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slavghoul · 1 year

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Interview from Upset Magazine 6/2023

Words: Steven Loftin

Like an apparition manifesting within a dense fog, it was through radio static that Swedish rockers Ghost were formed. In the kindergarten he attended as a young boy, Tobias Forge found himself enamoured with the music crackling through the little toy speakers. From this point forward, he began picking apart the notes and melodies - his journey toward the lore and canon coming into focus as he sat, trying to figure out how this black magic could be summoned.

While it would be many years before he would don his garb as Papa Emeritus, the essence of what his future would sound like was being set through his exposure to a wide variety of music. If any proof were needed, just look to the impressive list of covers Ghost have put their ghastly mark upon, including 2016's 'Popestar' EP, which included the band's takes on Echo & The Bunnymen ('Nocturnal Me') and Simian Mobile Disco ('I Believe').

Ghost's latest EP is another covers bonanza. A five-piece offering of Tobias's backstory, 'Phantomime' plays out like a Greatest Hits radio playlist - a fitting throwback to Tobias' first dalliances with music. Of course, when a group more aligned to the metal/hard rock community bust out covers, including Genesis and Tina Turner, eyebrows are raised. To this reaction, Tobias scoffs. "In 1991, Genesis was one of the biggest bands on the planet! That was a huge hit. In the mid-80s, when I had an older teenage brother who rented every VHS movie that came out, of course, we saw the fucking Thunderdome, and that was a huge hit, and it's still being played on Swedish radio. It's an evergreen; it's not an eclectic choice at all," he declares. "I grew up listening to Stranglers because my brother liked them. What else do we have, Iron Maiden - I mean, are you kidding? I'm a metalhead!"

Originally conceived during the sessions for their fifth album, last year's 'Impera', there were two folders on his computer's desktop: one named 'Impera', the other simply 'Covers'. As the ideas for 'Impera' grew, Tobias would enter his usual routine of working on a cover or two. "At any point, when you lose a little wind in writing your own things, it's quite nice to say, 'Today let's go in and work on the covers'; you can choose anything you want, you can work on absolutely anything you want. And you don't have to finish it, you don't have to release it, you don't have to do anything, but just continue working."

He likens it to the freedom of being a theatre owner who, instead of trying to pen the next greatest Broadway phenomenon, opts to have a go at something already timeless and perfected.

"Maybe you're like, 'Okay, so this fall we're just going to do a reinterpretation of Hamlet instead, that's going to be fine, and that keeps everyone working, and that keeps a project moving along! And I find a similar thing with working on covers. So as I was writing "Impera', the covers folder was also growing exponentially and at a point. I had this idea that was going to be a full-length album."

With COVID restrictions meaning the original producer for 'Impera' was stuck in the US, Tobias had to source a replacement. It would be Klas Åhlund who stepped up to the plate. But, on one condition. "He was pretty upfront. He was like. Yeah, I only want to make the record; I don't want to work on covers," Tobias remembers "Fine, fine, fine, that's fine." he shrugs. "So, after the 'Impera' recording was done, I felt as if making a completely different, whole record again: I didn't have time for that. I didn't have the energy for that. But once I trimmed down the number of songs to only these five to make a very rocky record, it loosened up the screws a little bit for me in terms of like, "Okay, so now I know what the EP is going to be - it's going to be a full, full-throttle rock one."

Ditching some rumoured softer covers, including U2, Misfits, and Motörhead. 'Phantomime is instead a delectable slice of Ghost doing what Ghost do best: creating theatrically big rock. It's Tobias's mark upon some bonafide classics, including Iron Maiden's 'Phantom of the Opera' which feels as befitting to Ghost as it does seeing Papa Emeritus kick the bucket ready for his next iteration. While the focus was on creating this small dose of Tobias's musical DNA, it also served another purpose; to simply be "not very complicated." The project began with the mindset of "we can make this recording loosely - quick but stress-free - as opposed to making a record which is your hard fifth record that needs to live up to certain standards. So it was just a very inspired, very simple recording, actually."

After the complexities of 'Impera' which wound up requiring two studios simultaneously running in parallel "to be able to work efficiently" - Ghost was morphing into a taxing experience for the band leader, "It was just a bigger thing [and] way more stressful."

Deciding to strip that covers folder down to the five tracks, by all accounts, 'Phantomime was a measured and reserved effort. "It ended up being me, an engineer, and an occasional musician coming in and doing something. It was so much looser, so much more mentally Feng Shui," he smiles, relief glowing in his voice. "And I think that that reflected a little bit on the two different records. They're meant to be related - they are definitely related - they were made roughly in the same time, but they're completely different things."

'Phantomime' plays out like a ghoulish social commentary. Starting with a searing rendition of Televison's 'See No Evil, the journey traverses the scourge of Televangelism (Genesis' Jesus He Knows Me') with a delightfully-fitting NSFW video, the instant gratification humans require to feel (The Stranglers' Hanging Around"); the pull back into cruel reality (Phantom Of The Opera"), and the resulting undying hope from a degraded society (Tina Turner's 'We Don't Need Another Hero"). Each offering is bolstered with Ghost's dramatic, theatric rock licks and Tobias's powerhouse vocals.

With 'Phantomime' in the bag and the European leg of the 'Impera' tour imminent (Tobias is currently holed up in preparation), the idea of reflecting on how he came to go from a young boy listening to the static sounds of pop hits on the radio to orchestrating not only a feverishly adored band and its lore but finding the capacity to embrace his inner music nerd, couldn't be more timely. Tobias's relationship with music has always been one of intrigue. He's a pop songwriter with the ambition and ideas of a stadium rock band, which, in essence, explains perfectly why Ghost can sit in a unique, exponentially growing and expanding space.

"My earliest inclination of wanting to transform into something else was definitely Twisted Sister," he recalls. "You know, "I Want To Rock' and 'We're Not Going To Take It' - that was a huge record in 1984, and in 1984, I was three years old," he says. "My brother was 16, so everything that was going on pop-culturally amongst teenagers was happening in my home."

It was thanks to his brother that much of Tobias's relationship with music was formed. He's introduced him to various giants of the time, like tectonic plates being pushed around, impacting and shaping his musical landscape. Translating for young Tobias the attitude of punk at the time, as well as everything else that was 'in', he remembers, "When I was a kid, and he was supposed to babysit me, as a pacifier he would put me in front of [Sex Pistols mockumentary film] 'The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle"," he laughs. "And then when that was over, he would just switch to [X-rated cartoon] Fritz the Cat. And I loved that stuff, of course. That was as much [about] the expression and the attitude. Of course, I loved the songs, but it was also filtered or combined with big songs for me." Those big songs ("Men At Work 'Down Under'," he initially cites, "those sort of songs still have a unique place in my in my writing") would eventually entwine with his darker side that he'd explore as he grew older. "Whilst my whole adolescence was completely in the name of extreme metal, I always had a very soft spot for Top 40 rock and pop radio always," Tobias explains. "And I've listened to that all my life. So it's almost equal portions of Venom as it is anything. that was on the radio."

Also, witnessing shock and glam-rock bands explode intrigued Tobias. He became swept away in the idea that not only could you push a boundary to its absolute limits with convictions and over-the-top grandiosity, but you could do so with songs that quantifiably bop. But, as time has gone onto prove, it wasn't pop music that enamoured Tobias enough that he wanted to become a pop star. It's the mythology and mystery that has become his calling card.

