Few acts in modern rock and metal do spectacle quite like Ghost. Tobias Forge’s snappily dressed band of (mostly nameless) ghouls have spent almost 15 years subverting expectations, building a legacy as one of the most unique and riotously entertaining forces in rock’n’roll – their merging of extreme metal aesthetics and camp, classic rock-indebted bangers unlike anything else out there.
Over the course of five studio albums and increasingly ambitious live shows, the Swedes have undergone the unlikeliest of evolutions, from underground metal curios to arena-filling party-rock staples. Their most recent album, 2022’s Impera, crystallised their journey so far: a grandiose rock’n’roll opera; Jim Steinman by way of Def Leppard, like ABBA writing songs for Iron Maiden. It showed just how fun the ‘devil’s music’ can be, their cheekily subversive, pseudo-satanic tropes delivered with a nudge, a wink and a tap-dance.
