitates) I don't want to name a place (laughs), but I would be happy, just like I was when we started, to play in clubs with 400 seats. I have just arrived at a point in my life where I want to appreciate what we have built rather than thinking: "oh, it's just another step towards the Stade De France!"

What you just said doesn't fit at all with the words of someone who has a huge plan to conquer the world, contrary to the image you can sometimes project...

Four years ago, this question would have been very simple for me, and I would have answered it differently! I think I've reached a tipping point. I feel more at ease, my life is great and its organization is really cool. It's time for me to take advantage of it, to make the best of the situation! (He laughs as if he had just realized) In truth, that's a bit what the film is about! But it’s a state of mind that is not always easy to achieve…

Often, artists change with success and maturity. They start with big ambitions then, once they reach a peak in their career, start to step back a little to enjoy what they have. We were talking about Metallica at the start of the interview, here's a good example...

This is, in my opinion, an important thing, whether you play rock or not. It's simply a survival instinct. Even if your life is great, you're doing what you wanted to do, I think the curse of many people who are involved in a creative process is that their creativity is an obsession: you would have done this artistic work even if you hadn't been paid. Your life would have been more difficult because you would have had to do something else to meet your needs. But once you have somehow freed yourself from a food job, you remain dependent on your will to express yourself. This arises from a need. It's a line you have to walk because people expect you to paint a picture, write a book, beautiful poetry or fart jokes. Whatever the field, you have to find new ideas, because it's something natural for every artist. I take the example of great footballers like those you have here at PSG: even when they are at home, if you throw them a ball, they will start playing with it (he mimes a player juggling), because it is a natural way for them to express themselves...

This is why it's so difficult for an artist to end their career, and why Black Sabbath is actually not going to retire until one of its members dies! (laughs) It’s too difficult to say “it’s over!”

Exactly ! Because the brain never stops! This is why I compared it to a survival instinct. So it's good to give yourself a little space… It's very easy to just run and never stop, but this will eventually cause you damage. I'm not saying that you should stop creating and do nothing, but it's important to be able to pause and say "damn, this is great!" ". And it's a difficult thing, counter-intuitive for many, especially for me until recently.....

All of this reminds me of a subject that we have already discussed in these pages with artists like Ihsahn (Emperor) and Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth): both are struck by what we call “imposter syndrome”. They sometimes feel like they don't deserve their success and that they got where they are more by luck than by talent. Do you feel the same way or are you more confident in your art?

(He hesitates) The short answer is probably: "yes, I've felt the same way before." Mikael is a very close friend and Ihsahn probably would be too if we had the opportunity to see each other more often, but he's a good friend, I like him a lot. I think that what they feel is very similar to the way I experience things myself... (silence) It's a bit of a tricky question because, if you ask my childhood friends, who have known me since school, they will probably tell you that I always came across as someone extremely confident, even though I know that I wasn't... The paradox is that... I can't say that I always knew that I was going to do it because that would imply that I was gifted with clairvoyance, that I was aware that something was going to happen, which is of course not true. But I played my cards, I chose, throughout my life, to systematically burn the bridges that I had just crossed because I was so determined to get there that I wanted to ensure that it would be impossible for me to make the choice to go back if it was offered to me. I would rather continue straight to hell than give up! It's an easy thing to do when you're 15 or even 25 years old. As I get older, I look back with relief at this younger version of myself (he lets out a sigh that ends in laughter)! “Fuck! This was really very tight! I was lucky not to crash because I didn't go far! Thank you to everyone who believed in us!” But, as a more mature man, more aware of the fact that, statistically, this was not supposed to work, I also look today at the way I behaved: this confidence that I displayed as a teenager was also combined, to a certain degree, with asshole behavior. I wasn't always cool, not always mature... I don't know if that's what Mikael and Ihsahn mean because it seems to me that the first was always cooler than me, and I've known him for a long time!