Tobias remained an enigma under the disguise of an evolving form of the iconic Papa Emeritus (now in his fourth incarnation) until 2017, after a lawsuit from a previous iteration of his backing band's rotating cast, the Nameless Ghouls. Visual and video components to releases are often hoovered up by the fandom, stripped apart for meaning and potential. Instagram posts are referred to as a '[Message From The Clergy]" (a phrase later claimed for 2022's Best Of playlist), and lest it is forgotten, the Ghost 'Grucifix' - the prominent crucifix deconstructed into Tobias's gothic 'G' logo - which ties together the vision, religious imagery and satire that would become a core part of the Ghost experience.

His musical ambition and education colliding in the middle of his Venn diagram between dark metal and pop magic is thanks to the likes of the aforementioned Twisted Sister and W.A.S.P., as well as his teen years in the black metal community. "Their first record was also a huge impact in Swedish media," Tobias remembers. "There was this big sort of Satanic panic thing going on at the time in the fall of 1984. Where you had essentially all those things happening. You had Mötley Crüe 'Shout At The Devil', which came out a year earlier, and they were there because they toured with Iron Maiden in 1984, so there was a lot of focus on these shock-rock bands. I saw that as a kid, and I was immediately blown away - it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. And I think that that was the trigger that made me identify as that is how I want to express myself."

Decoding the songs he'd hear also became an integral part of that expression. "That was the only thing I did for years before I started writing my own songs." Recalling his time in kindergarten, they had a piano and guitar, which Tobias became infatuated with. Instead of playing with the other children, he would find himself enraptured, listening to the radio or flipping over whichever cassette happened to be loaded at the time. He would then imitate the sounds he was soaking up. "A lot of those early beginnings of how to learn and how I've learned how to understand music filters through everything I do now," he explains.

The early records he'd find himself trying to unpack included KISS 'Alive' and Pink Floyd's 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' - disparate matches, but undoubtedly Ghost fuel with hard rock melodies and psychedelic tendencies. "I had the first and the second Pink Floyd on a double LP that was called 'A Nice Pair'. And that's the shit that I sat and listened to and played guitar to," he says proudly. "That's weird music, that's really weird chord sequences and melodies that sort of went nowhere. And, that coloured me a lot in my vision of this is how you write a pop song. Of course, I knew more conventional writing as well. But I figured that this resonates with me, and I want to write more like that."

Tobias is the first to admit that the influence his musical exposure has had on him isn't the most straightforward. "For all the years that I was in bands, up until Ghost, basically when I was in bands not doing well, I got a lot of, I wouldn't say stick, but it was always like, 'You write weird songs, there's something weird about them, and it will never really become anything because it has that sort of weirdness to it".

As he grew, the songs he'd heard reflected this inherent strangeness he'd constructed. Before the days of mass formulaic pop factories, the music emanating from the radio abided by the strictest rule of needing to at least be approachable, but within these confines, artists of the 70s and 80s would push the envelope as far as they could. Citing Nik Kershaw's 'The Riddle' as one example, "Holy shit, if you would have taken that song and taken it to a chord structure masterclass amongst pop writers now who want to write songs for Miley Cyrus or The Weeknd or any of that sort of level they would say, no, no, no, no, that this will never work. It's too strange. It's too weird. You can't do that; it doesn't have the normal chord progression.

"There are a lot of songs from the 80s that are like that," he reckons, "compared to the now, more informative way of writing, the 80s was braver actually, and it worked well. And those songs are evergreens in a way that a lot of the top radio shit from seven years ago is forgotten, and that's the stuff that I grew up with when I started playing the guitar."

Having made that inner sanctum, he would enter kindergarten a reality, one where he can explore those recesses of his mind shaken by the musical earthquakes he experienced; now, he's matured and deeply entrenched in the reality. "Throughout the modern day of pop writing, I know a few professional pop songwriters, and we continue having these conversations because in pop," he says, "where some of them work prolifically on really high releases, they're like, it's strange how the business wants everything to be so informative. Everybody wants a weird song, but still, all the big songs are usually very, very formatted [and] very, very simple."

While unpacking the songs he'd heard back in the 80s offered Tobias a chance to comprehend what makes a good song, it, more importantly, helped him to set out doing it on his own. When digging into crafting a new Ghost number, Tobias explains that "each new song is a little bit like virgin territory with its own riddle to be solved, and is always a combination of the horror of maybe not solving the puzzle, with the thrill when you do. And it's never easy because each new song needs something new. And so you constantly need to feed your ability with knowledge about how other things are."

Breaking it down into a figurative example, he likens it to being like a detective. "I'm assuming that part of being a great detective is to constantly have an open mind, but also constantly learning about human behaviour and wha people do. If you just had 100 forensic classes, but you know nothing about people and how they live their lives, it's gonna be hard to solve crimes." The same rings true for writers who have to read to improve and further understand language, while comedians pull from real-life experiences - music is no different. Tobias's early days of stripping down songs to their basic parts and then rebuilding them have remained a constant endeavour. "But that's how you write songs as well; you go and absorb new things."

The covers process, as mentioned, is a release for Tobias. When things are stuck when trying to piece together a new chapter for the Ghost bible, a cover offers up a chance for something lighter. "Working on covers can be equally euphoric," he confirms, "because it's fun to understand a song whereas, on the other hand, it can be almost demoralising because you're like, I can't believe that this song is so much better than anything that I've written! And it's so much easier. It's so simple."

"I find myself overcomplicating things often, but you might not hear the complicated detour that I took to end up at the more understandable, straighter version that ended up being the actual recording," he continues. "That's a never-ending struggle because that's how it's supposed to be. It's not like you write the one song. I don't think I know anyone or know of anyone who's content with the idea of having written one huge song. And then you know, okay, that's nirvana for you. You don't write the one song the same way that if you're a comedian, it's not like, 'Oh, I just told the funniest joke. So now I'm done".

While Tobias is one for wanting to keep the ball rolling and on a constant endeavour to continue his musical evolution, he knows there's a limit. Every release of Ghost must have a purpose. Nodding to the 60s method of firing singles out on all fronts, eventually compiling them for a full-length release, Tobias acknowledges his relationship with his fans is based on a more long-term understanding. "That's not how we do things; we make an album, and off of that album, there are singles - it's a 70s/80s thinking. And I don't want to refrain from that - I don't want too many singles to be these autonomous little creatures."

But the world is different now. It's a Wild West where being in the masses' consciousness is key, so things may have to change for him. Admitting that right now, he knows he's post-release of Ghost's last canon entry, 'Impera', which arrived back in 2022, and while 'Phantomime' is a reasonable enough bridge, sooner or later, he's going to have to play the game of ensuring Ghost ramp up. Earlier this year, Ghost collaborated with Def Leppard's Joe Elliott on a re-release of 'Impera' cut 'Spillways' which, while a fantastic addition to their arsenal, adds to the same notion Tobias is fearful of. "I'm slowly preparing for making a new record that's going to come out in 2024, which is way too long for the current contemporary music climate; you need to be ever-present," the last phrase hanging in the air ominously.

That doesn't mean he has to lower his standards, however. No Ghost release will exist just for content's sake. Everything must have its place. He even reckons a 14-track album is "a lot of music", and he still sees an album as being "22 minutes of music per side" - true to form, currently, no standard issue of any Ghost album breaches 12 tracks. He's even ready to aim for the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles by swiftly lobbing a couple of spicy takes out. "Look, man, I don't even think that 'Exile on Main Street' is that good. Not even the fucking White album is that great - break it up! Both of those records would have been better if they were trimmed down to singular records."

