Get Revolver's new Ghost special collector's issue, plus exclusive colored vinyl variants and merch, at our shop.
By any metric you can name, 2022 was an incredible year for Ghost.
Not only did the Swedish occult-rockers debut at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 — and top the album charts in six other countries — with Impera, their massively acclaimed fifth album, but their psychedelically-tinged song "Mary on a Cross" (originally issued on 2019's Seven Inches of Satanic Panic single) went viral thanks to its use in a Stranger Things-inspired TikTok video, and wound up becoming a massive U.S. hit as a result.
Then there was the Imperatour, which began back in January as a five-week of co-headlining US arenas with Volbeat, and culminated in a second North American leg in August and September with Ghost as sole headliners and Mastodon and Spiritbox opening. The tour, which won raves for its over-the-top spectacle and dynamic, hits-packed setlist, firmly established the band as a bona fide arena attraction whose concerts are must-see events.
Throw in honors like Impera winning in the fan-voted category of Favorite Rock Album at this year's American Music Awards — and of course Revolver's coveted Album of the Year — and Ghost frontman Papa Emeritus IV being asked to toss out the first pitch at a Chicago White Sox game in September, and it's clear that 2022 was the greatest year yet in the band's long, slow-building career.
But Ghost's success felt very much of apiece with 2022, as well. Impera's theme of declining empires resonated especially deeply in a year where once-flourishing countries around the globe are struggling to maintain the status quo in the face of intense political, social, economic and ecological upheaval. (And really, scoring a viral hit via a connection — however unofficial — with Stranger Things is pretty much peak 2022.)
At the same time, the band's continued commitment to making metallic music that's both incredibly accessible yet maddeningly difficult to categorize felt more inspiring than ever. Two years and counting into the COVID-19 pandemic, the phenomenal success of a band whose ABBA-worthy melodies are set to big guitars, topped with a healthy dollop of Satanic darkness and sung by an undead cleric served as a welcome reminder that we needn't waste our finite existence by conforming to creative restrictions, self-imposed or otherwise. For that, and for so much more, Ghost is our Band of the Year for 2022.
We spoke with Tobias Forge about has band's intrinsic appeal, why Impera isn't actually Ghost's Black Album and what the future might hold in store.
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE REVOLVER'S BAND OF THE YEAR FOR 2022?
TOBIAS FORGE What an affirmation, what a receipt that all the work being put into it is worth something. I think it's a common misconception that people in bands and artists like to joke about, that it doesn't matter getting statues or any tags or accolades. But it does. Of course, it does. It's a big thing.
WHY DO YOU THINK GHOST — AND THE IMPERA ALBUM, IN PARTICULAR — HAS STRUCK SUCH A CHORD WITH PEOPLE?
I don't know. I could be cynical and say that we do put an awful lot of muscle behind our releases. We do make a stink. That's the luxury of having a few records before that also made a stink, that people do pay attention to what you're doing. There are a lot of records [out there]. I have many examples in my own record collection that are extremely well made or made with just the right amount of passion, and all the stars aligned — except for commercial interest. There are very alternative bands that made records that rocked, but very few people listened to.
But on the other hand, I would also like to think that we do sound a little bit different. I've always tried to make records that were not only new for me, but also new. Something that felt like it would have its own place. And I think that getting this recognition is also a receipt to that, that we are still doing something that most bands are not. But I'm just speculating. I think it's a well-crafted record. I mean, put a lot of time into it and I think that that probably shows a little. You can hear it.
THERE'S A VERY MELODIC ASPECT TO YOUR MUSIC, AS WELL. DO YOU THINK THAT'S PART OF IT?
I remember 10, 12 years ago, when we were debutantes, we were somewhat of an anomaly in the at-the-time current scene. Just because at that point there was still a lot of emocore going on, and crabcore and all that, that was not very melodic. I think that has changed a little over the years, so that more melody has been brought into the, I don't know, hard rock, if you will. So, I think that being melodic doesn't make us stand out [now] as much as I think that we did 10 years ago, when we were the odd, Seventies-sounding band coming to a festival filled with all these sentence-for-a-name bands, because then we sounded extremely melodic and very AOR and very weird. So, I don't know.
Of course, I believe in good melody. Absolutely. I think that is key to writing. Even if you're writing dissonant- or evil-sounding music, you still need to rely on some sort of hummable melody.
