Ghost (band)

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Ghost
Ghost logo HiRes.png

Ghost live in Utrecht (2013)
Ghost live in Utrecht (2013)
General information
origin Linkoping , Sweden
Genre (s) Heavy metal , dark rock , doom metal , hard rock , progressive rock
founding 2006
Website ghost-official.com
Current occupation
Tobias Forge (since 2008)
as Papa Emeritus (2010–2012)
as Papa Emeritus II (2012–2015)
as Papa Emeritus III (2015–2017)
as Cardinal Copia (2018–2020)

as Papa Emeritus IV (since 2020)
Alchemy fire symbol.svgA Nameless Ghoul (since 2016)
Electric guitar
Aether symbol.jpgA Nameless Ghoul (since 2016)
Alchemy water symbol.svgA Nameless Ghoul (since 2016)
Alchemy air symbol.svgA Nameless Ghoul (since 2016)
Alchemy earth symbol.svgA Nameless Ghoul (since 2016)
former members
guitar
Martin Persner (2010-2016)
guitar
Simon Söderberg (2010-2016)
Bass, guitar
Henrik Palm (2015-2016)
Keyboard
Mauro Rubino (2011-2016)
Drums
Aksel Holmgren (2010-2014)
Drums
Martin Hjertstedt (2014-2016)

Ghost ( . English spirit ") is a Swedish heavy metal - band from Linköping . The masked members of the band come and anonymous and are each (Engl., A nameless "A Nameless Ghoul" Ghoul ') specified. The singer, Tobias Forge , appears officially under the name "Papa Emeritus" or "Cardinal Copia" with the respective Roman number as a symbol of the respective era.

history

Foundation and Opus Eponymous

Ghost live at Wacken Open Air 2018
Ghost at Hellfest (2013)

The band was founded in 2006 and published in 2009 a demo recording with three songs on their own as well as a 7 "- Vinyl - Single with songs Elizabeth and Death Knell for the German record label Iron Pegasus Records . The song's lyrics Elizabeth was around the legends the life of the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Báthory inspired Death Knell (engl., death knell ') was included on the demo was attempted for the single. After signing the contract with the British label Rise Above Records of Lee Dorrian was published 18 October 2010 the debut album Opus Eponymous in Europe. This includes nine songs including two instrumental pieces , including the four previously released pieces in (again) re-recording. The album was released in North America on January 18, 2011 via Metal Blade Records , in Japan the album was released on April 6th at Trooper Entertainment with a cover version of the Beatles song Here Come s the Sun as a bonus title .

The band made their first two live appearances in October 2010 at the Hammer of Doom Festival in Würzburg and the Live Evil Festival in London . Joint appearances with Watain , Deströyer 666 , In Solitude and Repugnant followed. In the summer of 2011 Ghost played at several music festivals including the Roadburn Festival in Tilburg , the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg and Maryland Death Fest in Baltimore . The latter was also the band's first appearance outside of Europe. The band was also the opening act for some concerts of the bands Paradise Lost and Blood Ceremony on their respective European tours. In September and October, Ghost was on tour through the USA with Enslaved and Alcest and from November accompanied In Flames and Trivium on their European tour.

Infestissumam and Meliora

On December 15, 2012 Papa Emeritus handed over the vocal microphone to a (also anonymous) successor at a concert in Linköping, Sweden, who introduced himself with “Io sono Papa Emeritus secondo” (Italian: “I am Papa Emeritus II”). Then Ghost played a new song called Secular Haze , which was released on December 20, 2012 via an official Ghost website as the first single of the second album as a preview version for listening. The album, entitled Infestissumam , was released on April 19, 2013.

After a performance at the Sonisphere Festival 2014, the Metal Hammer magazine conducted an interview with one of the nameless ghouls, in which it was said that they were looking for a successor to singer Papa Emeritus II. The reason he cited personal differences between the singer and the rest of the group.

In August 2015, the band's third album, Meliora, was released . There was also a new line-up for this album, the new singer is called Papa Emeritus III. and was introduced by the band as the six months younger brother of Papa Emeritus II. The title Cirice , taken from this album, was named Best Hard Rock / Metal Performance at the Grammys in February 2016 .

Prequelle

At a concert in Milwaukee on May 31, 2018, a spectator died of cardiac arrest . The concert was then ended prematurely. A day later, the fourth studio album Prequelle was released , which was produced by Tom Dalgety. Prequelle reached number one in the Swedish, number two in the German and number three in the US album charts. At the Metal Hammer Awards 2018, Ghost was nominated in the category Best International Band and Prequelle in the category Best Album . However, the prizes went to the bands Arch Enemy and Powerwolf . At the Grammy Awards 2019 Prequelle was nominated in the category Best Rock Album and the song Rats in the category Best Rock Song . Prequelle was nominated for the Swedish Grammis music award in the hard rock / metal category, but the award went to the band Tribulation .

