GHOST Is 'Working On Several Big Things' For 2021

Swedish metallers GHOST have shared an end-of-year Facebook update indicating that announcements about new music and live shows will be forthcoming in the next few months. The Tobias Forge-fronted act has been working on "several big things" for 2021 and will be issuing sporadic updates throughout the year.

The full message from A Nameless Ghoul, which was posted on December 30, reads: "Dear Friends, I hope this message finds you relatively well and hopeful for the future.

"Needless to say, we have all experienced a strange year -some of us an absolutely devastating year with loved ones passing, loneliness and a very somber outlook for the future. Yet there is some distance to go before we are somewhat back to where we'd regard life as normal again.

"With this , I want you all to know that we are working diligently on several big things for next year, so please do not confuse our silence with inactivity. And I confess, I wanted to reach out to let you all know we miss you, eternally.

"News pertaining to 2021 will be rolled out throughout the new year, so I ask for nothing but your patience.

"In the interim, focus on taking care of yourselves and your loved ones. Have hope and strive for a better and more optimistic future, because it's all within reach. We are almost there.

"Let's end this year with the knowledge that the roaring TWENTIES will begin in 2021!

"Happy Holidays and much love".

Last October, Forge told Sweden Rock Magazine that he was planning to enter the studio in January to begin recording GHOST's fifth album. "The actual recording will last around six weeks and then there's two to three weeks of mixing and mastering," he said. "So sometime in March the record should be finished, but it won't be released until after the summer. As it looks now, knock on wood, we will then go on tour. We won't release an album until we know that we are actually going on tour. The album release will coincide with the start of a tour. Of course, we could announce an album release date and then, for some reason, it might not be possible to tour, but that's a whole other matter."

In March 2020, at the final concert of GHOST's "Prequelle" album cycle in Mexico City, the band introduced the new character who will front the act for its next LP phase: Papa Emeritus IV.

Forge performed as a "new" Papa Emeritus on each of the band's first three LPs, with each version of Papa replacing the one that came before it. Papa Emeritus III was retired in favor of Cardinal Copia before the release of 2018's "Prequelle" album.

In October 2019, Forge confirmed to U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine that there would be a new character fronting GHOST by the time the group's next LP sees the light of day.

"Prequelle" debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and features the chart-topping singles "Rats" and "Dance Macabre".

In December 2018, GHOST nabbed two Grammy nominations, "Best Rock Album" for "Prequelle" and "Best Rock Song" for "Rats".

Five years ago, GHOST became the first Swedish rock band ever to win a Grammy — 2016's "Best Metal Performance" for the song "Cirice".