John Lucas

I have a very extensive catalogue of old articles that I think are worth revisiting. Here’s one of them. Ghost released its latest album, Skeletá, just a couple of weeks ago, so it seemed timely to revisit my interview with one of the Nameless Ghouls from almost a decade ago.

Roughly six months after this article appeared, the hitherto unknown identity of Ghost frontman Tobias Forge became public knowledge when several former bandmates took him to court in a messy lawsuit. In October of 2016, however, the singer was known to the world only as Papa Emeritus III (and formerly as Papa Emeritus I and II, of course).

(This article originally appeared in The Georgia Straight.)

Sweden’s Ghost spooks heavy-metal purists

He may be just a Nameless Ghoul, but he’s got opinions. For example, the anonymous guitarist for the Swedish band Ghost figures the album as an art form went into decline when the compact disc became the dominant format. Faced with up to 74 minutes to fill (as opposed to the roughly 44 minutes that a vinyl LP can hold), artists felt compelled to pad their albums with filler. Now, in the digital music era, the long-player is further in decline. Why download a bunch of tracks you don’t want when you can go on iTunes and buy the one song you actually care about for 99 cents?

“So we’re back in the ’50s, in a way, where it’s just singles,” the Nameless Ghoul says when the Straight reaches him at a tour stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “But when you make a really good album, people like it. That’s why Adele’s record sells. That’s why Daft Punk’s record sells. But you need to put way, way, way more love into them, and you need to make them really good. If you want to have a really good-quality-sounding record, don’t believe that you can record it in your basement, unless you want to make a lo-fi record. And put a lot of time into every song. You have to treat them way differently. It’s been so callously done for the last 25 years, but I definitely think that there’s a future for bands who put love and devotion into their songwriting.”

Which, naturally, brings us to Ghost. The group has made some fine albums in its own right. The most recent of these, last year’s Meliora, won the award for best hard rock/metal album at the 2015 Grammis Awards, and the band picked up the best-metal-performance Grammy for its lead single, “Cirice”. More recently, the five-song release Popestar debuted in the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s rock-albums chart, making it the first EP to ever top that list.

This is all the more impressive when you consider that Ghost is a heavy-metal band from the small city of Linköping whose members’ identities are concealed behind masks, makeup, and silly names. Oh, and they also write songs about Satan.

Ghost can thrash with the best, banging the head that does not bang with killers like “Mummy Dust” and “Elizabeth”, but it’s the vocal theatrics of frontman Papa Emeritus (now on his third incarnation) and the band’s eagerness to experiment with its sound that truly set it apart from the black-T-shirted hordes. For evidence, check out the carnival-creepshow organ on “Secular Haze” or consider that Ghost has recorded its own versions of songs by a wildly eclectic assortment of artists including Daniel Johnston and the Eurythmics.

The sextet’s ascendance hasn’t pleased all metal fans, however. In fact, some wag started a Change.org petition to get Ghost to cease operations, arguing that the band’s success has harmed the reputation of “real metal”.

“Those are usually the puritans,” the Nameless Ghoul says of Ghost’s detractors. “This is the devil’s music. You shouldn’t be a puritan. But they are. I don’t really give a damn about what people want to call us. We are a rock band, hard rock, whatever. It doesn’t matter.”

In any case, having haters—especially ones so willing to foist their views on everyone else—has its upside, as the Ghoul explains. “It’s publicity. Anything that gets people talking is good. There are a lot of bands that don’t get spoken of at all, so you have to be happy that people are talking about you.”