In the summer of 2019, Ghost toured Europe together with Bokassa in the opening act for Metallica.

style

Music and optics

The band plays heavy metal with satanic lyrics. The music has influences from psychedelic rock of the 1960s, Doom Metal of the 1970s and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal of the 1980s. Jan Wigger from Spiegel Online described the music as "beguilingly smooth and memorable" and saw parallels to songs by Blue Öyster Cult and King Diamond , one member of the band affirmed a connection to the artists The Doors and Roky Erickson .

There are regular allusions to famous films in Ghost's record covers: The cover of Opus Eponymous shows strong parallels to the poster for the Stephen King film adaptation Brennen muss Salem . For the second album, elements of the film poster for the film Amadeus by Miloš Forman were used, the artwork of the third album Meliora is based on Fritz Lang's Metropolis . The artwork of the band's single releases also alludes to different film posters.

Ghost live at the Getaway Rock Festival in Gävle , Sweden (2011)

Occur

The band members come exclusively masked and in brown or black Habiten with hoods on - with the exception of the singer: This wearing a black robe with red ornaments and golden, inverted crosses , a skull - mask and a miter , decorated with an inverted Celtic cross , which as The letter G is broken. A censer is sometimes used for live performances . The concerts give visitors the appearance of occult rituals, while the band sees their performances "somewhere between a theater performance and a rock show".

Members

speculation

It has long been speculated which musicians are hiding behind the band members. Members of the Swedish bands Repugnant and In Solitude were suspected to be behind the masks . Tobias Forge , who plays in the power pop band Subvision and is also a member of Repugnant as “Mary Goore” and a former member of the hair metal band Crashdïet , was named “Papa Emeritus ”confirmed. In fact, Forge is listed in the online database of the Swedish music collecting society STIM under the pseudonym "A Ghoul Writer" as the composer of the songs of Opus Eponymous . There is also a possible connection to In Solitude, as their bassist Gottfrid Åhman under the pseudonym “G. Grotesque ”also plays at Repugnant.

In April 2017, some names were made public on the Internet by former band member Simon Söderberg. On his list are: Simon Söderberg (guitar, "Alpha", member since 2010); Mauro Rubino (keyboards, "Air", member since 2011); Henrik Palm (guitar, "Ether", member since 2015); Martin Hjertstedt (drums, "Earth", member since 2014) and Tobias Forge as Papa Emeritus. Aksel Holmgren (drums, "Earth", member until 2014) is also a former band member.

Litigation

Four former band members sued Tobias Forge in the District Court of Linköping for fraud. After they were kicked out of the band, Simon Söderberg, Henrik Palm, Martin Hjertstedt and Mauro Rubino from Forge asked for a list of all income and expenses for the years 2011 to 2016, as well as disclosure of the entire property of the band. Martin Persner, who was also thrown from the band in 2016, is not one of the prosecutors, but does not want to take a position on this issue. In an interview with the German magazine Rock Hard , Söderberg raised serious allegations against Tobias Forge. Forge is said to have manipulated his former band members and played them off against each other. According to Söderberg, people in Forge's world are just tools.

The actual expulsion of Söderberg and his colleagues was due to contractual disputes. It was about a live DVD for which a concert in Los Angeles was recorded. Tobias Forge would have asked Söderberg and his former colleagues to sign a contract in which they transfer all of their rights to the DVD to Forge. In addition, Söderberg stated that he produced the debut album Opus Eponymous himself and that he would have been involved in the songwriting of the second album Infestissumam . He never received a credit for it. A court hearing in November 2017 ended without result.

Tobias Forge explained that Ghost was not founded as a band in the classical sense and pointed out that many different musicians have played for Ghost since the band was founded. There are also members of his live band who have never played on one of the albums. Furthermore, there was no legal partnership between Forge and the former members. Forge paid them a fixed salary and the band only started making profits after the end of the Popestar 2017 tour through Europe . On October 17, 2018, the Linköping District Court dismissed the lawsuit and ordered the four plaintiffs to pay Forges court costs of 1.3 million Swedish kronor .

The applicants submitted late November 2018 Revision A, the judge Henrik Ibold caught should be. Both Forge and Ibold are said to be members of a Swedish Masonic Lodge , which is why the judge should not have made a decision because of a conflict of interest .

reception

Opus Eponymous was received positively by critics. Götz Kühnemund from Rock Hard magazine called Ghost "the big thing of the hour in the underground " and awarded nine out of ten possible points, and the album was also listed among the ten best of the month. Jan Wigger rated the album with eight points for Spiegel Online .

The American music magazine Decibel listed Opus Eponymous at number 24 of the best 40 albums of 2010. The readers of the music magazine Sweden Rock Magazine, however, voted the album in 2011 as number three of the best albums of the past ten years. The album Infestissumam received a gold record in Sweden in 2014 for more than 20,000 units sold.

In 2016, Ghost was the first Swedish band, and thus also the first band not from Great Britain or the United States, to receive the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance . Ghost was also awarded the Swedish Grammis Music Prize three times in the Best Hard Rock / Metal category.