DO YOU FEEL LIKE THERE'S ALSO A SUBVERSIVE FACTOR TO THE BAND? I MEAN, YOU'RE TOPPING CHARTS AROUND THE WORLD AND WINNING GRAMMYS AND AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS, AND YOU'RE SINGING ABOUT SATAN AND PLAGUES AND TOPPLING EMPIRES …
I think it's a combination of things. At the end of the day, except for writing the songs that we needed in order to play live, I think that all the hours spent onstage is key to success in the first place. I think touring is still the most effective way to spread, not necessarily your music, but the reputation of what you're good at. It still needs to be that you're an entertaining act worthy of people wanting to spend their evening watching you. So, the way I see it, it's definitely the sum of all those years put into it rather than this singular, rightly struck chord in succession into 45 minutes of worth of music. But the reason why Impera came out the way it did is because it landed up on all the previous moves and all the previous records, all the previous shows. I don't know if it's a good answer. I am merely speculating.
AT ONE POINT BEFORE IMPERA'S RELEASE, YOU GAVE AN INTERVIEW WHERE YOU SAID THAT YOU THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE GHOST'S "BLACK ALBUM." IN RETROSPECT, DO YOU THINK THAT WAS THE CASE?
I admit, I didn't really think it was the "Black Album." I was saying that being album No. 5 for us, if there is a numeral importance, I think it has to do with growth and maturity. Not necessarily saying that you grow more mature, but it's just a succession that anything that's done in a sequence, there is a natural way to grow from a debut record that you have all the time in the world to write to a second one. And then on a third something happens, and on the fourth something happens. And then on the fifth, usually something happens. And historically, you can look at a lot of bands and see that.
So, at one point, I was just saying that, since this is our fifth record, I can't help but to be reminded that some previous really good fifth records are records that I hold dearly with high regard, not only for the records, but also the ensuing album cycles and where the bands were at the time. And I mentioned obviously the "Black Album" and the tour that Metallica made after that. And also Iron Maiden and Powerslave and the World Slavery Tour that resulted in Live After Death, which is such a pivotal moment of hard rock at its prime, in terms of theatrical arena rock.
So, it was more, with that in mind, I was just sort of thinking out loud of how important it is not to phone it in, even though "it's just another record." It's never just another record. But obviously now, after the fifth record, it's hard to ... I mean, it's the difficult sixth record that I have to make. [Laughs]
I ASSUME YOU ALREADY HAVE SOME IDEAS COOKING FOR IT.
I do, yes. Time flies so quickly, and I always end up delivering the album to a record label with a long laundry list of things that I want to change or that I want to do better next time. So, it almost comes as natural that I've already started planning, or at least outlined a few things that I want to do differently. That can also be from a completely practical point of view. It doesn't necessarily mean that, "Oh, I hate this record — now I'm going to write a grindcore record."
It's just that there's always something that you want to improve or the experience ... something in the experience that you wish that you could have done better, or that at least gets me inspired every time to start thinking about what to do next. And then once you start touring ... I happen to be one of those who actually like touring. I know some bands don't, and they see it as just this unfathomable thing, like, "Do we have to play a lot of shows for this?" Or you have to do this, and it's just like an endless tour. Where I, for one, like it, especially on this cycle, which has been so mild because we decided to pace our tour a little bit different than what we've done previously. Partially by choice, but also as a necessity.
So, I've spent a lot of time off. I've spent a lot of time home. We haven't done a whole lot of shows this year. I mean, we've done 70 shows, so that's great. We usually do 120 or something like that a year. So, now looking forward to a 2023 where we have about an equal number of shows, about 70 shows more, that's going to be over pretty quickly. And so all of a sudden it's like 2024 and then you have to have a record out.
So, I have to be looking forward. I have to be. And luckily I am. Luckily, I am already sort looking at something that I think is going to be the next record. I already know what I want to do, but you have to start planning everything. And it's just how things are. I know some people, some bands, some artists, they feel super stressed about that. But for me, that's what I do. That's what I spent a lot of those years when I was not in a successful band planning for, wanting to do. The only difference between me now and myself 20 years ago is that now I actually can make a lot of those plans come true.
Get Revolver's new Ghost special collector's issue, plus exclusive colored vinyl variants and merch, at our shop.
