Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge hasn't even hit the studio for the band's fifth album yet and rumors are heating up. What we know so far is that Forge likely won't work with a metal producer, wants to be a little heavier than he was on 2018's Prequelle, and will bring back the Papa Emeritus character. Oh, and he tells Kerrang! that he's hoping to make this coming record Ghost's equivalent of Metallica's wildly successful 1991 self-titled album (better known as The Black Album).
“I regard Metallica as colleagues and friends now, but they’re still Metallica. I am an ambassador and they are presidents. But when I look to Metallica for influence, I’m looking at what they did in 1988. We’re on our fourth album, as they were on the Damaged Justice Tour, so the next stop is the Black Album.”
Forge also talked a little bit about being responsible with the next record in terms of commercial viability. Forge says he's got a wife and kids to look out for, and that he wants to look back on his career and have it all be worth it.
“You have to make a responsible record. That doesn’t mean to expect riffs. It’s two different things – what the record sounds like and knowing to put yourself in the right spot at the right time. When I had nothing, and lived in a small apartment that cost very little because the ceiling leaked, the dream was to be able to live off making music. When I had kids that became even more important. Now it’s about something else. I’m responsible for showing my wife and my kids that all these years of waiting for me have been worth it. And that goes beyond money, because at the end of the day that’s just seasoning. One day my kids will be grown-up and I have to be able to show them that all this time playing rock shows had a real purpose.”
Ghost will spend all of 2020 recording a new album and will play exactly one show.
