Ghost is a Swedish heavy metal band that was formed in Linköping, Sweden in 2006. In 2010, they released a 3-track demo followed by a 7" vinyl titled "Elizabeth", and later their debut full-length album Opus Eponymous. The Grammis-nominated album was widely praised and significantly increased their popularity. Their second album and major label debut Infestissumam
was released in 2013, debuted at number one in Sweden, and won the
Grammis Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Album. The band released their
third studio album, Meliora,
in 2015, to much critical acclaim and high record sales, reaching
number one in their home country of Sweden, and number eight in the
United States. Its lead single, "Cirice", earned them the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.Ghost is easily recognizable owing greatly to its eccentric on-stage presence. Five of the group's six members, its 'Nameless Ghouls,' wear virtually identical, face-concealing costumes. The most distinguishable member is its vocalist, called 'Papa Emeritus', who wears a prosthetic mask of skull face paint and appears as what can be described as a "demonic anti-Pope." Each album cycle has brought about a change in the band's appearance. Though the vocalist is always portrayed as roughly the same archetypal character, there are slight appearance changes, and even altered personality traits from former versions.
All of the band members' true identities were kept anonymous until 2017, when five former members revealed themselves, four of whom filed a lawsuit against the lead singer Tobias Forge, marking the confirmation of his true identity.
History
Opus Eponymous
A Nameless Ghoul said that Ghost formed in 2006, when the members were
in another band together and he played a riff that would become "Stand
By Him" to them. He said, "I said that this is probably the most heavy
metal riff that has ever existed ... When the chorus came to me, it
haunted my dreams. Every time I picked up the guitar, I ended up playing
that progression, and when I fit the words in, it seemed to cry out for
a Satanically-oriented lyricAfter choosing the name Ghost, the band
decided to use their love of horror films and "the traditions of
Scandinavian metal" in the band's imagery. A Nameless Ghoul said,"Everything
started with a bunch of songs. We knew very early that to make this
material work we needed to fulfill our dream of putting a horror show
together with music. We knew it would take a while to get things
assembled, get the imagery in order. It ended up being two years of
planning before we made the announcement that the band was active. That
led to a very fast signing with a record label and our first show."In 2010, the band produced a three-track demo and the vinyl-only single "Elizabeth", before releasing their first studio album, Opus Eponymous, on October 18, 2010. The album was well-received and was nominated for the 2011 Grammis Award for "Best Hard Rock" album.
Infestissumam
On December 15, 2012, Ghost performed a special show in their hometown, Linköping, where they debuted a new song titled "Secular Haze", which was released online earlier that day, as well as their cover of ABBA's "I'm a Marionette". During the same show, they introduced Papa Emeritus II as the successor to the band's frontman Papa Emeritus—believed to be the same person simply playing a new character.On December 20, the band announced that their second album, Infestissumam, would be released in early 2013. It was released in North America by Loma Vista Recordings in partnership with Republic Records—a division of Universal Music Group—marking Ghost's major label debut.On February 5, 2013, the band announced a name change to "Ghost B.C." in the United States for legal reasons. A Nameless Ghoul said, "B.C. is obviously a pun on ‘Before Christ’, but it’s just an amendment. In our world, we’re just gonna be called Ghost ... The B.C. is silent, and as soon as we can, it’s gonna be taken away forever." They officially dropped the amendment from their name in 2015.
On March 12, fans could access a new song online titled "Year Zero" if they promoted the band on Facebook by endorsing the election of its frontman as the next Pope of the Catholic Church.Infestissumam was originally scheduled to be released on April 9 in the US, but the band could not find a US company that would manufacture the CD.
Meliora
Ghost's third studio album, the follow up to Infestissumam, Meliora was released on August 21, 2015. In an advertisement for the album that aired May 28 on VH1 Classic, it was announced that Papa Emeritus II was "fired" and that his successor Papa Emeritus III is his younger brother by a full three months. The song "Cirice" was released as a free download from the band's official site on May 31, and won the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. Papa Emeritus III was officially unveiled with a debut performance in Linköping on June 3, 2015, where the band also performed new songs from the upcoming album.On September 12, 2016, the band released a new track on a radio show titled "Square Hammer" and a new EP, Popestar, was released on September 16, the same day the Popestar Tour began. Following the conclusion of the North American tour that concluded on November 12, was the European tour of the same name which started in late March and finished in late April 2017.They were the opening act for Iron Maiden on their 2017 North America tour this June to July 2017.A Nameless Ghoul stated that after the tour is over, they will be writing and recording the new album which they stated will be much darker than Meliora, with Tobias confirming in a recent interview that the fourth album will be released in 2018.
