2022 was a massive year for Ghost — so massive, in fact, that we named the Swedish occult-rock troupe Revolver's Band of the Year and crowned their latest LP, Impera, the Album of the Year. Which only sets the stage for a very big 2023.
In a new interview with Metal Hammer, Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge teased the band's plans for the year ahead and hinted an unspecified "change" that's about to take place with the group.
First, he laid out a big-picture view of Ghost's touring plans. "We're doing a lot of touring again," Forge said. "On previous album cycles we've done four legs in America and two or three in Europe and repeated.
"We're going to go into every territory next year, but there's going to be one European tour, one American tour. We are going to do a little bit of everywhere. There'll be a little bit of something up in upper Asia, on the far end there — a very well-established country with a lot of pop cultural fascination, and the home of videogames. And there's going to be something in the Oceania world, and there might be something south of Panama, and there might be something slightly north of Panama. It feels pretty solid."
Exciting stuff, but then Forge dropped the most tantalizing breadcrumb. "We're going to come out with a little bit of change before that — good change," he said, cryptically. "We're not going to go silent. Some things are public, other things not in public view, but there are a lot of things brewing."
Asked of Ghost's next album, he offered, "Everything I'm doing now is for the next record. I have a vague idea what that will be like and a vague idea of the title and the color scheme."
When Revolver spoke to Forge late last year, he confirmed that he was already beginning to map out the follow-up to Impera. "I've already started planning, or at least outlined a few things that I want to do differently," he revealed. "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..."