Mikael is a very kind person and Ihsahn is no less! (laughs) Even if, when I think back to Ihsahn from the early 90s, "the guy from Emperor" that I saw on MTV, the latter looked more like an 18 year old teenager! Of course, I sometimes tell myself that I don't necessarily deserve what's happening to me, but (silence) long story short, I think I too suffer from a bit of imposter syndrome because I know that (pauses again) it all involves a lot of pretending: "Fake it until you make it," as the saying goes! (laughs) I think it's a very common thing: you're first a dreamer who aspires to be someone else - at least in my case, I can't speak for Mikael or Ihsahn. You would like to be another person, somewhere else, in a different life. Ironically, I ended up becoming someone else, now that the walls between my persona and the person I created to deserve to become a rockstar grew closer. This person that I invented has all the qualities that I do not have. I think if you ask a therapist, they'll tell you that this is a pretty essential part of imposter syndrome! (laughs) I disguised myself to become someone else, in order to deserve to become a rockstar! The fact that there is a boundary between who I am and this entity leads me to think that this is imposter syndrome, even if a person like Mikael, for his part, does not need to disguise himself as someone else. And even though we have similarities in our doubts, I know that he is aware of being very competent…

It's true, he told us! But that does not prevent him from considering that he is not an excellent musician, and far from being one of the best…

Exactly ! And I think it's precisely this point that leads to confusion among people who love music, but don't have any particular talent or ability to make it. It's very difficult to explain how it is possible, on the one hand, to feel very "insecure" about your work, to the point of thinking that you don't deserve to be here, while, on the other hand, I can tell you that I am capable of taking over Metallica's stage at the Stade De France in front of 80,000 people! It's something I know how to do and, to be honest, I'm actually quite good at it. But somewhere, these two elements don't complement each other, and I can't explain why... How can you give the impression of naturally doing something that many people can't do? For my part, when I look at a Ukrainian soldier ready to fight, it's as if he had supernatural powers. It's something I'm unable to project my mind into. And some people must think the same thing about me. Of course I'm afraid to do it, but I do it...

Because you have to do it...

Because I have to! It's a vocation... I still want to point out that, when I take the example of the Ukrainian soldier, I'm talking about two very different things! (laughs) I just want to say that when you feel a "call", it's a bit like you dissociate your personality: a part of it is very confident in the fact of being able to accomplish anything including going on the stage of another artist with the intention of winning the support of each member of his audience, with the ability to ignore those you don't convince but another part can feel very anxious and doubt himself when he it's about choosing to write certain words or doing something else entirely! (laughs)

Do you address this question in the album? I thought I understood, from listening to it and reading the promotional text that accompanied it, that, this time, you slipped more personal things into your texts. Some pieces seem to address themes such as lost friendship, toxic relationships, or even spirituality, life after death, or, more precisely, the continuum of life. Can you enlighten us on all this?

(He thinks) The only song that deals with death is "Excelsis". It is also a masquerade since in the end, his text actually speaks... about life! Basically, the message is this: if you're listening to this song, it means you're alive, so enjoy this state of affairs as best you can, for as long as you can, which is not an easy thing. I think that except for a few people who seem to know exactly what will happen after death, we all share an uncertainty, the question of what awaits us... Either way, we will eventually get the answer, which means that constantly thinking about it is a waste of time! (laughs) We can talk about it, but we shouldn't think about it all the time because the most important thing is to fill our lives with as many things as possible that make us happy and inspire us. The most important thing is to try to do more positive things than negative ones. I'm obviously not saying that people should only do good, because you can't be nice to everyone, but we have the capacity to be good more often than bad to our fellow human beings and to achieve more good things than bad. Continuing to push things in a positive direction is, in itself, doing something good. The whole album addresses these fundamental feelings. It represents a kind of hall of mirrors in which you can reflect your own thoughts. This doesn't mean that all the songs only talk about ourselves and the feelings we have towards ourselves, they also deal with other subjects, the people around us or even those things you have done or not done. For example, the idea with "Peacefield" is to convey a message of hope and resilience. Unless you are personally in danger or physically affected and facing possible imminent death because anyone can get hit by a car or shot at any time - the fact is that you are probably going to witness, one day soon, the demise of two crazy dictators. We will most certainly experience peace and the fall of an empire that we wish to see fall. This has happened in the past, it's a very common thing. So we should not let current events and all these words that many people are circulating demoralize us. Right now it's dark, but tomorrow it will be daytime again. To put it simply: this album is a call to relax because it's not the end of times yet. Sure, the situation looks like shit and smells like shit, but it's not the end of the world...

