Former GHOST Member HENRIK PALM Announces New Solo Album 'Idiot Plot'

Swedish post-punk multi-instrumentalist songwriter Henrik Palm, who was a member of GHOST from 2015 until 2016, will release a new solo album, "Idiot Plot", on December 4 via Svart Records.

Henrik is one of Swedish underground music's most restless and genre-defying figures. A veteran of IN SOLITUDE and early band member of GHOST, he has spent the better part of two decades moving freely between heavy metal, post-punk, krautrock, and whatever else catches his ear. Alternating between the world of being a solo artist and an in-demand collaborator has always come naturally to him, over the years Henrik has worked with GÖSTA BERLINGS SAGA, PIG EYES, SÖDRA SVERIGE, HORNDAL, and stepped in as a live musician for VIAGRA BOYS and HURULA. Across the Swedish underground, when someone needs the right person for the job, Henrik Palm's name tends to come up.

Along the way he has earned devoted fans and built a cult following that led him to being hand-picked for Tomas "Tompa" Lindberg's curated Roadburn festival program in 2019, as well as supporting VOIVOD multiple times.

His solo catalogue, "Many Days" (2017),"Poverty Metal" (2020) and "Nerd Icon" (2024),maps the trajectory of an artist incapable of repeating himself. "Poverty Metal" earned a P3 Guld nomination for "Rock/Metal Of The Year", further cementing his place in the Swedish underground. Each record pulls from a different corner of his infamously insatiable vinyl collection, landing somewhere between MELVINS, WIPERS, BLACK SABBATH and VOIVOD, with an extra layer of raw, Scandinavian darkness.

"Idiot Plot", his fourth album, was born from burnout, Sunday studio sessions, and the stubborn return of joy. It is his most psychedelic and unhinged record yet, and somehow also his most direct.

Henrik's own words on "Idiot Plot": "One could claim that boredom is the mother of invention. If boredom equals sobriety and a more healthy lifestyle, then I happily join the choir.

"Late summer 2024 I hit the wall and didn't wanna do anything. Nothing. Nada. The thought of playing and making music repulsed me. Years of bad mental health and self-abuse took its toll. Something had to change and to just let it all go felt GREAT. But... Flash forward a couple of weeks and I met up with Simon [Söderberg, producer] for a coffee. He suggested we meet up and just make a song for fun. I was hesitant but said 'sure...' Every other Sunday we made a new song (still just for 'fun') in his studio and slowly I felt some familiar version of joy come back. Not full-on euphoria but a good laugh and a half at least.

"The songs kept coming and all of a sudden Simon said 'Okay, we have an album.' And that album is what you can listen to here. It's called 'Idiot Plot'. The title is nicked from literary criticism and is sometimes used to describe stories, movies or other art forms where the plot is kept in motion solely by virtue of the fact that everybody involved is an idiot. It's also a fitting way to describe my own career. Or even — dare I say — the music industry in general. In contrast to the sober state in which the album was created it's far more psychedelic than my previous outings. It's also weirder but at the same time more straightforward.

"I hope you dig the album."

Palm is one of four former members of GHOST who filed a lawsuit against the band's founder and main songwriter, Tobias Forge, in 2017. The four musicians accused the vocalist, who has performed under various stage names, including Papa Emeritus and Cardinal Copia, of cheating them out of their rightful share of the profits from the band's album releases and world tours.

In a statement explaining the lawsuit, the ex-members officially revealed their identities as Palm (Eather),Simon Söderberg (Alpha; member of GHOST from 2010 until 2016),Mauro Rubino (Air; member of GHOST from 2011 until 2016) and Martin Hjertstedt (Earth; member of GHOST from 2014 until 2016).

The Swedish-based act underwent a complete overhaul at the end of 2016, when Forge fired the entire lineup and recruited new players.

In recent years, Forge has said that GHOST has always been essentially a one-man project, with many session musicians coming and going over its two-decade existence.