Latest news with #TobiasForge
Perth Now
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Ghost rocker Tobias Forge offers view of the 'rock is dead' debate
Ghost's Tobias Forge is hopeful that there will be more "headlining" rock bands in the future in response to the "rock is dead" debate. The phrase has been thrown around for decades now with Kiss rocker Gene Simmons, 75, having said it several times over, but the 44-year-old Swedish singer has a more positive outlook. In an interview with Consequence, he said: 'I think it was Gene Simmons that said it most times, but I mean a lot of people have said that rock 'n' roll is dead and there will be no new headliners. I understand that it's been sparse, but I think that with the unfortunate disappearance of a lot of bands that I like — Kiss being one of them — I do believe that with time I think that there will be more [headlining rock] bands.' The Call Me Little Sunshine singer - whose band formed in 2006 and achieved their first Billboard number one album with sixth studio album, Skeletá, in May - insists it's an "age thing" where music veterans mourn the way rock music used to be. Praising the rise of his peers, he said: 'There are a few examples of fairly new bands who've risen to great statures, faster than we did. 'I think that there's this strange time phenomenon that happened somewhere in the 2000s where everything that was sort of old was old, and everything that came after was new, and just keeps on being labelled as new — especially by people who at the time were in their twenties or thirties or forties and now are in their forties, fifties, sixties. Which I think is an age thing.' Tobias continued: 'If you ask a lot of our fans who are 15 years old now, just the fact that our band has been around for 15 years — do you think that they think that we are a new band? No. And that's how it should be. I think they are right in the sense that we're an old established band. If our first album came out in 1980, and it's now 1995, that's an old band.' Gene went as far as blaming music fans for killing rock 'n' roll. He told Us Weekly: 'The people that killed it are fans. Fans killed the thing they loved by downloading and file sharing for free."
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tobias Forge on spirituality, isolation and the positive joys of fandom
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. 'When I was younger I was obsessed with becoming a celebrity,' Tobias Forge admits. 'It came with the trade I wanted to be in – a successful musician.' A surprising admission, perhaps, for a man who has built his success fronting Swedish theatrical hard rockers Ghost while wearing a succession of ornate masks, his face obscured, accompanied by a band referred to as Nameless Ghouls. His true identity was revealed officially only in 2017, and not by choice, after former ghouls broke ranks to complain about more earthly matters such as financial remuneration. Now, although this bearded 44-year-old has regularly been seen out of costume talking about his work (usually in a death-metal T-shirt and jeans, although choosing not to go on camera for our video call – old habits die hard), he maintains a relatively low profile, even at home in Stockholm. 'I'm kind of a D-level celebrity in Sweden,' he says. 'Which is completely fine. On the street where I live there are real famous people, from TV and Hollywood movies, and I don't envy their level of attention.' That may get increasingly difficult to contain if Ghost's fan base continues to grow at its current pace. As we speak they're at the start of a 55-date world tour, which has already taken in UK arena dates, the year after their own concert film, Rite Here Right Now, captured their spectacular live show from their 2023 tour. Judging by some of the titanic tunes that grace new album Skeletá, they'll soon be converting yet more impressionable young rock fans to the diabolical cause. That's 'diabolical' in the traditional sense, because from day one Ghost have pinned their philosophical and aesthetic colours to an anti-Christian mast, as first single and album highlight Satanized reflects once more. The promotional video for that song shows a clergyman in a confession box pouring out his admission of demonic possession to a priest, with nuns and monks also gripped by presumably supernatural powers to play along to the song on medieval instruments. Towards the end of the clip, the hapless cleric turns into Ghost's new front persona, Papa V Perpetua, the latest in the lineage of mysterious leaders around which the band's mythos has been built. So when we watch Ghost, are we basically watching a piece of musical theatre, or a rock band? Or both? 'It's a theatrical rock band, but it's not a play,' says Forge. 'We've really put a lot of effort into telling the story around the band, and creating the stage sets, the costumes, the light show, the pyros, because that's easily directed. But when we go on stage there's part of it that's just like a traditional band, based on the vibe in the room. So there still is this element of spontaneity when we play live, to maintain the excitement you want from a rock show.' All good showbiz fun, then, and anyone who has seen the band live can attest that they deliver handsomely in terms of on-stage spectacle. The bigger Ghost get, though, particularly in the notoriously satanic-panic-prone America, the more scrutiny there is likely to be over just what brand of Beelzebub-bothering they are trying to sell to the God-fearing youth of the world. And that's where it's hard to pin Forge down, in terms of quite what variety of occultism he subscribes to. He has explained in the past that he embraced Satanism as a teenager by way of rebelling against strict teachers and an oppressively Christian, conservative stepmother, as well as a means of finding his tribe among the rock fraternity. But then it lent itself to the world he began creating with Ghost in 2006. 