- 2025-04-29
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MUSIC
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Ghost Releases New Album “Skeletá”
Swedish rock band Ghost, consisting of Tobias Forge (vocals), Per Eriksson (lead guitar), Randy Moore rhythm guitar), Cos Sylvan (bass), Hayden Scott (drums), Jutty Taylor (baritone guitar), Laura Scarborough (keyboards), Mad Gallica (keyboards), Olivia Morreale (backing vocals), released their sixth studio album “Skeletá” on April 25, 2025 via Loma Vista Recordings.
This marks their first album in three years since the 2022 album “Impera”.
The album comprises 10 songs, produced by Gene Walker.
It is an introvert album unlike previous album “Impera”.
The band frontman Tobias Forge told Daniel P Carter of BBC Radio 1 about the album, “I've alluded to the concept of making an extrovert and an introvert album. That was a plan, sort of back in time. And before making 'Impera', I at some point, I guess I had that idea that. There was going to be one album genuinely sort of focusing on stuff like that. There are songs on 'Skeletá', that was already in the mix for 'Impera'. Because of the themes, I felt that I won't fight for that one and just let it become one of part of the introspective album instead.”- He continued, “The end of 'Impera', and as I was looking into slowly getting started with writing a new record. I felt that although there are enough fodder in the world to keep on creating Impera two, Impera three and four and five and six, and I felt that I don't want to do that. I don't think anybody needs that, especially not within the context and within the forum where my listeners are. I believe that I want to write. I believe that I need. And therefore I believe a lot of people who are listening to what I'm saying need a different kind of album.”
- He said, “That is a reminder that there are other things in life than the world, if you will, because they are cohesively together and you are part of the world, and as much as structure and rain feels like this machine that you can't do anything about. You can the society is built with you as a cornerstone in it, be it as a from what they are, regarding you as a consumer. And or as a living, procreating person, you are also a thinking, loving, hating, preacher that deserves to live and if you're hearing this, you are alive. So you're part of this.”
He added, “And everything, every point in time, culturally, politically, throughout all of history has always been a moment in time. Nothing has ever been forever. No structure has been standing forever. So all these things that we now find apocalyptic is going to be gone. So you have to live with that, that the Apocalypse will not come, and we have to treat each other and the world as if it's not a linear thing that ends.”
Tobias Forge explained track-by-track for the album via Metal Hammer.
“Peacefield”
“Beginning track of the album...always important to open a Ghost record with some sort of tone-setting epic, and that is Peacefield. Because the record is going to slalom, zig-zag into darker subjects, I wanted to set a tone of hope in the beginning, even though its addressing very contemporary, contemptuous issues, I wanted to add a hand to the listener, that it'll be all fine, but we're gonna go sideways now, and go on a little trip.”
“Lachryma”
“It opens with more of a riffage, and I guess now comes off as somewhat of a 'typical' Ghost mash-up, where it's heavy on one end and met with a big, bombastic chorus. That's a song about self-deceit.”
“Satanized”
“Satanized is a song about love – not being possessed by a demon, but the idea of coming off as being possessed by a demon because you're in love. So it felt like that was going to suit the record really well.”
“Guiding Lights”
“Guiding Lights is the more traditional hard rock ballad of the record. It's [about] the non-ability to be able to speak to someone you know is going in the wrong direction. You don't dare say it: 'If I say this, we will not even be friends anymore.'”
“De Profundis Borealis”
“Oscar Wilde wrote a letter called De Profundis. That means 'from the abyss'. Borealis means 'northern', so for all you black metal fans, it's one of the most Immortal-esque titles, because it means 'from the northern abyss'!”
“Cenotaph”
“A cenotaph is a stone structure posing as a grave, but does not actually have a body inside. I thought that served as nice symbolism for the idea that someone dying isn't necessarily embodied by this buried physical entity inside a grave, but is a part of our consciousness.”
“Missilia Amori”
“A lot of hard rock in the 80s was basically songs that were stripped to! When love has started to appear as hate and disguises that as love, it can be extremely unpleasant.”
“Marks Of The Evil One”
“I think it's more interesting focusing on who the marks are. Lyrically, it's a very dummified interpretation of Biblical writing, sort of simplified as something cool!”
“Umbra”
“The message is, basically, all you need is love! I felt there needed to be one coital song on the record, because at the end of the day, that's one of the main driving forces that we all have.”
“Excelsis”
“The overall messaging, even though it's very death-heavy, is simply that if you are listening to this, you are alive, and you should live life as effectively as possible, because death is inevitable.” - source : Apple Music
