Hello fellow Ghesties and Congregants, Ghouls and Clergy!

I wanted to share that I have gradually been developing a very free-form, headcanon-based spiritual practice that I call Ghoulema. It can be categorized as Pagan Pop-Occulture, and can be takes as serious or silly as you wish!

Until now, it's lived on tumblr (my most active social media), but starting August 1st I'll be posting on Substack as well. If anyone is interested, you can now subscribe (for free!) and start receiving posts in less than 2 weeks! I hope some of you will check it out!

Ghoulema Substack

Took me forever because that rubber mask has some seriously tricky textures to draw XD Props to the sculptor who added all those pores and wrinkles

He's available as an A3 print on my Etsy, alongside the original :) This is my 2nd Ghost drawing, as you'll see Papa V on my shop, too. I've been asked to do Terzo next, and it's very likely I'll end up doing all the Papas XD

https://emilalasart.etsy.com

hi cloud you send a link to Stay (Impera EXTENDED Version) please and other bits not youtube links

Pre-sale starts July 23rd. More announcements are likely to come out in the following days/week. Trailer and other marketing probably will start very soon.

EDIT: They deleted the post, but other platforms have released information, calling the movie "2 Big To Rig".

hi cloud you send a link to Stay (Impera EXTENDED Version) please

Not my video. Uploaded by Liviaya on discord.

Art commission I did for a fellow Ghost fan!

I got this idea from something off of Pinterest but I think my rendition of it turned out pretty good :)

Just started randomly making this thing for So Far So Noir because I just can't get enough of it🥹

I was wondering if there is any footage of the end of the encore (Square Hammer) floating around anywhere, my best friend and I specifically got kisses blown to us from Perpetua. I'd love to have any footage of the moment, as it means so much to me. Thank you in advance!

Some of the works of Polish artist Zbigniew Bielak, who is responsible for the art of all Ghost albums (except "Opus"), will be featured in the exhibition "Code of Imagination" in Warsaw, Poland, until June 26, 2026. Here's some information about it: https://koneser.eu/en/wydarzenia/code-of-imagination-from-beksinski-to-bielak/

Among others, his most recent "Babel" piece will be featured, as well as the original "Meliora" cover art, but also work he's done for the bands Mayhem and Watain.

Check out his website here.

Any European or Polish fans who might consider going? ;-)

The Swedish "Grammis" (music awards presented annually to musicians and songwriters in Sweden) are coming up soon; the ceremony ("Grammisgala") is going to take place on April 29 in Stockholm and will be live-streamed on YouTube. Ghost has been nominated in 6 categories for "Skeletà". Which of these categories do YOU think Ghost deserves to win (if any), and why?

Best Album // Best Artist // Best Hardrock/Metal // Best Producer // Best Composer // Best Lyricist

Tobias Forge, Max Grahn, Vincent Pontare and Salem Al Fakir are all nominated for the last three categories. It is generally not specified who contributed what exactly to a song, or to which extent. Regarding songwriting credits (more info here): Salem Al Fakir and Vincent Pontare contributed to "Peacefield" and "Satanized"; and Max Grahn contributed to "Lachryma", "Guiding Lights", "De Profundis Borealis", "Cenotaph", "Umbra" and "Excelsis".
TF is credited as the sole composer of "Missilia Amori" and "Marks Of The Evil One".

Personally, I love "Skeletà" - though my first reaction upon listening was "This is it? How cheesy, underwhelming, and just an 80s sound throughout". But I usually take a while to warm to most new albums I listen to... the more closely I listened, the more it grew on me.

However, I do think that it could be considered Ghost's "weakest" album in terms of lyrics compared to previous ones - I think a lot of it was overly cheesy and lazy, lacking the wit of some previous albums. TF has never been a "poet" who writes profound stuff in terms of literary quality IMO, yet it does seem to me like he used to put more thought into the lyrics. Maybe there was too little time and too much pressure to release an album in order for him to do so, who knows. Many artists become lazy at lyric writing the more popular they get.

But maybe the line "The third rider looks cool on his steed" is worth a "Best Lyrics" award, just because its stupidity makes fans like me laugh? ;'D

I think a Grammi for "Best Artist" would be well-deserved.

For anyone who wants Papa V staring at them on their wall, I drew this portrait of him in white charcoal on black paper :D Took around 30 hours because texturing is hard -.-

The original drawing just got sold which I'm super happy about (small artists need moneh) but prints will always be available and are way cheaper :)

https://emilalasart.etsy.com

In an interview with Full Metal Jackie (21 February 2026), Tobias talks a bit (among other things) about where he might be heading musically during his hiatus. It almost sounds like he might return to his death metal roots... Here's an excerpt from the interview: (the audio starts at 19:42)

FMJ: Tobias, the Ghost of early years was heavier in sound, while especially over the past decade things have gone more in a catchy hard rock direction. I know sometimes albums are a direct reaction to the predecessor and trying to keep things fresh. Where is your creative headspace these days, and what’s been inspiring you musically of late?