That pop mind breaking through; Tobias is someone who knows that music is entertainment. Certainly, a medium which often leads to more bulky connotations, but it must entertain. It's why he doesn't pay any mind to those naysayers that yearn for Ghost to be more metal or to follow a different path. This is Tobias's game; we're just privy to the sermon. These days the floodgates are open and, when compared to previous decades, as Tobias remembers it, "you had to buy your own records. Whatever additional music you got, that wasn't maybe heard on the TV or the radio, when you took something from someone else, was usually a choice, so music styles could in some way be a little bit more insular back then just because you weren't subjected to as much." He mentions his beloved death metal as being a signifier of the changes happening. "Back in the day, when I was starting listening to extreme metal, that was completely embraced by a certain little subculture or group of mostly teenagers and 20-somethings. Whereas in the 2000s, when Vice started doing black metal reporting, all of a sudden you have indie personalities who were fans of Darkthrone, and so, obviously, what ended up that turned into this fusion, which was a positive and very natural thing."

This cultural shift is another reason Ghost's space is widening and its success growing. "Nowadays, people are a little bit more open," he admits. But, with this comes issues. "As time has progressed, metal and hard rock, as well as most genres that have been around for a while, [they've] gone from this youth culture to a conservative institution because so many of the fans are now aged." The passage of time waits for no one. But, more presciently for culture, it also means our understanding of what is 'good' and what should be where is moulded differently to when we were younger. "Unfortunately, that happens to most people regardless of who you were when you were 20," Tobias reckons, "or your ideals when you're like 40/50/60 years old. Your brain starts morphing into a slightly more conservative, slightly more nostalgic... You don't want things to change."

Tobias is the first to hold his hands up and admit the same has happened to him. He yearns for 1984 and even 1990-94. He would even be happy with 1987, back to those days with the crackling radio and a childlike spirit. "That would be so much cooler. I loved that way more than in this day and age. But I can't sit around and mope about that because it's not a problem that it's not 1987."

'Phantomime' is proof nostalgia can be a useful tool. It fuels with passion, and Ghost is Tobias's Neverland. "There's such a debate about what we are and why that is." Ghost are a band that, thanks to Tobias's musical education, transcend time. They exist on their own plain and with the evergreen, timeless sounds of yesteryear echoing around Tobias's head, long may Papa reign with his gloved melodic iron fist.

#the band ghost #tobias forge #interview #really good one 👍

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amethyst-ghoul-backup · 1 year

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A couple of opinions of mine (aka a super long rant cause I don’t know how to summarize or get to the point) regarding Aether not coming back to the band for the 2023 tour.

TLDR at the end in case you don’t want to read all of my rambling lol

Mentions of unmasked era 4/5 ghouls and Ifrit ghoul (fire ghoul/lead guitar 2017) under the cut

I wanna start this by saying that Tobias Forge and none of the ghouls, but especially the new ghouls, deserve any kind of hate from anyone regarding this situation and we should respect what’s going on as well as their decisions, privacy, and roles in the band.

To the people saying things along the lines of “Oh you wouldn’t care this much or even notice the difference if you didn’t know who was under the mask” or “This is why the nameless ghouls should stay nameless,” I respectfully disagree.

Was the purpose of the nameless ghouls to be nameless and anonymous? Yes. Do both the past and present nameless ghouls deserve respect and courtesy from all the fans regarding their identities and relations to the band? Yes of course.

But here’s the thing:

For one: I think I speak for many people when I say that we would still notice that Aether/Chris was gone even if we didn’t know his identity. Everyone noticed that we have a new ghoul on rhythm guitar, they LOOK DIFFERENT because it’s a DIFFERENT PERSON. We knew Chris wasn’t with the band during the first part of the tour even BEFORE he said anything about it. because we know the ghouls, we know how they look and we can tell them apart. It doesn’t matter if we know who’s under the mask or not, we’re still gonna be sad about one of the ghouls leaving because we love all of them. (hell, Zephyr/ChAir and Ifrit are two of my favorite ghouls and I miss them every day and they were in the band for LESS THAN A YEAR) Chris has been with the band for SIX YEARS and he was the first and only quintessence ghoul/rhythm guitarist after the heartbreak that was the lawsuit situation. We KNOW that the ghouls are an everchanging rotating cast but that doesn’t make it any less sad. We know the papas change as well and it STILL makes people sad (myself included ofc) and we don’t always want to see them go. So I think it’s kind of unfair to say that people wouldn’t miss Aether/Chris if we didn’t know who’s under the mask because I think we still would.

Second thing: In my opinion, it’s awesome that we know the identities of the nameless ghouls because then we can support their other work and projects. I found Ghost about a year ago and have loved them ever since, even though it’s not the kind of music that I would typically listen to. Before, I listened to some metal and rock but I mostly listened to pop, r&b, country, and alternative. But then I heard Year Zero for the first time, decided to check out Ghost, listened to Bible and Witch Image religiously for a few days, and quickly developed an unhealthy obsession with the band. But I ONLY listened to their music and didn’t know anything about the actual band or any of the lore.

Then I started seeing videos of the 2022 Imperatour on TikTok and fell in love with the ghouls and Papa and the theatrics and all the lore. After that, I started watching interviews with Tobias Forge and he seemed so cool then I started learning about the people behind the ghoul masks and their other work. And I LOVED IT ALL. I never would have discovered this work without knowing who the nameless ghouls really are.

Without knowing their identities I never would’ve discovered the Sisters of Mercy (a band that Chris Catalyst and Ben Christo were/are in), I never would’ve discovered Drag Talk (a group that Jutty Taylor and Hayden Scott are a part of) or Juttys old music (Jutty Ranx anyone?), I never would’ve discovered Diamond Black (a group that Ben Christo started that has become a top band for me on Spotify), I never would’ve started listening to Cos Sylvan, Mad Gallica, Chris, or Jutty’s other music without knowing them from Ghost. (and of course, I love Per, Laura, Hayden, and Sophie too but I don’t really listen to their other music tbh)

These artists and the other music they create are musicians and contributors to types of music that I’m still new to and probably wouldn’t really listen to if I had never found them through these people. Maybe I’m the only person with this experience but I’m pretty sure I’m not, and I’m beyond thrilled that I was able to find these amazingly talented people and their awesome work through the band Ghost. I personally see finding out their identities as a bit of a double-edged sword, because while they’re not anonymous and nameless anymore, we still get to be exposed to these musicians and their other work.

So TLDR: One: I don’t think it’s fair to say that we wouldn’t miss Aether if we didn’t know his true identity because we would still know that he’s gone and that someone is taking his place. Two: I think it can be a good thing that we know the nameless ghouls' identities because it means that we can support their other work and show them our love by supporting their music and projects outside of Ghost because we know who they are behind the masks.

#ghost bc #ghost the band #the band ghost #nameless ghouls #era 4 ghouls #era 5 ghouls #unmasked ghouls #aether ghoul #tobias forge #chris catalyst #ben christo #jutty taylor #hayden scott #mad gallica #per eriksson #cosmo sylvan #laura scarborough #sophie amelkin

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mvndfvelds · 2 years

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a guide to ghost ! (pt. 1)

i have the biggest hyperfixation on ghost and i decided making a guide would be good for new fans (and, honestly, for my own reference) !!

please correct me if any of this is wrong :) !

part 1. the papas:

papa nihil (papa emeritus zero) :

appears in the ghost chapters.

father to papas i, ii and iii.