Discography

Studio albums

year Title
music label
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placementsTemplate: chart table / maintenance / without sources
(Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US SE SE FI FI
2010 Opus Eponymous
Rise Above Records
DE90 1 (1 week)
DE
- - - - SE30 (13 weeks)
SE
-
First published: October 18, 2010
2013 Infestissum on
Rise Above Records
DE85 (1 week)
DE
- - UK58 (1 week)
UK
US28 (2 weeks)
US
SE1
gold
gold

(23 weeks)SE
FI5 (7 weeks)
FI
First published: April 10, 2013
Sales: + 20,000
Infestissum on Redux
Rise Above Records
- - - - - SE8 (1 week)
SE
-
First published: November 20, 2013
Infestissumam + If You Have Ghost
2015 Meliora
Spinefarm Records
DE19 (3 weeks)
DE
AT41 (1 week)
AT
CH14 (2 weeks)
CH
UK23 (2 weeks)
UK
US8 (3 weeks)
US
SE1
platinum
platinum

(54 weeks)SE
FI1 (49 weeks)
FI
First published: August 21, 2015
Sales: + 40,000
2016 Meliora Redux
Spinefarm Records
- - - - - SE5 (1 week)
SE
-
First published: September 16, 2016
Meliora + Popestar
2018 Prequelle
Spinefarm Records
DE2 (12 weeks)
DE
AT6 (5 weeks)
AT
CH2 (6 weeks)
CH
UK10 (2 weeks)
UK
US3 (4 weeks)
US
SE1
platinum
platinum

(32 weeks)SE
FI1 (24 weeks)
FI
First published: June 1st, 2018
Sales: + 40,000
# 1 in the German vinyl charts
1 Opus Eponymous only reached the charts in Germany in 2020.

Web links

Commons : Ghost (band)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. Metalinsider.net : Ghost introduce “new” Papa Emeritus during hometown show.
  2. official mini website for the new single from Ghost ( memento of the original from January 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / secularhaze.com
  3. a b official mini website for the new Ghost album
  4. Richard Bailey: Metal Insider : Yep, Ghost are replacing Papa Emeritus II
  5. Deceased GHOST Fan Identified; Cause Of Death Revealed. Blabbermouth.net, accessed June 3, 2018 .
  6. METAL HAMMER AWARDS 2018: These are the nominees! Metal Hammer. Retrieved July 26, 2018 .
  7. Joe Divita: GHOST, GRETA VAN FLEET + MORE NOMINATED FOR 61ST ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS. Loudwire, accessed December 7, 2018 .
  8. ^ A b Eduardo Rivadavia: Biography . Allmusic website . Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  9. a b c The most important CDs of the week , November 2, 2010. Spiegel Online website . Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  10. a b Tobias Gerber: Ghost: Interview with the Satans collective . Metal Hammer website . Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  11. Götz Kühnemund : The Biggest Things of the Year - Ghost ( Memento of the original from March 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Rock Hard , No. 285, February 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rockhard.de
  12. ^ Martin Kielty: Ghost Will Be 'Even More Theatrical' Now Identities Are Known. Ultimateclassicrock.com website , accessed February 11, 2018 .
  13. Steve Appleford: Ghost Mastermind Tobias Forge Reports From Studio in First "Unmasked" US Interview. Revolver.com website , accessed February 11, 2018 .
  14. a b Wolfgang Liu Kuhn: Ghosts of the Past . In: Rock Hard , June 2018, page 21
  15. GHOST Leader Fails To Reach Agreement With Former Members. Blabbermouth.net, accessed June 13, 2018 .
  16. TOBIAS FORGE (aka PAPA EMERITUS): 'GHOST Was Never Formed As A Band'. Blabbermouth.net, accessed June 13, 2018 .
  17. GHOST Leader Responds To Lawsuit, Says None Of Musicians Are 'Irreplaceable' Or 'Crucial'. Blabbermouth.net, accessed June 13, 2018 .
  18. ^ Former GHOST Members' Lawsuit Against TOBIAS FORGE Dismissed. Blabbermouth.net, accessed October 17, 2018 .
  19. Gerrit Köppl: Ex-Ghost members are suing frontman Tobias Forge again. Visions , accessed December 2, 2018 .
  20. Götz Kühnemund: GHOST . Opus Eponymous . In: Rock Hard , No. 282, November 2010. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  21. brandon: Decibel Top 40 Albums Of 2010 . Website of the online magazine stereogum.com (English). Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  22. IRON MAIDEN's 'A Matter Of Life And Death' Is Greatest Album Of Past Decade ( Memento of the original from August 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Blabbermouth.net website . Retrieved September 1, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.roadrunnerrecords.com
  23. GHOST's 'Infestissumam' Certified Gold In Sweden. In: blabbermouth.net . October 17, 2014, accessed October 21, 2014 .
  24. Ghost - Prequelle (vinyl). GfK Entertainment , accessed June 30, 2020 .