'The first Ghost record was written with no commercial aspirations whatsoever,' he says. 'It was just like an art project for me, and the satanic imagery was kind of a homage to my origins in the underground death metal/black metal scenes, where all that stuff is omnipresent. "For me it was a very natural way of writing and a source of strong imagery to use. But then with the second album, I had a sense that this might be the train I'd been waiting for, so that made me sharpen my senses, and I figured: 'Well if people are listening, I might as well say something worthwhile'. 'I still believe that devilish imagery is a very effective way of telling a story,' he continues, 'especially in this day and age where there's this political force in the world that proclaims being on the good side, but where I come from it seems closer to the dark. "What I stand for is probably closer to Jesus, to humanism, and progress, and a positive approach to how you treat people, than the supposed 'good side' are, because they want to destroy those things. They are the closest thing now to fucking Damien Thorn [the antichrist character in the Omen films]. Isn't that fucking ironic?' So is Satanism, to Forge, essentially a rebellion against the Christian right and the kind of forces that helped get Donald Trump into power? 'Yeah,' he says. 'I think the shocker for us was that we thought that in the western world we were striving towards a more secular, free world. Then you find yourself surrounded by people who secretly wanted a more simple way of seeing things. Understanding the world is difficult, and it's easy to become a zealot, and to succumb to a dictatorship, where if you just do these simple things and listen to the leader, life will be easier. And that's what linear religion has done to the world. So who is the real dark force?' At the same time, though, he doesn't believe that all is lost. 'I still have this utopian idea of where the western world is going, which I still believe in. I still think that what's going on right now is just a bump in the road.' Has he ever felt any supernatural force around him during his career? Ever felt he's dicing with spiritual danger? It seems not, as he prefers to talk in more oblique terms. 'I do believe that there is a force in the universe,' he says, 'that you can be aware of or tapped into, but that force is not good or bad per se, it's progressive… On the other hand there will always be someone who feels like: 'I don't like this progressive movement at all, because I'm not making money out of it and I feel like my life is worthless because of it.' So I do believe that there is a force forward for humanity. 'The opposite of that is basically people being robbed of faith – belief in themselves and their own ability and their own right to control their own lives.' It's fair to say that Ghost's style of music isn't the variety of rock music most often associated with the occult. But as Forge explains, his natural tendency as a songwriter is to lean towards a more immediate, melodic style. 'Even if you listen to my old death metal band, it's pretty al dente music, but I still tried to make it as catchy as I could. I don't want to make just a background sound that you can sit and meditate to, I want to tell you something, I want to make you feel something. I think it's a natural progression that you try to be more and more effective in your writing. 'There's this misconception,' he adds, 'especially in indie rock, that people don't want to look good, and they don't want to be liked. You think that My Bloody Valentine didn't want to be successful? Of course they did! Did they want to become U2? Probably not. But they wanted to be just as effective in affecting people with their music. So it's a natural thing for me. If that means selling more records or getting more streams, then great.' For all the references to the dark side of the traditional spiritual spectrum, Forge insists that on Skeletá in particular, he has positive messages to impart. Opening track Peacefield, for example, offers air-punching sentiments of defiance as it celebrates 'the end of our monarchy, a state machine'. It assures listeners: 'This is what dreams are made of, this is what they're afraid of/ A rhyme with no reason… When they finally reach you, you will have seen through/That dark is the season.' 