(possibly) illegitimate father to papa iv.

NOT played by tobias forge. does not sing on stage at any point, only lip-syncs in MVs.

died march 3rd 2020. however has been revived repeatedly on-stage during the "impera" tour to play his sax solo.

^^ (left) younger nihil in the "kiss the go-goat" MV. according to cannon lore, he was the front man of ghost in 1969.

(right) nihil performing his sax solo during "miasma" ^^ live.

papa emeritus i (primo) :

frontman of ghost during the "opus eponymous" album from 2008-2012.

retired and replaced by papa ii.

WAS played by tobias forge.

killed on the 30th april 2018 (along with his brothers, papas ii and iii) by his parents (nihil and sister imperator) - this can be seen in the ghost chapters.

(right) embalmed and presented for the "prequelle" ^^ and "impera" tours.

papa emeritus ii (secondo) :

frontman of ghost during the "infestissumam" and "if you have ghost" eras between 2012-2015.

fired from the clergy and replaced by papa iii.

WAS played by tobias forge.

killed on the 30th april 2018.

(right) embalmed and presented for the "prequelle" ^^ and "impera" tours.

papa emeritus iii (terzo) :

frontman of ghost during the "meliora" and "popestar" eras from 2015-2017.

dragged off stage and replaced by papa iv.

WAS played by tobias forge.

killed on the 30th april 2018.

^^ (left) terzo demonstrating his unmatched kazoo skills! - i'm completely normal about him <3

(right) embalmed and presented for the "prequelle" ^^ and "impera" tours.

papa emeritus iv (cardinal copia) :

formerly cardinal copia, but made papa emeritus iv by papa nihil - can be seen in the ghost chapters.

IS played by tobias forge !

often referred to as "popia" for the shits and giggles <3

current frontman of ghost since april 6th 2018.

has been frontman for two albums so far, "prequelle" and "impera"

he is the most fleshed out character in the ghost universe due to the ghost chapters.

^^ (left - after surgery) he has the broadest range of outfits, all of them being very impressive.

(right - before surgery) this IS, shockingly, the ^^ same guy !! here is our beloved popia on his tricycle in the ghost chapters. the drastic change of appearance is explained later in the ghost chapters, it's said to be part of a "two-in-one" plastic surgery.

#ghost band #the band ghost #ghost bc #papa terzo #papa emeritus #papa emeritus 4 #papa emeritus iii #ghost lore #guide to ghost #band ghost #papa primo #papa secondo #cardinal copia #popia copia #popia #im so normal about them

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madangel19 · 1 year

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Ok. How many people are in Ghost? And do people know what they look like without the masks?

Is Papa (?) Pope (?) same person??? Same mask ? different names?

Oh man, there are a lot of people in Ghost, but currently, there are nine members of the band. Eight ghouls and Papa Emeritus IV. There have been many others, mostly those who played the ghouls, but they usually leave on their own terms.

For a long time, people didn't know what the band members looked like beneath their masks. They wanted to remain anonymous, but that didn't last long so now people know what they all look like under the mask.

All of the Papas are played by the same man, Tobias Forge, who wears a different mask for each character. Here's Tender Father below. He's a mad talented genius :D

Onto the Papas! There are four of them and each album has a different Papa as the lead. All of them are brothers with their father being this old fart, Papa Nihil.

He's the only Papa that's not played by Tobias Forge. I'll get back to him a little later.

This here is Papa 1, also known as Primo. He's the first Papa and he's also an old fart. All of them are old farts, but Primo is the second oldest fart behind Nihil.

I honestly don't know much about him, but Ghost started out with him with the album, OpusEponymous. He's crusty and dusty lookin, but the fans still love him. Also, the fandom has collectively agreed that he loves gardening due to a very good cosplayer playing around in a garden.

Next up is Papa 2, also known as Secondo. He looks like an older Pitbull when not in makeup (that's still a mask :'D)

He's the bone daddy and he's pretty intimidating with that stare. He was the frontman for the album, Infestissumam, which fucking slaps holy shit. I highly recommend that one.

Next up is Terzo, who quickly became a fan favorite as Ghost started getting more popular. Lord almighty, this man has most everyone in the fandom acting up. He's horny on main almost 24/7 and it shows lol

With their Grammy hit, Cirice, came the most wanted experience by many ghost fans: Being picked by Papa Emeritus if you're near the stage so he can serenade you and give your hand a smooch. Lord, I'd die on the spot. The charisma is dripping from those gifs, good lord almighty I think I need to fan myself lol

He was behind the Meliora album where it focused less on the devil, which was focused on in the other albums, and more on worshipping the self. The ministry didn't like this and Terzo ended up getting dragged off stage and eventually killed along with Primo and Secondo. Very sad :(, but next up is when things get very good :D

Before Terzo was killed off, we were introduced to Cardinal Copia

He is also a fan favorite and he became the frontman for the Prequelle album once Terzo and the others were killed off. It's very likely that he is also an Emeritus due to Papa Nihil hooking up with Sister Imperator when they were younger.

Anyway, back to Copia. Nihil didn't want Copia leading the band because he wasn't a part of the bloodline, but Sister said he was very good at his job as Cardinal and him having the second most employee of the month achievements convinced Papa Nihil to let Copia lead the band. Nihil wanted to lead, but he's an extra old fart and the band needed someone a bit younger.

So Copia became the frontman and he was goofy, sexy and fabulous!

He wore a lot of tight-ass clothes and he liked to ride around on a lil tricycle both off and on stage. He's the rat daddy :3

And then, everything changed when Papa Nihil died on stage and Copai just rolled out on his lil trike in this video where he became the new Papa. Warning, this video is loud, but it's mostly due to this one guy losing his shit

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So, Cardi C turned into Papa Emeritus IV and he's the current Papa right now and I adore him :')

Also, with Cardi becoming Papa, he got plastic surgery (new mask), so he looks a lot different now without makeup. Still love him tho :')

So, Copia is still the frontman and he's on two albums: Prequelle and Impera (which fucking slaps). It's also very likely that he's gonna get killed off at the end of this upcoming summer tour due to this video

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The fandom is scared for Copia because we have no idea what's going to go down on 9/11 and 9/12. Those are their last two shows of the tour and no filming from the crowd is allowed, so something big is gonna happen. I don't want rat daddy to die :'D

Anyway, thank you so much for the ask about Ghost! There's a lot of lore, but this pretty much sums it up for the Papas. The ghouls are totally different story since there's so many of them :'D

There are a lot of other explanation vids online you can check out if you want to look more into them

#the band ghost #ghost bc #ghost band #papa emeritus #cardinal copia #papa terzo #papa secondo #papa primo #papa copia

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corviiidaee · 1 year

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generation loss generation 2 playlist analysis !!

hello !! this is my first actual post so sorry if there's any weird formatting ! i have not seen anyone analyze ranboo's playlist for generation 2 yet so i figured i'd fill the gap !!

now some history, i am a ghost fan and have been a ranboo fan since 2020 so it's really cool to see two things collide !! i re-hyperfixated on ghost at the start of their current tour and it lined up perfectly with the release of generation 1 to get me back into watching ranboo too !! to see him add these songs to the generation 2 playlist set my brain on fire, so this is exactly what that fire looks like

i am primarily a ghost fan out of the songs chosen on this playlist so i am going to have a lot more to say about the ghost songs and if i say something wrong about the other songs or anyone has anything to add please feel free !!!