This is a very positive speech, full of hope, which contrasts with what the word “Satanized” gives off at first glance, the title of the first single responsible for promoting the album! When reading this word, many people may think that you embody the opposite of what you have just declared!

(Laughs) In truth, “Satanized” is about love!

I was just going to come there! It seems that, in this text, you evoke a passionate love which tortures and consumes those who are struck by it…

Yes, it is! This text has nothing to do with Satan. The whole idea is to evoke the explosive feeling that obsessive and irrational love provides at the moment when it hits you and hurts you. It’s something I’m sure a lot of people can relate to. Of course, the subject is approached in a Ghost way, with this "old-fashioned" reference to superstitions: we attribute these kinds of feelings to demonic possession! (laughs)

Upon discovering the track listing, I first wondered if this piece could be a cover of the title of the same name signed by your compatriots from Dissection. This is not the case, but this word sounds very “black death metal”!

Oh yes, I see! (laughs) I actually borrowed this word from the group Satanized (Editor's note: a group which originally composed the song of the same name, later republished by Dissection and which included three members of the cult Swedish group, including its leader Jon Nödtveidt). I love this title because it sounds stronger than "Possessed By Satan", for example. “Satanized” is a simple way to explain

how someone in love with a feeling of love can be perceived by a religious person as a madman, a lost soul, possessed, completely corrupt and who does not deserve to be trusted. Because that's roughly what happens in such a case: your heart and your mind no longer function completely, you are no longer worthy of trust...

Even if this text is not directly religious, do you nevertheless consider that people who are spiritual can also be subjected to this type of possession, you who have already declared that religion can push us to madness?

It's true. (He thinks) There is something annoying about unconditional love: we can see it in two ways: first, a more magical and fun one which consists of considering that it is a feeling, then another, biological, which explains that a substance is released into our body. This endorphin rush equips us naturally and, in the same way, we are able to achieve orgasm, which is Nature's way of ensuring that we fall in love, orgasm together, procreate and multiply. This is an extremely boring explanation, but it is nevertheless the rule, roughly speaking! (laughs) But that doesn't mean that I don't believe in being able to cross the oceans of time to find a soul mate (Ed. note: as a good fan of pop culture, Tobias here quotes Coppola's Dracula (1992), adapted by Bram Stoker) because I love this vision of things! Now, does being religious, spiritually awakened, provide a similar feeling? I wonder. (He pauses) What is happening in the world right now is a very clear example of the fact that people want and need to belong to a group, preferably the one they were born into. This feeling is very, very strong. I don't think this is an error in itself; we came into the world somewhere and inherited a set of skills that make us able to live in clans and societies. In our Western world, we pride ourselves on the idea that we are bigger and smarter than that. It's a real culture shock to realize that deep inside most of us there lies a caveman who aspires to the same things as his ancestors. I can't describe these things exactly, but I think they can be summed up in one key word: simplicity. The need for simple rules to follow. On this subject, I, who am a fan of cultural awakening and pop culture in particular, who am attached to many progressive elements that we strive to push, I think that we have reached a point where all of this is brutally put aside (he mimes a lively gesture). And, as a human being, I am able to relate and understand why so many people want to override progress. Talking to people individually is always different from speaking to people in groups, we tend to want to simplify life. Who could blame people for this state of affairs? They want to belong to something, to feel that they have a purpose, that things are simple. With the complexity of the modern world, many are expected to accept the fact that they would be redundant. No one wants to be superfluous, lose their job to be replaced by a computer... No one wants to be stuck at home without a partner, because everyone deserves a partner. It makes sense that these people would want to return to the cave age, when the only thing you had to do was grab someone and take them with you. “If I'm nice to you and make you babies, isn't that enough? ". It's a laughing matter, but I think it's a major confusion in our primitive brains. We just want to have a goal...

Perhaps we also sometimes reason, in a natural way, like children who need a father, someone who reassures us, tells us that everything will be fine.

pass, that there is life after death. It is very easy to follow this kind of discourse rather than accepting that life has no real purpose or meaning...