'I wanted to write a song that was going to instil hope,' he says, 'and as a reminder that just because it's night now, doesn't mean that there won't be a tomorrow. On another part of the record I compare it to winter.' That would be De Profundis Borealis (he does like his Latin titles), where he sings: 'Every time you feel the wind blow and a glow within you dies, when tomorrow comes you will know that the morning thaws the ice'. For Forge this reflects a sense of optimism, which can also be found in community, as suggested on Cenotaph in which he sings: 'Wherever I go, you're always there, riding next to me'. Even if you could apply these words to any number of situations – agit-punk this is not – it's the kind of rock music that sees itself as a source of solace for people in troubled times. Forge sees Ghost very much in that mould, whether his fan base buy into the theatrics, the anti-religious humanism or just the rush of a singalong chorus. 'There is a large portion of our fan base that have experienced isolation,' he says. 'I've heard a lot of sentiments about the joy of having found a social network through fandom, and that gladdens me a lot.' With a predominantly young male fan base, he also feels Ghost is a positive force to steer people away from more destructive ideologies. 'There are men who are kind of compasslessly cartwheeling in the void of how to be, and when there seems to be this incel mindset that people are being drawn towards, that probably comes from social disorientation and not knowing how to be a man, or even a human in this day and age. That's a huge problem and I hope that being part of a positive fan community can help address that.' Forge's ambitions for Ghost are still growing, as he explains of the current tour: 'With the film, I think that was sort of a bookend of what we were up until that point. So my job here is to reinvent Ghost in a newer, better, bigger thing that will take us onwards and upwards.' In perpetua, if you will.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
We've ranked every Ghost album from worst to best
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Formed by Tobias Forge in 2008 in Linköping, Sweden, Ghost have charted a meteoric trajectory from the tiny clubs of their homeland to the arenas and festival stages of the world, counting the likes of James Hetfield, Dave Grohl and Duff McKagan among their devoted followers - not to mention the millions of converts they continue to leave in their wake. Visually captivating, the Swedes appear as a spooky, blasphemous horde, with a ghoulish anti-Pope as a frontman, leading a pack of anonymous musicians shrouded by dark robes, masks and other nightmare-inducing garb. Every album cycle brings with it a drastic makeover, including a 'new' frontman - the most recent of which, Papa V Perpetua, took the reigns for 2025's bombastic Skeletá. Of course, their success would be nothing without the music, an absurdly-catchy blast of 70s hard rock, 80s metal and ample doses of pop, prog and even show tunes. As the band evolves, their tunes seemingly get all the more glittery and over the top - and the cult just will not stop growing. That said, here's our official ranking of every single Ghost album released thus far, in reverse order of greatness. A cruel, but understandable consequence of a breakout debut — like 2010's Opus Eponymous, for example — is the corrosive deluge of expectations that await the sophomore effort. Ghost found themselves in this very situation with the release of Infestissumam. At times campy (the ABBA cover, I'm A Marionette) and other times fiendishly heavy (Per Aspera Ad Inferi), their second album leveraged the band's burgeoning notoriety in an effective, if calculating way. The front half of Infestissumam absolutely smokes, from the soaring choral harmonies of the title track straight through to the blood-pumping sacrilege of Year Zero. The latter half however, fails to keep pace. The final few tracks are not without their own seditious charms but they collectively lack the kind of ginormous hooks or arena-sized choruses that incite the raising of lighters, the dusting of speed limits or the feverish pounding of chests - that is, until the magnificent Monstrance Clock wraps things up. A fine album, by any estimation, but one that captures Ghost reconciling their first real dose of fame with somewhat mixed results. We're already at the point where it's becoming difficult to separate Ghost records in terms of sheer quality, such has been the consistency of Tobias Forge's output over the years. While Skeletá still ploughed its own path - most of all through a uniquely existential new bent of lyrical focus from Forge - it very much feels like an album joyously waltzing around the same, glittery, 80s dancefloor that Impera and, to a lesser extent, Prequelle gaily strutted on. In that sense, it perhaps falls just a little short of its predecessors - there's nothing quite on the level of a Call Me Little Sunshine, a Rats or a Darkness At The Heart Of My Love here - but it's still absolutely stacked with killer cuts, not least the awe-inspiring opening triple-hit of Peacefield, Lachryma and Satanized, all of which already sit snugly within Ghost's upper tier of all-time bangers. It's undoubtedly the album's best run, but there are some other big highs: Cenotaph sneaks a beautiful emotional punch under it's Quo-aping boogie-riffs; Marks Of The Evil One is an urgent slice of dramatic arena metal; Umbra manages to cram a woozie space-prog break into its otherwise instantaneous synth-rock. All in all, a damn good album, only slightly overshadowed by the sky-high bar Tobias has set for himself. Produced by the Midas-fingered pop maestro Klas Åhlund (Madonna, Usher, Katy Perry), Ghost's magnificent third album revealed aspirations