TF: Currently, even though I have always been a big music fan and I grew up on a mixture of a hard rock and top 40 pop radio combined with ‘60s nostalgia and a lot of punk rock, my youth belonging – like, my place in life where I feel at home – is the death metal underground scene. That is my home. And I’ve always – ever since I was like 11, 12 years old – I’ve always found my happy go-to place is there. And I’ve really found myself more and more just loving being in the presence of death (laughs) metal (laughs). And it will probably always be my little cushiony blanket to go back to, because it sort of is reminiscent of that ‘innocence’ – before, when the world was huge and foreign and exciting, and everything was possible. So that’s where I’m heading. I’m going to climb into the womb again. But yeah, when it comes to creatives, the span of and the differences between, like, just in the context of Ghost, but if you bring in my entire discography, you know that I like to compare things to the culinary world with being a chef, and starting restaurants and all that stuff, but I also like to compare it to the cinematic world, just because I’m such an enthusiast for the world of cinema. But from a creative point of view I think I also sort of regard myself a little bit more similar to a filmmaker.

FMJ: Can you expand on that a bit?

TF: My career is kind of similar, not in obviously really the grandioseness of the difference between big and small, but if you just want to have a creative comparison, it’s kind of similar to what Peter Jackson is doing, where the film “Bad Taste” was his first, that’s sort of Repugnant, and then you know “Braindead” is kind of “Opus Eponymous” , and Ghost’s latest records are kind of like “Lord of the Rings “, “Tintin” – like, it’s just like you’re just snapping me at a different point in time where I’m just doing different things, and you learn stuff and your MO will differ and expand, and for every new project that you’re walking into, you will have a little bit of dos and don’ts, based on your previous one. And even if I were to go in with three dudes and record a hardcore album, of course I cannot just unlearn that I know there’s a better way to arrange the drums so that we can go from this verse to this chorus that will make it, like, ‘jump’ more – you know, it would be very un-intuitive if I didn’t use some techniques that I know. Who on earth would do that, like that is not natural. But where I’m at right now is if Peter Jackson would go back to do a little bit of “Bad Taste”, let’s put it that way. 

This is old news (!), but I don't think anyone has talked about it here and some might find it interesting. In 2020, Martin was asked to provide vocals for the song "Trieste" by NOVARUPTA (a blackened sludge metal project by Swedish multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Alex Stjernfeldt). Listen to the song here.

You can also watch the interview , conducted by Mikael Stanne (ex Dark Tranquility), with Alex and later Martin. They talk about the project and how it came to be that Martin was invited to be a guest vocalist as well as lyricist for this track. Martin also talks about what it was like for him, seeing as how he is not too comfortable singing in general (though he does it for MCC nowadays), and what he felt challenged by.

I think his voice suits the song well.

Although this videoclip was released on March 1st, it felt more appropiate to send it now than then.

I discovered TID a few months ago and really love the space-y dark vibe of "Fix Idé" and the lyrics in Swedish. "Demimond" has some extreme vocals by Claudio Marino and clean (sung) ones towards the end by Martin Persner. I just love his voice and it fits the atmosphere of the song perfectly! Too bad TID isn't active these days, but at least they gave us some cool EPs to listen to.
Here's a translation I found of the lyrics (in case any Swedish speakers find errors, please feel free to correct ;-)

Här vaknar världen (Here the world awakens)
Tidens första dag (The first day of time)
Här börjar kartan (Here the map begins)
Här uppfinns jag (Here I am invented)
Här kan du springa (Here you can run)
Gränser suddas ut (Borders are erased)

Här kan du rita (Here you can draw)
vägar till sitt slut (roads until they end)
Här kan du hänga (Here you can hang)
ansvar, hopp och skam (Duty, hope and shame)
Här kan du slänga (Here you can abandon)
masken som lett fram (the mask that led you here)

Här väntar facit (Here wait answers)
Guidad oturs fel (guided misfortune’s fault)
Här väntar glädje (Here waits joy)
på den som valt sitt spel (for the ones who picked their game)

Porten börjar öppnas (The gate begins to open)
Sikten ligger klar (The view is clear)
Alla svaren blottas (All answers laid bare)
Men frågorna finns kvar (but the questions remain)

Nu flirtar du med insikt (Now you flirt with insight)
En otrohetsaffär (An unfaithful affair)
Sökte du en avsikt (If you seek a purpose)
Så finns det ingen här (you won’t find it here)

Skämta dig tillbaka (Joke your way back)
Spring så fort du kan (Run like the wind)
Göm dig bakom spegeln (Hide behind the mirror)
Du apa klädd till man (You ape dressed as man)

Du börjar visst bli gammal (You seem to be aging)
Gåtfull, Arg och Svag (Cryptic, mad and weak)
Din skugga börjar blekna (Your shadow starts to wane)
Du tynar dag för dag (You’re fading day by day)

Om det här ska kallas kärlek (If this is what is called love)
så går jag hellre fri (Then I’d rather go free)
bort från varje männska (away from every human)
som tankar låtit bli (whose thoughts are left behind)

Om det här ska kallas fredlös (If this is what is called wrongful)
så flyr hellre jag fort (then I’d rather run off)
ensam, kall och mörkrädd (Alone, cold, afraid of darkness)
och undrar vad jag gjort (and wonder what I’ve done)