In a new interview with Ultimate Guitar, GHOST leader Tobias Forge talked about the band’s follow-up to 2018’s Prequelle.
When asked if the latest GHOST two-song EP Seven Inches of Satanic Panic is any indication of GHOST‘s new musical direction, Tobias responded: “Well, they were recorded 50 years ago so they have nothing to do with the new record.”
Speaking on the band’s new album, Tobias said: “I’m still yet to start the real process. The real process being: in January, I go into the studio, Monday through Friday, every week, just finishing tracks. That’s how it works.
“So up until then, I don’t know, there might be a song in my head but it’s not finished until it’s recorded. I’ve only recorded, so far, a demo of one track, just to get my rocks off and feel that I’ve started doing something.
“So one track is sort of listenable and then I have maybe 50 ideas for tracks but generally, in order to make a song, you need about three ideas to be put together into a song. So I feel that four months from now, the pile of ideas – riffs, vignettes, lyric ideas, and all these different things.
“‘From the Pinnacle to the Pit’ [from GHOST‘s third album, 2015’s Meliora] was written on bass,” Forge continued. That’s why it sounds like that. Some are written as a drum idea, like ‘Death Knell’ [from GHOST‘s 2010 debut Opus Eponymous] was written as a drum idea. So there are so many different angles that the songs can start from.
“But now, knowing that I have one song I can listen to and the pile of ideas, I feel very confident that [I can get a new album done] from January to September [2020] – that’s the production window – January is starting and September is mastering, basically. I feel as prepared now as I have going in to make any of the previous albums.”
In a recent interview with Revolver Magazine, Forge talked about the musical direction he wants to pursue with the band’s next album.
The musician pointed out he is aiming to “make a different record” from the latest GHOST effort, 2018 Prequelle, which he described as “a little ballad heavy.”
Tobias added: “I want it to feel different. If I dare to say ‘heavier,’ people think that it’s going to be MERCYFUL FATE all the way … but I definitely have a darker, heavier record in mind.”
GHOST‘s latest album, Prequelle, was released on 1 June 2018. The album marked the band’s strongest selling debut to date, landing at number 3 on the Billboard 200, selling 66,000 copies in its first week, with 61,000 of those being “traditional” album sales.
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.