that extended far beyond their metal fanbase, straight into the bloody, beating heart of the mainstream. Witness mega-addictive, instantly-hummable tracks like Cirice and From The Pinnacle To The Pit. Whereas Blue Oyster Cult and Mercyful Fate had offered the most well-lit reference points on the first two albums, Meliora celebrates the brutal potency of the Almighty Riff, courtesy of bangers like Mummy Dust and the unabashedly AC/DC-esque Absolution. Far more than a rehash of the first two albums, Meliora discloses its vast depth in the velvety Laurel Canyon harmonies of He Is, in its baroque organ passages (Spirit), and in the anti-religious bombast of classical choirs (Deus In Absentia). Masterfully balancing its sharp siege of power riffs with softer moments of genuine melodic splendour, Meliora never feels scattered. Meant to be enjoyed at neighbour-bothering levels. The album that started it all. By the late-Noughties, a handful of retro outfits had struck commercial gold by reverting to the oldest trick in the retro rock songbook - sound exactly like Led Zeppelin (see Wolfmother, Graveyard, etc.). It was something of a revelation, then, when Ghost smashed their way into the thick of the fray with elegant, melodic compositions, radiating with warm production and showcasing Forge's feathery vocal harmonies. Where was all the noisy, overdriven Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden worship? They were there, of course, but stitched deep within more obvious references such as Blue Öyster Cult, Mercyful Fate and Pentagram, as well as with less-conspicuous influences like Uriah Heep, Demon and the Devil's Blood. As the funereal organ passages of opener Deus Culpa give way to the unholy wail of guitars and keyboards in Con Clavi Con Dio, you know you're in for a literal Hell of a ride. Tracks like Ritual and Stand By Him combine surging, hard rock riffing with spacious choruses big enough to knock satellites out of orbit. There's not a bad track on the album. Opus offered a convincing demonstration that Ghost could not merely conjure a unique sound but they could effectively employ it in a broad range of styles, from the heaviness of tracks like Satan Prayer or Elizabeth to the smooth instrumental purr of Deus Culpa and Genesis. Unsurprisingly, with its overt Satanism and galloping riffs, the album's earliest adopters hailed from the metal community, which is no small feat, considering that Opus is not a pure metal album by any stretch. In fact, one of Opus' highest achievements is that it inspired diehard metalheads to expand their sonic horizons; to look beyond genres, beyond blastbeats and beyond metal's beer-stained, leather-and-studded tropes and to appreciate catchy, mainstream rock at its finest. In 2019, in the midst of Prequelle's album cycle, Forge stated that its successor had already been conceived and that it would be a darker and heavier effort altogether. Yet, at first blush, Impera feels like Prequelle's younger sibling – a bit livelier and more colourful and in some ways more extreme, yet very much a sonic pairing. Bursting with juicy glam metal hooks, Impera uncorks one banger after another. From the siege of power chords and the piercing opening wail of Kaisarion to the towering gothic grandeur of Hunter's Moon, Impera bottles all of the energy and theatricality of an 80s stadium show. Informed by Andrew Lloyd Weber as much as Def Leppard, Forge once again partnered with Klas Åhlund to synthesise his grandiose vision into an ambitious and cunningly-catchy affair. You want pure pop? Spillways, with its breezy chorus and blinding fretwork will do you nicely. If it's balladry ye seek, Darkness At The Heart Of My Love unfolds with a memorable, lighter-waving, arms-around-your-mate chorus that you'll still be humming days after you've last heard the song. Doggedly fresh and genuinely affecting, Impera is an instant classic. Ghost's fourth album remains their greatest show of force – a relentlessly ambitious outing that synthesised Ghost's trademark sound with Forge's grand, theatrical vision, exemplified by the lush choral pageantry of Pro Memoria and closer Life Eternal. Further underscoring the Broadway vibes were the instrumentals – the dreamy Helvetesfonster and Miasma, a proggy space rock voyage, building to an exhilarating crescendo that manages to include both an unambiguous Michael Jackson reference and a goddamned saxophone solo. We'd be forced to draw Spinal Tap comparisons if the band didn't pull these off so utterly convincingly. Prequelle also reaffirmed Forge's enduring love affair with the polished album rock of the early-80s in the guise of full-tilt anthems like Rats and Witch Image. Swedish to the core, he also boasts a preternatural gift for writing sugary pop classics, none catchier than the dancefloor-packing Dance Macabre. Prequelle is both an extension of all that fuelled Ghost's rapid ascent and a bold step forward. The whole thing could have backfired, alienating potential new fans with its unvarnished Luciferian imagery, while repelling existing fans with its heavy pop and showtune undercurrents. Instead, it dazzled them all. Debuting at number three on the Billboard charts, Prequelle united critics and fans in frothy acclaim, attracted legions of new followers and it has easily stood the test of time, destined to enjoy, dare we say, 'Life Eternal.'
