Ghost Frontman Had Concept for Next Album Mapped Out Over a Year Ago
Here’s what we know about Ghost’s next album so far, cobbled together from bits and pieces band leader Tobias Forge has revealed in interviews over the past year or so:
- He plans to start recording it in early 2020.
- He wants to delay its release until after the U.S. presidential election because he feels folks will be distracted by that.
- Cardinal Copia will be back in a reprisal of his role on Prequelle, the first Ghost “frontman” to star on more than one album.
- He wants to make a rock opera, but it won’t be this next album.
Now that you’re caught up, let’s shift our attention to a new interview with Loudwire [transcribed by Ultimate Guitar], in which Forge explains when he first started formulating ideas for the band’s next album, and how that process usually works for him in general:
“I’d say that there was a moment just about around release of Prequelle where on one of the promo trips, it sort of fell in place to what I wanted to do with the next album. Usually, there are a few things that go in tandem for me to sort of solidify an idea in my head and it doesn’t necessarily have to do with music. It’s more like a, ‘Oh, this is a title of the record,’ or, ‘This is a feel of the record’ and how that plays into what I want to do as a stage presentation. I’d say that one of the promo trips just around the release of ‘Prequelle,’ a little over a year ago, that’s when I sort of had that, ‘Aha, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.’
“So, for a year, little over a year now, I’ve been fine-tuning that, and that is definitely taking shape and we’re sticking with that script, going into making the record at the beginning of next year. Around the time when you’re finished with one record, that’s definitely where ideas for the next one start taking shape, but on the other hand, I also have, like, a long list of things that I want to achieve with Ghost, which are anything from song ideas to props, to gags, to videos, to all these kinds of things that I’ve had for now 10 years.
“So, every year, every cycle, I guess, you do a little bit more. It’s a combination of new things that I came up with a half year ago, but combined with something I came up with nine years ago.”
What will Forge sing about this time, and what twists and turns will the band’s long-running fictional storyline take? At least we’ll have something to look forward to after the inevitable Trump re-election in November 2020.