In early 2017, Tobias Forge was sued by former Ghost members Simon Söderberg, Mauro Rubino, Martin Hjertstedt, and Henrik Palm as part of a royalties dispute. The four, who left Ghost in 2016, filed the suit in the district court of Linköping, Sweden and accused Forge, who was in charge of the band's business affairs, of withholding financial information and payments to the other members.The former members also claimed that "Our vocalist and former friend is now attempting to, in an underhanded and shameless way, transform Ghost from a band into a solo project with hired musicians." Forge claimed that "no legal partnership" ever existed between the other members and himself; they were paid a fixed salary to perform and execute the band's image as he instructed as "musicians for hire." He also stated that he refers to Ghost as a solo project, "Even though I've never wanted it that way, but at the end of the day, that is what it is. I mean, I started it in 2006, and no one that was ever in the band in 2016 was even on the first record. Call it solo, if you want to, but I call it a project."On August 24, 2017, the band released their final music video from Meliora for their song "He Is". It premiered at Saint Vitus Bar in New York City the day before.
Members
Theme
- Tobias Forge – vocals (2008–present)
- Papa Emeritus – vocals (2008–2012)
- Papa Emeritus II – vocals (2012–2015)
- Papa Emeritus III – vocals (2015–present)
- Nameless Ghouls – all instrumentalists:
Fire (formerly also known as Alpha) – lead guitarist
Water – bassist
Wind – keyboardist
Earth – drummer
Ether (formerly also known as Omega) – rhythm guitarist
Papa Emeritus
The group's vocalist portrays the band's mascot character, a Satanic priest known as Papa Emeritus. There have been three different characters taking the name Papa Emeritus, each younger than the last. The first welcomed the second Papa Emeritus on December 12, 2012, in Linköping. On June 3, 2015, the second Papa Emeritus welcomed his younger brother as the new Papa Emeritus in Linköping after being "fired" due to not performing his duty in overthrowing governments and churches. Papa Emeritus II and Papa Emeritus III were stated to only have a 3-month difference in age. All versions of Papa Emeritus are actually the same vocalist.Peter Hällje, a former bandmate of former Ghost member Martin Persner, claimed he designed the Papa Emeritus character in 2005, prior to the formation of Ghost. Hällje never performed as Papa Emeritus and agreed with Persner to let him use the character for his then-new band.
The original Papa Emeritus (left) in 2012, Papa Emeritus II (middle) in 2013, and Papa Emeritus III (right) in 2016.
The Swedish Performing Rights Society is rumored to have Tobias Forge, vocalist of Swedish bands Subvision and Repugnant and former guitarist for Crashdïet (using the alias Mary Goore in the latter two), credited with songs as "A Ghoul Writer". All of the band's songs are credited to "A Ghoul Writer", causing people to suspect that Forge is Papa Emeritus. Ghost has stated they will not comment on any rumors of their identities. Following a lawsuit in 2017, Forge's identity as Papa Emeritus was revealed.
In March 2017, Swedish musician Martin Persner of the band Magna Carta Cartel claimed in a short video clip that he was the rhythm guitarist, also known as Omega, from 2009 to July 2016. This marked the first time that someone has publicly identified themselves as a member of Ghost.A few months before Persner's announcement, the band recruited a new female bass player who is suspected to be Lez Zeppelin bassist Megan Thomas. A lawsuit against Forge in April 2017 on behalf of four past members revealed their names, as well as the names of several more past members. When asked about the complete lineup change at the end of 2016, Forge stated that Ghost "was always sort of… I guess a Bathory sort of band, where there was people playing live, and the people playing live [were] not necessarily the same that played on the records."
Former members
- Martin Persner – rhythm guitarist, Ether a.k.a. Omega (2009–2016)
- Simon Söderberg – lead guitarist, Fire a.k.a. Alpha (2010–2016)
- Mauro Rubino – keyboardist, Air/Wind (2011–2016)
- Martin Hjertstedt – drummer, Earth (2014–2016)
- Henrik Palm – rhythm guitarist, Ether (2015–2016)
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