*NOTE: ghost is an inheritly satanic band, it's their whole theme. if that or religious themes in general make you uncomfortable, please do not read this analysis !!!!

here is the link to ranboo's playlist if anyone wants to follow along :D https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1XubFgT0bpuQDSwlLrZGTP?si=134b2fff3ba24375

kaisarion by ghost: kaisarion is about an old mathmatician and astronomer named hypatia. she got stoned to death by the christian church because they thought she was a witch for being an intelligent woman. basically the destruction of things you don't understand and don't bother to. also tobias forge, lead singer of the band, has stated that the song is like a violent start to a new empire, a call to arms of sorts. the burning away the past to build something new.

spillways by ghost: spillways is about how if the darkness in you is put behind a dam, it will always find a way to come out, through the spillways of your own soul. the darkness will never go away but through accepting it exists you can be greater than it.

faith by ghost: faith is a song from the perspective of satan watching the world fall to the black plague. this song can also be viewed as the people dying because they thought that god would save them so they did nothing to prevent their infection. i will get back more to this theme in the later songs, especially to misery fell.

he is by ghost: he is is basically just a satan worship song disguised as a regular worship song. take that as you will !

kiss the go-goat by ghost: linking this song coherently to the rest by far stumped me the most because of the vibe of the song (iykyk). but i have produced two links: the creation of the anti-christ and something not being what it seems to be. the chorus says, "it ain't always what it seems when you cling onto a dream, it ain't always there to please you". so something that the protagonist is connected to, which i will discuss later in the other songs, is not what it looks like. there is an evil inside it.

square hammer by ghost: the song's title can be interpreted as "truth hammer" because of being "square" with someone. the album it's connected to, meliora, is the third record produced by ghost. all three albums to that point had an overarching theme between them, meliora being the reign of the anti-christ on earth. square hammer is encourging the people to look to satan instead of god and to swear to the devil and the anti-christ. the devil and the anti-christ in genloss gen 2 will be likely not directly the devil because that is way too on the nose, but i have a feeling this overseeing entity referenced by the devil/the anti-christ will act similar to hetch.

crucified by ghost: this song is actually originally by another swedish band army of lovers and ranboo has sent their version of the song before in the genloss ranmail !! this is just the version he put in and i know better, but both songs obviously have the same lyrics. the name of the song pretty much says all the song needs to say, so that's all i have to say about it !!

another believer by rufus wainwright: this song is originally from meet the robinsons but i'm gonna be honest i know nothing about this song and genius has nothing to say but from the title you can pretty much assume the meaning !

everybody wants to rule the world by tears for fears: everyone has heard this song but this is also one that i think the meaning ranboo went for is already stated in the title of the song !!

homage by mild high club: homage is also pretty self-explanatory !! the connection i can see is "someone wrote this song before and i can tell you where it's from" meaning an event happening in generation 2 is probably not the first time it has happened.

jesus he knows me by ghost: this song is originally by genesis but the ghost cover was added to the playlist again so that is what i will be covering !! the song is a satire on tv preachers who will try to sell you the idea of religion and god for profit, which means they do not follow what they preach.

you're at the party by lemon demon: this song is about a supernatural entity inviting you to the part of the afterlife and i'm gonna be honest i don't think that's the meaning ranboo wanted us to get so i'm going to look at some of the specific lyrics instead ! in the refrain the song says "(wake up, wake up) and it's a place you've seen before ... a place you've seen before you were born". so this relates back to my interpretation of homage, the place and story we will see in gen 2 has happened before. the bridge also says "you're at the party, you're not alone" so this again refers to the overseeing entity.

he needs me by shelly duvall: the song basically says exactly what the title means again, but you can interpret this using the other songs i have already explained. the protagonist of gen 2 is likely being manipulated by the overseeing entity.

misery fell by tally hall: misery fell tells a story about a town who was unhappy with their lives so they gave up their knowledge and experience to get the things they dreamed of and experience bliss. they had turned to a religious entity for any happiness. the chorus says, "town without love too much faith in above?" so the people in this town have devoted their lives entirely to their new religious entity.

cannibal by tally hall: this song is again exactly what it says but this one scares me a lot !! we can look at the metaphoric meaning rather than the literal meaning of the word though. the chorus is "i am the willing victim of a cannibal, she rips out my bones like i'm an animal. and right when i'm feeling like my blood is drained, she calls it a game, but the wound she leaves is unmistakable". again, the manipulation of the protagonist theme comes back. they have been subjected to this pain by this entity and they think it is normal but it is definitely taking a major toll on them. the entity thinks nothing of it however.

that's all i have to say for now !! and like i said before, if you have any additions please feel free to add :D and do not take this as concrete evidence of anything that will happen in generation 2 !!!! this is just my ramblings !! take it as you wish !!

and if you like the vibe of 80s rock go listen to ghost !!!!

#thank you for reading if you read the whole post <3 #generation loss #genloss #generation loss theory #genloss theory #generation loss analysis #genloss analysis #genloss generation 2 #generation loss generation 2 #ranboo #ranboolive #raven's ramblings

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tisthenightofthewitch · 2 years

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Ghost at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, CA

Ghost returns to the US to kick off their late summer Imperatour North American Tour at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

Swedish goth/theater rock band Ghost returned to the stage at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego to begin their North American tour dubbed Imperatour. This tour sees the Grammy Award-winning band brings the satanic ritual musical theater to their North American fans again in 2022.

Tobias Forge is the vocalist for Ghost and performs as the main characters, Papa Emeritus and Cardinal Copia. He once again brings those roles to life, much to the delight of all the dedicated fans in attendance, some in makeup and costume mimicking their onstage hero. The satanic faithful, gleefully singing along to the satanically-oriented lyrics. Forge’s onstage persona is ever evolving with new and updated characters. Part Liberace, part Siegfried and Roy, part twisted and evil clergyman, Forge is all showman. The effeminate character embodied by the showman moves across the stage with a grace and style that recalls a well-styled but twisted ballet or Broadway show. Forge has definitely taken the original goth rock style of Alice Cooper, stripped away the horror element, and put a theatrical and satirical twist of their take of the satanic/metal/goth genre.

Ghost is not just Forge but also comprises a very good hard rocking eight-member touring band, known as the Nameless Ghouls. The Ghouls, all wear virtually identical face-concealing costumes. Clad in all black, the jack-booted, jodhpur trouser-clad rockers, wore helmets, with large coke bottle goggles that looked like a cross between a video game nazi character, and a “Despicable Me” minion. Ghost brings with them on this tour a beautiful stage build made up like an old gothic church and a very well-programmed light show.

The Nameless Ghouls and Forge’s demonic anti-pope character, Papa Emeritus, and the dead (brought back to life with spark shooting AED paddles) sax-playing Papa Nihil, all made for quite an entertaining stage spectacle. Forge made several costume changes from the Cardinal Copia character to the Papa Emeritus back to a very Liberace-like Copia in a blue sequin dinner jacket. During Forge’s costume changes the band rocked the crowd with some great instrumental interludes. After each change Forge’s character sashayed and strut across the stage gracefully while the Ghouls stomped and rocked the crowd with arena rock anthems.