This is why people with superior intelligence and knowledge prefer to get rid of their intellect to say to themselves: "There's a guy who claims he can create a time machine that will take us back to a time when things were better. I'm going to give him my vote because it's always better than the speech of this other guy who says that things are... not so cool, that we have to work collectively and that some of us make sacrifices. Fuck that! The first guy says that he can bring back old factories out of nowhere and that we'll be able to go back to a time when we were allowed to say things that we're currently forbidden from saying. I want to be able to pronounce these words like my father and I did before!” Do you see the idea? (laughs). Simplicity! But why do people end up thinking this way? There's one other thing that I think is really important: once the two septuagenarians I was talking about earlier go through the fucking window - because they will and there is peace - it will be difficult to find our way back through the fog. Sooner or later we will realize that many people think things that we currently consider very dark. However, we need to take care of each other, and therefore of people who have these kinds of views, those who feel that the world has abandoned them and that they no longer have their place in it. If they behave this way, it is because they are missing something. This is a crucial element for us, the enlightened people of big cities: to be able to include people who do not feel a connection with the current world. Without it, we will not be able to survive. In the same way, we will have to, one day or another, find a way to fraternize again with that big bear that lives in the East... There are many people there who are just like us and are not our enemies. This will all happen sooner than we think and it’s fucking essential that we be kind to each other. But it is, once again, something very difficult: it involves sacrifices, sometimes playing a game, being polite, swallowing one's pride. And all this is not simple! (laughs)

What can you tell us about the new costumes and album art that we don't know about as we speak?

For the artwork, we once again collaborated with Zbigniew Bielak, whose work is a precise reflection of what is on the album: a sort of hall of mirrors surrounded by an infinite universe. As for the costumes, we worked again with B. Akerlund, who is responsible for the outfits for at least three of our latest cycles. What's very interesting is that she comes from the world of fashion and that, in everything she does, she has this "haute couture" side, very arty. The world in which it operates has more to do with Paris Fashion Week and I think we are one of the rare heavy metal bands to carry elements of this world of fashion into our universe, even if our costumes are very fancy"... One thing we paid special attention to for everyone on stage stems from the last cycle: the musicians wore big glasses which didn't really allow 20/20 vision! So, this time, we really wanted each outfit we wear to be a little more comfortable and ergonomic! (laughs) I include myself in that: we play long shows and, sometimes, the heat kills us. So working on these new designs has been really exciting because I think we're going to have a little more comfortable experience. In 2023, on our summer tour, it was sometimes extremely hot in Europe, but it was nothing compared to the USA where the heat was insane! Throughout the tour, temperatures fluctuated between 35 and 40 degrees! Some evenings, we sometimes felt dizzy. The concerts were good, but we suffered from heat stroke, and it even happened, many times, that some of us almost fainted on stage. We therefore had to make a few small adjustments that fans won't necessarily be aware of, but which will make a huge difference to us!

Over the albums, your outfits seem to want to get lighter and lighter. This is an easy question, but are you considering...

(He cuts me off) Performing naked?

(Laughs) Maybe not, but to finish without makeup or with less elaborate costumes?

A la Flea (Editor's note: the bassist of Red Hot Chili Peppers, who usually plays shirtless)! (laughs) Let's just say that you should never say never because that's something you can no longer afford after the age of 25! It is easier, at 15 or 25 years old, to say that I will never, ever do this or that thing!” But while we're in the context of Ghost, it doesn't seem to me that anyone can declare that they need a completely unmasked version of the band. There are several ways to present ourselves without being as costumed as on our previous albums. As you pointed out, we gradually moved towards simpler outfits. Every rock band on this planet can afford to shed layers of clothing during a concert. And this question was very important when we started to lighten our outfits: “Can I take off my jacket?”, “Of course you can, it’s almost 40 degrees!” As long as we dress in the right way, that is to say at least in a ritual sense, I think that as long as Ghost exists, there will be gray areas that allow us to not be totally masked. But we will never go on stage dressed like Pearl Jam! I have nothing against Pearl Jam, which I love, but this is a typical example of a group whose members go on stage in whatever clothes they wear, without lights. It's the exact opposite of what we do and I don't think Ghost would be as interesting if we changed that. No matter how good the songs are, it wouldn't sound right...

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