GHOST: 'The Whole Concept Of Happiness Is F**king Skewed'

One of the nameless ghouls from the occult rock band GHOST spoke to U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine about the lyrical themes covered on the group's third album, "Meliora", which was released on August 21 via Loma Vista Recordings.

"This record is more about the modern man and woman in their pursuit of purpose in life," he said. "It's hard to live in a society if you're not willing to buy that you are in a collective, yet usually in the Western world, there is a big disregard for individual responsibility. W think, 'Maybe you should take out your garbage,' 'Maybe you shouldn't drive, you should take the bus.' And people say, 'I'm in a hurry. I can't.' And, well, everyone else can do that — but I'm in a rock band and I don't want to do that! I include myself in that. Everyone is so busy doing their own thing.

"Most people you meet in life are most content when they have a purpose," he continued. "But most people think their purpose is to be a millionaire; most people think they cannot be content until they're their own boss at the top of the Trump building. Twenty-five years ago, people were content being a carpenter. But after the Internet, people can now create an app in five minutes and sell it for $5 million. That's the career choices now. Either that or you can play poker — that'll make you rich. Or you can photograph your tits and that'll make you extremely rich. The whole concept of happiness is fucking skewed..."

The nameless ghoul added: "In a way, we're returning to one of [the things we discussed earlier], which is that GHOST want to reflect issues that are relevant. We'll always piss around. We'll always have fun. But it's like that [Ernest Hemngway] quote at the end of the movie 'Se7en' — 'The world's a fine place and it's worth fighting for.' And [like Morgan Freeman] I agree with the last part. The world is a shitty place, but we have to live in it, and it's definitely worth fighting for."

The follow-up to 2013's "Infestissumam", "Meliora" was helmed by Klas Åhlund, a prolific songwriter, producer and guitarist who is also a member of the Swedish rock band TEDDYBEARS, and was mixed by Andy Wallace (SLAYER, NIRVANA, SEPULTURA, LINKIN PARK, GUNS N' ROSES).

GHOST will embark on the "Black To The Future" North American headlining tour in the fall. The procession will begin at The Fillmore in Washington, D.C. on September 22.