Ghost (group)

The Early Years and Release of Opus Eponymous's Debut Album (2008–2011)

The group was formed in 2008 in Linkoping . According to one of the members of the group, the idea of ​​the group appeared when he, being in another musical group, composed a riff, which later became the Ghost song “Stand By Him”:

I said that this is probably one of the heaviest metal reefs that has ever existed. Then I came up with a chorus, and I constantly dreamed about it. Each time, playing the guitar, I ended my game with this reef, and when I picked up the appropriate words for it, the subject simply asked to be satanic.

Original text

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 lyric.

From 2008 to 2010, the group was at the planning stage. In May 2010, Ghost signed with British label Rise Above Ltd. In the same year, the three-track demo album “Demo 2010”, the single Elizabeth and the first full-length album of the group “ Opus Eponymous ”, released on October 18 and received extremely good reviews from both listeners and critics, were released ^[7] . In particular, Metallica's vocalist, James Hetfield , noted in one of his interviews with Swedish television that Ghost is a “breath of fresh air” for metal. The album was nominated for the Swedish Grammis Award in the "Best Hard Rock" category, but won by another group, Watain ^{[8] [9]} .

The end of 2010 and most of 2011 the group spent in constant tours of Europe. In April 2011, Ghost held the Draconian Times MMXI Tour along with Paradise Lost ^[10] . On June 11, the band performed at the Download Festival in the UK at the Pepsi Max Stage, where musicians performed with Phil Anselmo from the band Down . In January and February, the group participated in the Defenders of The Faith III tour along with Trivium , In Flames and Rise to Remain ^[11] , and in the Heritage Hunter Tour with Mastodon and Opeth ^{[12] [13]} .

Infestissumam (2012—2013)

In winter 2012, a cover was released for Abba I'm A Marionette , recorded with the direct participation of Dave Grohl , and the single Secular Haze ( Russian Mirsky Mist ) from the new album " Infestissumam ", which was scheduled for release in the spring of 2013. In an interview with Decibel magazine, one of the Nameless Werewolves said the band was starting to record Infestissumam on the Loma Vista Recordings label, and that Nick Raskalenicks , known for his work with Deftones , Foo Fighters and Stone Sour, would become the record producer.

In February 2013, the exact release date of Infestissumam was indicated on the band’s official website on April 9, but in the USA the album was postponed for a week due to the fact that four CD producers refused to print an image of an orgy of forest nymphs and an upside down cross the front side of the disk, designed for the deluxe version ^{[14] [15]} .

On March 12, another song from the new album appeared on the network - Year Zero ^[16] , which was later filmed, and on April 8, ahead of the release of Infestissumam, the song Monstrance Clock was published. On April 9, the album went on sale. In the Japanese edition, the Infestissumam tracklist added another cover - Waiting for the Night from Depeche Mode 's Violator album. The album achieved commercial success: more than 14,000 copies were sold in the United States in the first week, so Infestissumam debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 ^{[17] [18]} and was the leader on Billboard Hard Rock Albums. ^[19] Subsequently, Infestissumam received the status of gold .

Thematically, the album continues the line that originates in "Opus Eponymous" - the lyrics speak of the coming of the Antichrist and the relationship between the church and women. Band members often said that their lyrics can be interpreted both literally and figuratively.

After the release of the album, the group goes on a world tour. Ghost perform at the Download Festival and Sweden's Metaltown Festival. The group then begins a tour of the Americas along with Skeletonwitch , Slayer , Iron Maiden , Avenged Sevenfold and Deftones .

On November 20, 2013, the band released the If You Have Ghost mini-album, with several covers recorded with the participation of Dave Grohl ^[20] .

Meliora (2014—2017)

At the beginning of 2014, the group, after concerts in Australia, returned to Sweden to begin the Scandinavian tour. On February 18, 2014, the Infestissumam album won the Grammis Award in the Best Hard Rock / Metal Album category ^[21] . From April to May, the band performed in North America as part of the Tour Zero Year 2014. In July, the musicians gave a concert at the European Sonisphere Festival ^[22] . From August 21 to September 5, there were tours in Latin America.

In the fall of 2014, Ghost was informed that the concept and material for the third studio album was ready and they were sent to the studio to record it ^[23] . On May 28, 2015, the group announced the name of the new album - Meliora (from Lat. The desire for something better), which was released on August 21, 2015. In a commercial for the new record, “The Summoning,” which was launched on May 28 on VH1 Classic and later uploaded to YouTube, it was said that Papa Emeritus II was removed from his post and was replaced by Papa Emeritus III, a sibling second vocalist ^[24] . According to the Nameless Werewolf, the conceptually new album is a continuation of the previous two, the musicians want to transfer the listener to the anti-utopian pre-apocalyptic world of the future, a cold metropolis. The first single from the new album, “ Cirice ” (from the English church), published on the official website on May 31, won the “Best Metal Performance” nomination at the 58th Grammy ceremony ^[25] . Papa Emeritus III was introduced to the public on June 3, 2015 at a concert in Linkoping ^[26] . At the same time, a new image of the group members was introduced - raincoats and bouts gave way to strict suits and stylized metal masks.