This band loves the spotlight and the aforementioned light show was a perfect compliment to theatrics. So many bands of this genre love to hide in the dark. This is not the case when you go to a Ghost show. This band loves the spotlight and was made for it. The Ghouls were well rehearsed and the show went off with the timing of a well-directed and rehearsed Broadway show. From the Kabuki curtain fall to the curtain call, with Forge tossing roses into the adoring crowd, this had all the making of well-played theater.

Whether you are a fan of the music, a believer in the lyrical content, or a fan of the theatrics, it is, above all, theater and is very entertaining. The northern Europeans have a rich tradition in the doom/goth/death metal genre, and Ghost is one of the bands that sits atop that group. Ghost’s creativity, character building, and live show are what sets them apart from most in this genre. This tour puts all their talents on display. Forge is the consummate showman, and the Nameless Ghouls band is excellent. So whether you are a satanic “believer,” you believe it’s just theater, or you are looking for a good entertaining theatrical rock show, check out Ghost as they swing through the US until late September.

Loud Hailer

#The Band Ghost #Ghost Band #Ghost Live Review #Papa IV #Papa Emeritus IV #Nameless Ghouls #Ghouls #Tobias Forge

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fruitmanstyles · 2 years

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BUCKLE UP GHESTIES IT’S TIME TO ROCK N ROLL: A Spillways Dissection

Hello pals please take a peek under the cut for a literal fucking essay I wrote for my theories on the Spillways video because apparently Tobias Forge owns my brain and makes me do weird things with it.

First thing’s first: Copia is pissed at Imperator and is heavily questioning his loyalty to her. I think it’s pretty clear that this is not what he’s wanted, but Imperator is more of the puppet master. We’ve seen what she did to get him to the papacy, she’s clearly had her own plans all along.

Tobias said in a Metal Hammer interview, "Spillways was an elegy for the darkness that most people have inside. When you have a dam, spillways are the run-offs so the dam won't overflow. That darkness inside us needs to find its way out."

It’s about people who have so much hatred and darkness inside of them that they’re taking it out on everyone around them because it’s overflowing. They’re drowning and they want everyone else to go down with them - it could be forcing people into their own ideals and such aka Imperator forcing Copia into the papacy for her own greater plans.

With Spillways being about the behaviors of those shitty people, the Job quote is spoken by Copia and is how he feels about the situation - but “God” in this sense means Imperator. It’s probably very important to note that Job was one of God’s most loyal servants, however God is constantly torturing him. At one point Satan had told God, “Job only loves you because his life is good,” insinuating that if Job can love Him even through darkness and suffering, only then must it be true. Like, duh, of course he loves you, his life is sooo good because of you! Why would he think anything else? So God starts forcing Job to prove himself over and over again even when he has continually served Him for so long.

Job starts questioning his purpose because now it seems like no matter what he does, how he acts, or how well he still serves God - he’s continually met with all of these afflictions and has even lost everything important to him because of God’s need to test his loyalty so mercilessly.

He finally gets to the point in all of his questioning where he’s just like, “I’m probably going to die soon, can I finally just have some peace until the end?” I think Copia is aware that something might happen to him because he's seen it with the other Papas - but Imperator made him into this figurehead? And is also possibly his mother? So why is she doing this to him?

Job 10:8-9 “Your hands fashioned and made me and now you have destroyed me altogether. Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?”

Job 10:20-22 “Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer before I go—and I shall not return— to the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.”

This video coming after Chapter 11 where he's clearly pissed at his whole situation with Imperator & Nihil definitely plays into it all. He’s been treading lightly and keeping his head down and doing as he's told but now he's like “Wait a minute I’m doing all of this shit for you and it's making me miserable!!! WHY me? WHY do I have to suffer for this??”

We can also tie everything into the lyrics for Darkness at the Heart of My Love & Respite on the Spitalfields.

To quote @leshyyx: “Listen to Darkness, to me it sounds like it’s from Imperator to Copia. Her love is dark as she killed the Papas for him and her love is unconditional because she’s his mother and is trying to convince him that she’s all he needs.”

”Will you walk the line? My path serpentine / Remember always that love is all you need / Tell me who you wanna be and I will set you free”

DATHML can even be compared to the themes of Cirice:

“Can’t you see that you're lost without me" vs. “Remember always that love is all you need"

Cirice is about the darkness of religion that hides under the guise of love. It’s like “Oh yes, you’re very special, I will love you for who you are, let me lead you down this path, you won’t be able to find your way without me, trust me!”

DATHML is similar in the sense that as long as you love them/God/whoever, they will give you whatever you need. But that comes with a price. “Will you walk the line? My path serpentine” makes it sound like it’s a test. A serpentine path can mean something winding and shady and difficult - the ‘leader’ is saying if you’re willing to walk this dark path for me, clearly that proves your love. This brings us back to God’s testing of Job’s loyalty, the idea of unconditional love being the only thing you need to make it through. If you love someone unconditionally then obviously you should be willing to go through all of this suffering because you love them, right? That won’t change anything, right?

And that comes back to the song lyrics being about people so bitter with their own lives and having all of this inner pain and rage that they take it out on everyone around them - it’s a cycle. This is potentially leading into Copia going on a rampage. Everything he’s been made to endure by her has built up far too much darkness within him and it’s going to start overflowing. This is going to connect directly into Respite on the Spitalfields..

“We're here in the after of a murderous crafter

The past is spun like a yarn and mangled

With flesh and blood and bones, I wonder

Did no one hear the distant thunder” (this line could be a direct callback to Cirice btw)

He’s going to start tearing shit apart and revealing all of the lies he’s been fed. It’s all a farce - he’s been used as a puppet for too long, he finally saw the signs that clearly no one else did or was ignoring, and now it’s time to uncover the truth.

“He appeared to ascend

So we all stood there in awe

Now we have to pretend

We didn't see what we saw

When the curtain unveiled

To the sound of applause

That the king that we hailed

Was the Wizard of Oz”

HOWEVER - I also think he's going to get halfway through this release and then become very aware of why and how he got to the pinnacle of this rage. And then, he’s going to end the cycle, end the empire, end Imperator.

“Nothing ever lasts forever

We will go softly

Into the night…”

/fin.

P.S. Here’s some links to peruse if you’re curious:

Full Job 10 Chapter: https://biblia.com/bible/esv/job/10

Full Job 10 commentary: https://wernerbiblecommentary.org/?q=node/751

Another Job 10:1 Commentary: https://scripturalcommentary.blogspot.com/2015/07/job-101-on-weariness-and-perspective.html

#the band ghost #papa emeritus iv #sister imperator #spillways #spillways video #ghost lore #papa emeritus #papa iv #impera #cardinal copia #tobias forge

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freakystrashdump · 1 year

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Ahhh so, it is with great regret I inform you that Damiano stole away Priest's singing voice claim. It seems making a character based off of a band...does make you associate them with said band.

Priest is probably very unhappy with this but alas, it is the way the cookie crumbles.

Anyway, Tobias Forge, who acts out all the Papa's from the band Ghost, is now Damiano's singing voice.

