Ghost’s Next Album Will be About the Apocalypse

2017 is shaping up to be a busy year for Ghost. A new album will likely be on the way before year’s end: a few months ago the band teased the imminent arrival of Papa Emeritus IV and they revealed they were “very far” into the writing process for the album, which may or may not feature a cowbell-playing Nameless Ghoul. And just last week they announced a huge tour opening for Iron Maiden. Hopefully they can still find the time to hit the studio and crank out a follow-up to Meliora!

In a recent interview with Loudwire, a Nameless Ghoul shed some light on the lyrical nature of the next album, which he says will be a thematic follow-up to Meliora:

Let’s just say that it’s a continuation of Meliora, but it’s sort of a response. I’ve used the word “pre-apocalyptic” on Meliora. It’s sort of the hide [height? -Ed.] of civilization. It’s the symbolism, just look at the cover. It’s sky risers, everything. You don’t even see the ground. It’s all covered and built material. Obviously there has to be an end to that. So there will be a call and response. The next album will be the response to that. So if there was an absence of a God, there might be a return of a deity, which usually comes in horrible forms. So it will be a darker album.

Sounds fun! “Darker” could also mean heavier, which will surely delight fans of the band’s earliest work, but at this point I don’t care how heavy or not heavy a Ghost album is: I’ve accepted them as a pop band and I’m along for the ride, wherever it may take me. Either way, the lyrical themes sure sound like they’re related to what’s going on in the world today with Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and the general sense that we’ve flown too close to the sun.

More as we get it, of course. The Loudwire interview from which the above quote comes also covers the band’s recently released Popestar EP, internet critics, the humor in the band’s presentation and more.