In the summer of 2016, they announced the start of a new mini-album, Popestar , which was released in September. After the publication of the EP, the group goes to the Popestar Tour, which lasted until the end of October. In November, after the end of the US tour, the group goes on a European tour, which is due to end in April 2017. ^[27] The group also announced that they will be supporting the Iron Maiden during their US tour from June to July 2017. years ^[28] . In addition, in an interview, the musicians said they were preparing to record a new album, which is expected to be released in the fall ^[29] .

On December 8, 2017, the band released a live album, Ceremony and Devotion ^[30] .

Ghost combine different genres in their music, although critics usually characterize the band's style as a mixture of heavy metal , doom metal , ^{[31] [32]} hard rock, progressive rock ^[33] and psychedelic rock. ^[34] PopMatters columnist Adrian Begrand described the band's style as "the early sounding of Black Sabbath , Pentagram , and Judas Priest if they played progressive and psychedelic rock in the 60s." ^[35] In an interview with Noisey.com, one of the members of the band called Ghost “a black metal band in its traditional sense, although it is possible at the moment they do not fall into modern black metal standards”. According to him, the Ghost genre combines pop music and death metal . ^[36]

As the music that influenced them, the musicians called "all classical rock right up to the extreme groups of the 80s" ^[37] . The group also notes the importance of black metal of the 1990s in shaping their musical preferences ^{[31] [38]} Despite the influence of heavy bands, Ghost does not position themselves as a metal band. ^{[38] [39]} Two people were involved in songwriting in the group and, contrary to misconceptions, not one Papa Emeritus participated in the creation of the lyrics. ^{[40] [41] [40]}

The group is known for its theatrical performances, reminiscent of concerts by Kiss , David Bowie and Alice Cooper , but according to the musicians, Pink Floyd ^[38] and Death SS had the greatest influence on them. ^[42]

Appearance of participants

Each of the participants, known as the “nameless ghoul”, represents one of the five elements: fire, water, air, earth and ether ^[43] . All six participants actually imitate the performance of Catholic church music, creating an image of worship of Satan ^[44] , which is called purely humorous ^[45] . Five ghouls constantly wear masks, under which they hide their faces, and vocalist Papa Emeritus appears in a mask with a skull and papal tiara on his head.

Lyrics

The content of the songs has a pronounced satanic and occult orientation: the group actively exploits devilish images, combining them with biblical allusions. ^[46] One of the “ghouls” said that the first Opus Eponymous album is dedicated to the coming of Satan and written with an abundance of biblical subjects. The second Infestissumam album tells, according to the participants, about people's attitude to the divine essence, topics of submission and dominance, as well as the horrors of religion and humanity's misunderstanding of the essence of the devil. That is why, according to the participants, the basis of the recording was sexual themes and the women who were pursued by the Inquisition ^{[44] [38]} .

Personalities

Until 2017, anonymity was the main distinguishing feature of the group: none of the band members gave their real names (neither the vocalist nor the musicians). Each of the “nameless ghouls” had their own distinctive sign as an autograph, and Pope Emeritus himself signed as PE ^[43] . One participant stated that the idea of ​​preserving anonymity did not come up immediately, and the idea of ​​hiding their true identities under masks appeared only in the course of their creative work, believing that otherwise the fans would be unhappy ^[47] . In 2011, participants stated that they were often driven out of concerts because they often forgot their pass for the stage; in 2012, one of the musicians said he was proud of his personality ^[39] .

In the group, the current vocalist has been Papa Emeritus III since 2015, which does not indicate that the identity of the previous vocalist was revealed by someone. For a new album - a new dad (in fact a new image). There are rumors in Sweden that Tobias Forge ( Swedish Tobias Forge ), frontman of Subvision and Repugnant bands , former Crashdïet guitarist (played under the pseudonym Mary Goore in the last two) and songwriter under the pseudonym A Ghoul Writer ^[48] was and remains the first vocalist in Sweden. . The songwriter for Ghost has a similar nickname, which made people consider Forge a vocalist. The group itself stated that it did not comment on any rumors about the personalities of the musicians ^[39] , but Pope Emeritus in an interview said that he did not write songs for the group ^[44] . However, Forge's authorship was confirmed in April 2017, when five “nameless ghouls” initiated legal proceedings against him.

• Opus Eponymous ( 2010 )
• Infestissumam ( 2013 )
• Meliora ( 2015 )
• Prequelle ( 2018 )

Current squad

Tobias Forge - vocals (since 2008)

• Papa Emeritus I - vocals (2008-2012)
• Papa Emeritus II - vocals (2012—2015)
• Papa Emeritus III - vocals (2015—2017)
• Cardinal Copia - vocals (since 2018)

Nameless Ghouls - instruments (since 2008), backing vocals (since 2018)

• drums , bass , rhythm guitar , solo guitar , keyboards , backing vocals

Former members

Nameless ghouls

• Martin Persner - Rhythm Guitar (2009—2016)
• Simon Soderberg - solo guitar (2010—2016)
• Mauro Rubino - keyboards (2011—2016)
• Martin Hierstedt - drums (2014—2016)
• Henrik Palm - bass (2015—2016)

Grammis awards

Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards

Loudwire music awards

P3 Guld Awards

en: Bandit Rock Awards

Grammy awards

•  

  Nameless Ghoul (bass)

•  

  Nameless ghoul (solo guitar)

•  

  Nameless ghoul (rhythm guitar)

•  

  Pope Emeritus

• ghost-official.com — официальный сайт Ghost