Along with that discovery, I've naturally come to the conclusion that one of Damiano's unique abilities is "siren voice", aka his singing can put people in to a trance (with some stipulations, it works strongest when combined with the "special communion wine" from his church. It's an ability similar, albeit weaker, to Verosika. Like it has a lot more to it, aka it's not limited to only making people horny, but it's weaker than hers and needs amplifications like the wine or a witch)

So with all that, here's a scenario that's been on repeat in my head: Priest and Salem being sent out by Lucifer (because he's takes much joy in pairing them up and making them suffer) to Damiano's church to watch guard after he was almost assassinated by an angel weapon (Priest is generally in charge of finding angelic weapons and bringing them back to Lucifer)

As Damiano chats them up (mostly Salem, Priest would love nothing more than to just do his job and leave) before sermon, he offers them the wine, which Priest very knowingly refuses for the both of them. Salem, naturally, gets pissed he is speaking for her, and when he isn't looking, drinks some out of spite, much to Damiano's delight.

The two hide in the upper levels, watching the sermon take place, Priest very annoyed by the debauchery and Salem finding it fascinating.

But then, it begins. Right after unholy communion, the altar becomes a stage, and as Damiano sings, the crowd becomes entranced.

Salem starts feeling the effect.

Priest sees the literal heart shapes form in her eyes and realizes the moron drank the damned communion wine. He literally has to hold her back as she claws and wriggles like a angry cat because she keeps trying to jump off the rafters. She manages to jump out of his grasp, and he only manages to catch her tail before she pulls him along with her, falling two stories down, in to the raving crowd.

When he picks himself up, he's lost in the crowd, and he can't find her, hellborns and sinners all moving in synch (and acting in very immoral ways), he saunters around doing his best not to touch them -

And sees red when he spots Damiano holding a fully trance-immersed Salem.

#trash text #the coven

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sucharide · 1 year

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WAIT OK IM WRITING BUT

started thinking abt Ghost and everything this band and fandom has done for me.

This fucking band actually changed the whole trajectory of my life.

That sounds dramatic, but it fucking did.

I gave up on writing in like, 2015, I think? I just. I gave up. I wasnt finishing works, I didn't see what I could do with it, I decided that it was more important to try to find a grown up career. I decided to give up on my dreams because they were fanciful, and I had such low self esteem I didn't think I deserved to pursue them -- and I also had such low self esteem that I couldn't let others read my writing.

Cue Ghost entering my life.

Writing came back and like... gripped my heart and did not let go. It felt like a piece of my childhood, a wondrous piece, was returned to me.

It was like I knew my calling once upon a time, and then adulthood came along and I collected up my hopes and dreams and found a dark shelf in the attic of my mind and tossed them there. When I heard Mary on a Cross, Papa Emeritus himself wandered into my subconscious and found that dusty old piece of me tucked away, untouched for so many years, and he plucked it from its cobwebbed shelf like one might inspect a curio. It was like he found this thing and carried it back to my conscious self and held it out to me and said, "Hey, did you know this was back there? It looks sort of important, si?"

And I was full of all this love for this band that I had just discovered -- so full I felt like I was nearly bursting, and here was this precious part of me that could offer me a release for all that consuming obsession.

For really one of the first times in my adult life, I wrote. Like, properly fucking wrote. It was like talking to an old friend -- I picked up just where I left off. It was a little awkward at first, sure, but it didn't take long to find my rhythm again.

And for the first time, I was finishing stories. I was finishing short stories. I finally had something that I could share. And so, I shared my writings with you wonderful people -- I shared my writing!!! Something I literally never did before.

And you guys... liked it. God, I even managed to draw out some tears with one story! And I can't even begin to express to you how incredible that was for me! My words drew out emotional experiences from people. That was just... it felt like purpose. In a way, it felt like power! Nothing I was doing in my job as a vet nurse felt that good.

I was doing good work, sure, but the work was stressful and the pay was crap and I felt exhausted and emotionally so fucking drained and unappreciated every day. It wasn't giving me that sense of achievement. I didn't really feel like I had anything to be proud of -- but the writing! Oh! That scratched an itch that I couldn't unscratch.

It felt so, so, so, so good to finish stories and share them with a community. It was nourishing to my soul in a way that nothing else was, and it became very, very, very apparent to me that if I was to live a fulfilled life, I had to write. There was nothing else for it. I simply had to write.

Ghost singlehandedly helped me rediscover my passion for writing. Helped me find what I genuinely think might be my calling in life. If it wasn't for Ghost, I would probably still be working in a job i had come to hate, I probably wouldn't be at university right now, I wouldn't have discovered my passion for philosophy (a major I chose practically on a whim because I needed a second one to go with the creative writing major).

I wouldn't have met the incredible new friends I have made -- one of whom I have had the incredible pleasure of meeting up with! I wouldn't have been able to connect with other talented writers who have become dear friends to me, and have taught me so very very much about this shared craft.

Ghost genuinely changed the trajectory of my life.

I just... not a day goes by where I am not intensely grateful to Tobias Forge. I think a change was coming for me whether I found Ghost or not... but given the trajectory of my mental health at the time I discovered the band.... I am quite sure said change was not going to be good. If you've been following me for a while you know that the journey of my mental health has been, uh, something over the last 6 months. Ghost has been a constant that has offered my community, direction, and passion. I am just. Wow.

Anyway that was so fucking long i'm totally procrastinating writing my flash fiction piece.

But isn't it just insane how much a band can do for someone?

Also -- a note on my fics:

I know I've been creatively blocked lately, and I haven't updated any of my fics in months now (mental health is fun folks!)... but that's a temporary thing. And I know we live in a world where we expect content to be churned out quickly, but that's not realistic.

Those fics, my wips, are not abandoned. Even if they seem abandoned right now. I love the stories I have on the go, and I am not abandoning them. But I am a human, and humans need breaks. My brain has not been cooperating creatively because I have had other hurdles to face. I am absolutely positive at this stage that I will return to ficwriting for Ghost, but I cannot give a timeframe at this stage.

But I was never writing for anyone but myself, at the end of the day. Actually, I think that's maybe where I lost some steam with the fic writing in the first place. I lost track of the fact that I was writing these fics for myself first, and started getting anxious about taking time to update and altogether lost the ability to update completely!

Anyway.

God this is so long. Like i said. Procrastinating and highly caffeinated. If you made it this far... god I think I owe you something? If i could grant you a wish, I would.

I can't so I won't but -- you know.

#Roach rambles #GOD THIS GOT SO LONG #praise Ghost basically

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toboldlywrite · 2 years

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Dawn Harkyr

“Power only corrupts if the person values power more than they value the lives of others. And yes, people who have those values tend to find themselves drawn to power. But it isn’t the power that does the corrupting.”

Ten years ago, Dawn woke up on an alien world with no memories and a whole lot of power. She’s spent most of the time since becoming a bona fide superhero (while trying to discover who she is along the way). But she’s made her share of mistakes, and there are many people who see her as anything but a hero.

She takes Ella and Tobias onto her ship and agrees to help them with their quest--asking for nothing in return, which makes Tobias suspicious. Power corrupts, right? Or maybe it just means making the conscious choice, day after day, not to let it.

@writeblrsummerfest said to talk about the favorite character in our wips so here we are. The enigmatic, super-powered captain of the Astraea.

