GHOST frontman Tobias Forge joins host Abe Kanan today for a special Audacy Check In, amid the highly-anticipated arrival of the mysterious Swedish metal band's all new Skeletá era with new music, a new ‘Papa,’ and more.
LISTEN NOW: Audacy Check In with GHOST
Over the weekend GHOST shared images of an epic billboard announcing “V is coming,” along with a link to a livestream which will no doubt host the debut of the band’s “new” singer, Papa V Perpetua, as well as further new music announcements. Papa V, the next incarnation of frontman Tobias Forge, was first teased when revealed as part of Black Sabbath’s Back To The Beginning July concert in Birmingham happening later this year.
For the past 20+ years, Tobias has led his “nameless ghouls” in GHOST, one of the more mysterious groups in the Metal scene, as their anti-Papal singer and principal songwriter.
Looking back on the group’s constant battles with remaining unknown players when first starting out, it was “fatigue,” Forge says, that eventually led to his unmasking. “It was a constant struggle to maintain anonymity, meanwhile trying to break and make the band bigger because it sort of defies the whole idea of becoming a bigger and more famous band, and not become more a person of interest,” he explains. “However, as I transgressed from, I know that might be the wrong word to use here, but transgressed from wanting to really remain anonymous, no matter what, to being, I guess, more open with it.”
“I tried to weigh whether or not if there was a playing field for me, to where I could do both,” Tobias says. “And what I understood it was that GHOST as an entity, as this sort of fictional, cartoonish Rock band, is always -- as long as I continue doing that the way I should -- will always be more known and more recognizable and more interesting than I am as a person. And so far, it has really been like that. Sure, people know who I am, but nowhere near as many as know what GHOST is.”
“Any time we have a new person in the band,” Forge admits, “I think it always sets off the sleuths trying to sort of figure out who that person is, and over the years we've had people in the band who've been very good at hiding their identities, basically enjoying the idea of being somewhat more elusive. And then there are those who prefer to be a little bit more visible.”
However, as he sees it “Neither is wrong. I think in the spirit of GHOST being a slightly more theatrical, and a little bit more anonymous, whatever that means now in this context, I think it's good if we don't go up on stage and take the mask off, ‘Here we are, it's me.’ You know, that's not great, but I mean it doesn't bother me if you know the name of the guitar player.”
Speaking of the band’s brand new single “Satanized” from their forthcoming 2025 album Skeleta, some fans may notice a throwback feel to earlier releases, some of course may not. “I am bad at deciphering or deciding that,” Tobias says, “because if I say, ‘oh yeah, yes, you're right,’ there will be opinionated people listening like, it sounds nothing like Opus… So, no, it's not a carbon copy of ‘Opus Eponymous,’ it's not ‘Infestissumam,’ it's not ‘Meliora.’”
“There are elements of everything I've ever done, scattered all over the records, as is with this record too,” he says. “I always go into the studio or into the writing process, the production process, with the idea of trying to write a new album, an album that sounds In a new way, and then pragmatically, I guess you try to be professional and steer the ship. so it resembles a GHOST record. Even though I'm also struggling at times with exactly what that means, but you know, of course I have a gut feeling of which lines you don't cross, and where it feels like that is ‘not a GHOST thing to do.’ Not because I don't dare -- I consider myself fairly daring in my will to push everything forward, or push the envelope and or do things that others might not wanna do. But of course I do have certain lines that I won't cross. It's hard to say exactly what that is, but throughout the course of a production, there are definitely moments where I feel like ‘Eek, let's not do that.’”
As fans know, with a new GHOST record comes a new Papa to lead the clergy, but how exactly is Papa V different from the last incarnations? “I don't know yet,” Tobias admits. “I hope, I think he'll differ. He should be a little bit different. Of course, he comes from a very similar lineage, so there would be similarities. But I'm hoping, I mean, as I was deeply involved with the editing of the film we made, ‘Rite Here, Rite Now,’ there were definitely moments where I learned things about our show and our frontman as well.”
GHOST’s 2025 album Skeletá will be available everywhere April 25 via Loma Vista Recordings. Don't miss our full Check In with Tobias Forge, and hear the first single, “Satanized” above. Stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.
Tickets for GHOST's 2025 U.S. dates -- their first since 2023's RE-IMPERATOUR -- are available now. Take a look at their current itinerary below.
GHOST WORLD TOUR 2025:
Tue Apr 15 – Manchester, UK – AO Arena
Wed Apr 16 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
Sat Apr 19 – London, UK – The O2
Sun Apr 20 – Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena
Tue Apr 22 – Antwerp, BE – Sportpaleis
Wed Apr 23 – Frankfurt, DE – Festhalle Frankfurt
Thu Apr 24 – Munich, DE – Olympiahalle
Sat Apr 26 – Lyon, FR – LDLC Arena
Sun Apr 27 – Toulouse, FR – Zénith Toulouse Métropole
Tue Apr 29 – Lisbon, PT – MEO Arena
Wed Apr 30 – Madrid, ES – Palacio Vistalegre
Sat May 3 – Zürich, CH – Hallenstadion Zürich
Sun May 4 – Milan, IT – Unipol Forum
Wed May 7 – Berlin, DE – Uber Arena
Thu May 8 – Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome
Sat May 10 – Lodz, PL – Atlas Arena
Sun May 11 – Prague, CZ – O2 Arena
Tue May 13 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena
Wed May 14 – Oberhausen, DE – Rudolf Weber-ARENA
Thu May 15 – Hannover, DE – ZAG Arena
Sat May 17 – Copenhagen, DK – Royal Arena
Tue May 20 – Tampere, FI – Nokia Arena
Thu May 22 – Linköping, SE – Saab Arena
Fri May 23 – Sandviken, SE – Göransson Arena
Sat May 24 – Oslo, NO – Oslo Spektrum
Wed Jul 09 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena
Fri Jul 11 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
Sat Jul 12 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena
Sun Jul 13 – Miami, FL – Kaseya Center
Tue Jul 15 – Raleigh, NC – Lenovo Center
Thu Jul 17 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
Fri Jul 18 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena
Sat Jul 19 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Mon Jul 21 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Tue Jul 22 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Thu Jul 24 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
Fri Jul 25 – Louisville, KY – KFC Yum! Center
Sat Jul 26 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
Mon Jul 28 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
Tue Jul 29 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum
Wed Jul 30 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center
Fri Aug 01 – Rosemont, IL – Allstate Arena
Sat Aug 02 – Saint Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
Sun Aug 03 – Omaha, NE – CHI Health Center
Tue Aug 05 – Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center
Thu Aug 07 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena
Sat Aug 09 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena
Sun Aug 10 – San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena
Mon Aug 11 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center
Thu Aug 14 – Austin, TX – Moody Center
Fri Aug 15 – Fort Worth, TX – Dickies Arena
Sat Aug 16 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
Wed Sep 24 – Mexico City, MX – Palacio de los Deportes
Related