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Popular Rock Band Tops Albums Chart for First Time in 4 Years
A career milestone! Swedish rock band Ghost landed the No. 1 spot on the all-genre-inclusive Billboard 200 albums chart with their sixth studio album, Skeletá. 'Skeletá' is the first album for any rock, hard rock, or alternative album to be on the list since AC/DC's Power Up in 2020. Ghost was founded in 2006 by frontman Tobias Forge. Forge, 44, plays a number of different personas on stage, including Papa Emeritus and Cardinal Copia. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 The rest of the band members are referred to as 'Nameless Ghouls,' and have never revealed their identities. ADVERTISEMENT Their studio albums consist of Opus Eponymous in 2010, Infestissumam in 2013, Meliora in 2015, Prequelle in 2018, Impera in 2022, and finally, Skeletá in 2025. In 2015, Ghost won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for their single 'Circle.' Related: Legendary Rock Band Rereleases Hit Song Like You've Never Heard Before Ghost is also known for their over-the-top, theatrical concerts. Speaking with Full Metal Jackie on her radio show, Forge revealed his most formative influencers when it comes to putting on a show. "At some point in the 80s, I saw the film Let's Spend the Night Together. For a long time, that was one of my favorite things to watch because it was just so amazing. This absolutely awesome band playing a big stadium, and then like midway through the film, they just sort of switch and they're playing indoors in an arena. It was just like this great film, very influential," he recalled, per Loudwire "That is by far the coolest staging I've seen in my entire life. That is still the pinnacle. Especially the Steel Wheels tour that they did in 1989, the fall and winter of 1989, that was the big tour of the U.S and I remember seeing videos from that," Forge continued. "I remember taping a show that was live from Barcelona, 1990. And I think I paused, freeze-framed the entire film through the entire film because I wanted to draw the stage because it was so cool."
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Popular Rock Band Tops Albums Chart for First Time in 4 Years
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways A career milestone! Swedish rock band Ghost landed the No. 1 spot on the all-genre-inclusive Billboard 200 albums chart with their sixth studio album, Skeletá. 'Skeletá' is the first album for any rock, hard rock, or alternative album to be on the list since AC/DC's Power Up in 2020. Ghost was founded in 2006 by frontman Tobias Forge. Forge, 44, plays a number of different personas on stage, including Papa Emeritus and Cardinal Copia. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 The rest of the band members are referred to as 'Nameless Ghouls,' and have never revealed their identities. Their studio albums consist of Opus Eponymous in 2010, Infestissumam in 2013, Meliora in 2015, Prequelle in 2018, Impera in 2022, and finally, Skeletá in 2025. In 2015, Ghost won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for their single 'Circle.' Related: Legendary Rock Band Rereleases Hit Song Like You've Never Heard Before Ghost is also known for their over-the-top, theatrical concerts. Speaking with Full Metal Jackie on her radio show, Forge revealed his most formative influencers when it comes to putting on a show. "At some point in the 80s, I saw the film Let's Spend the Night Together. For a long time, that was one of my favorite things to watch because it was just so amazing. This absolutely awesome band playing a big stadium, and then like midway through the film, they just sort of switch and they're playing indoors in an arena. It was just like this great film, very influential," he recalled, per Loudwire "That is by far the coolest staging I've seen in my entire life. That is still the pinnacle. Especially the Steel Wheels tour that they did in 1989, the fall and winter of 1989, that was the big tour of the U.S and I remember seeing videos from that," Forge continued. "I remember taping a show that was live from Barcelona, 1990. And I think I paused, freeze-framed the entire film through the entire film because I wanted to draw the stage because it was so cool."