Image description: a grid of nine images with golden yellow border between and around them. Top row: two hands joining as if in an offer of a dance; white text on a black background reading “what doesn’t kill me better run”; a planet from space with the sun flaring in a cross-shape over it, all in dark golden tone; middle row: a close-up of a leather jacket; a headshot of Jessica Matten, edited so that her eyes look like black opals; a black and white image of the lower half of a person carrying a sword at their side; bottom row: the close-up image of an arm glowing with golden light that goes up through the veins; white text on a black background reading “I am iron and I forge myself”; a golden sky background with white text reading “the fire finds a home in me.”

#wip: star saga #oc: dawn #writeblr summerfest

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slavghoul · 2 years

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Full article from Metal Hammer 12/2022 that I posted an excerpt from in the previous post. BTW, Impera landed #1 on Metal Hammer’s list of best albums of 2022!

It was January 2022, and we found ourselves sitting in the empty lobby of a snug Seattle hotel, overlooking the sunset over Puget Sound while soft rock wafted through the PA system. Across from us was Ghost frontman and mastermind Tobias Forge, and we spent nearly two hours talking about music, family, dogs and the steady ascension of Ghost from spooky Swedish underground band to arena filling titans. But mostly we were there to talk about Impera – their fifth album, then still two months away from release.

In the run-up to an album coming out – particularly one with a highly acclaimed predecessor, like 2018’s Prequelle – artists tend to convey palpable anxiety as they prepare to relinquish control of their work to the world. Not so with Tobias, who radiated ease and comfort. Impera had not yet seen the light of day, but he had already moved on. Looking back at that period today, he explains, “As soon as I am done making a record, I’m pretty much fed up with it. I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to know about it, I just want to forget about it. Once it hits the ears of people, depending on how it’s being received, that’s where you start from scratch again.”

Following Ghost’s North American tour with Volbeat and Twin Temple, Impera was released on March 11. It seamlessly blended pop-savvy songwriting with elaborate arrangements and steady torrents of anthemic pop metal riffage that created a wormhole back to the lighter-raising, arena-rock majesty of the 80s. From the glass-shattering scream that opened Kaisarion to the synth-rock squall of Watcher In The Sky, it delivered one guitar-powered banger after another.

It was enough to land Ghost their first No.1 position on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart – their fourth Top 10 overall. Even bigger, in terms of vinyl and CD sales, Impera scored 2022’s biggest first-week sales for any album, of any genre. With more than 62,000 copies sold in the US alone, it easily bested The Weeknd’s February CD release of Dawn FM. In fact, Impera claimed the biggest first sales week for hard rock vinyl since Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy in 1994.

Critics united in swift and lusty praise. It might have felt heretical at the time, but many early reviews rated Impera as besting Prequelle on all fronts. Our very own Dave Everley wrote: ‘Impera wins on bolshiness, bravado and skyscraping songs alone. Ghost have turned in a modern metal classic with an arena rock heart. It turns out the Devil doesn’t have all the best tunes. Tobias Forge does.’ It’s safe to say any plans of “starting from scratch” were shoved to the back burner.

Ghost’s official Imperatour headlining run took them back across North America and then to Europe. Despite the lingering ravages of Covid across the live music industry, they thrived. “I am very happy that we managed to orchestrate a somewhat functioning but very successful album launch”, says Tobias. “We managed to nail 70 shows with just one cancellation. I think in this day and age in this year, that’s fucking great!”

Across the globe, stages were filling up with shows that had been booked many years prior. “We had to cut and paste a little with our touring schedule, because this past summer was basically filled with 2020’s line-ups,” says Tobias. “That made our scheduling a little… I wouldn’t say sparse, but we had breaks that were longer than normal. There are so many bands that are doing these weird dances. The last year of releasing an album into the void, with no touring and cancelling here and there and everywhere, and people having to rethink their lives, basically… We’ve been blessed not to have done too much of that.”

Logistics aside, somewhere along the line, that cultish little band from Sweden – the one with the creepy frontman singing about Satan and plagues and empires – went mainstream. Propelled by Impera’s momentum, the band tapped into new levels of cultural saturation thanks to appearances on mainstays such as Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“TV always brings you in front of new people”, says Tobias. “We did [The Late Show With Stephen] Colbert a few years ago, and every time you do something like that, you obviously expose yourself to a new scene of viewers. And that’s always great, unless you completely shit the bed on the air. Ha ha ha! I think we did do a few things this year that brought in a whole slew of new people into our fanbase.”

But ever the realist, he adds, “You might have a spike of people checking you out… but you don’t really notice if things like that had any effect. It’s not like the day after, all of your shows are now sold out and there’s a double night booked into every show you’re doing. It’s such a slow process that you don’t notice until a half year later when new fans come in and say, ‘I saw you on Kimmel’ or ‘I saw you with my dad.’ I wouldn’t say that being on Kimmel changed everything. It’s been slow, step-by-step, but it builds new branches onto the same tree and you keep growing higher.”

And higher they grew. In July, Mary On A Cross – originally released on the 2019 EP, Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic – was used in a Tiktok tribute to the show Stranger Things. The ripple effect was staggering. The song landed in the Top 10 of Spotify’s Viral 50 Global chart. As of this issue, the hashtag #Maryonacross has notched up well over one billion views. Ghost eventually released an official, slowed-down version of the song and the two versions combined now claim more than 180 million Spotify streams and counting. “For us, the Tiktok thing was or is just a giant bonus”, he explains. “That was never something that we planned.”

Surely the unplanned waves of publicity will ferry over legions of new fans, for whom an embarrassment of riches awaits. “One thing that I felt proud over, was the fact that we’ve been around for 12 years,” says Tobias. “We’ve made five records, a bunch of EPS, and I am glad that there seems to be a song that has a way to suck people in. And if they go into our world and like it, there is plenty to find. If you like Mary On A Cross, you can just jump on the train and go where we already are heading.”

It’s been an uncommonly good year for heavy music, but for Ghost it’s been more than a success – it’s been a coronation. Despite their demoniacal appearance and transgressive lyrical themes, they have negotiated the near-impossible task of attracting mainstream audiences while holding fast to the diehards in metal who have been there from the start. It creates the enviable problem of facing a new year with new pressures and heightened expectations. But Tobias has a plan.

“We’re doing a lot of touring again”, he explains. “On previous album cycles we’ve done four legs in America and two or three in Europe and repeated. We’re going to go into every territory next year, but there’s going to be one European tour, one American tour. We are going to do a little bit of everywhere. There’ll be a little bit of something up in upper Asia, on the far end there – a very well-established country with a lot of pop cultural fascination, and the home of videogames. And there’s going to be something in the Oceania world, and there might be something south of Panama, and there might be something slightly north of Panama. It feels pretty solid.”

He cryptically adds, “We’re going to come out with a little bit of change before that – good change. We’re not going to go silent. Some things are public, other things not in public view, but there are a lot of things brewing.”

We are journalistically bound to inquire about the next album and, unsurprisingly, Tobias remains mum. In January, he told us, “Everything I’m doing now is for the next record. I have a vague idea what that will be like and a vague idea of the title and the colour scheme.”

For now, that will have to do, but rest assured that as we all continue to enjoy the masterpiece that is Impera, Tobias is already hard at work, figuring out dramatic new ways to blow our minds. But he still allows himself the odd moment to stop and take it all in.

“To be able to make all of the shows that we’ve done, and to have a record that did fairly well, I think the sum of it is pretty fucking awesome,” he smiles. “I’m very thankful. It was a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck.”

#the band ghost #tobias forge #interview

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