Ghost returned to the spotlight in September with a new song, “Hunter’s Moon” — from the soundtrack for the film Halloween Kills — and a freshly announced tour with Volbeat. Fans will need to wait a bit longer for a full-length Ghost album, but that can’t be far off seeing as frontman Tobias Forge said the band planned to be in the studio in late 2020 and on into early 2021.
But we won’t have to wait that long to find out about the concept behind Ghost’s next record, as Forge has just spilled the beans. As usual, it’s well thought-out, heady, and a bit nihilistic.
In a chat with radio station KLAQ, Forge explained that the album is about the fall of empires. Hmmm… poignant much? He said:
“The album that I have been working on, I came up with that concept years ago. We played in Seattle in 2013, 2014 — something like that — we played at Showbox At The Market.
“I remember that day I came up with the idea for this record, this upcoming record. Because I got a book called ‘The Rule Of Empires’. So, basically, I wanted to make a record about the rise and ultimately the unescapable fails and falls of empires. And an idea like that can take — at least me — quite far.
“So once you get that idea of, like, ‘Oh, now I know what the pile is gonna look like. I know now what not to put in there.’ And it was the same thing with ‘Prequelle’; it was gonna be about the great death, a medieval, primordial threat of annihilation which was, I guess I wouldn’t say carnal but maybe a tiny tad more spiritual and philosophical death, with the ever presence of actual termination, whereas this record about the empires was gonna be a little bit more practical, I guess; a little bit more, I don’t wanna say political. So it wasn’t really hard to be inspired by the last couple of years.”
You can check out the full chat below, along with “Hunter’s Moon.”
Here are those Ghost + Volbeat tour dates:
Jan. 25 – Reno, NV – Reno Events Center [tickets]
Jan. 27 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena [tickets]
Jan. 28 – Nampa, ID – Ford Idaho Center Arena [tickets]
Jan. 29 – Portland, OR – Veterans Memorial Coliseum [tickets]
Jan. 31 – West Valley City, UT – Maverik Center [tickets]
Feb. 02 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena [tickets]
Feb. 04 – Lincoln, NE – Pinnacle Bank Arena [tickets]
Feb. 05 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center [tickets]
Feb. 07 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena [tickets]
Feb. 08 – Hershey, PA – GIANT Center [tickets]
Feb. 10 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center [tickets]
Feb. 11 – Worcester, MA – DCU Center [tickets]
Feb. 12 – Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion [tickets]
Feb. 14 – Pittsburgh, PA – Petersen Events Center [tickets]
Feb. 15 – Toledo, OH – Huntington Center [tickets]
Feb. 16 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena [tickets]
Feb. 18 – Chicago, IL – Allstate Arena [tickets]
Feb. 19 – Cincinnati, OH – Heritage Bank Center [tickets]
Feb. 20 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum [tickets]
Feb. 21 – St. Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena [tickets]
Feb. 23 – Independence, MO – Cable Dahmer Arena [tickets]
Feb. 25 – Houston, TX – Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land [tickets]
Feb. 26 – Dallas, TX – Fair Park Coliseum [tickets]
Feb. 28 – El Paso, TX – Don Haskins Center [tickets]
Mar. 01 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center [tickets]
Mar. 03 – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center [tickets]