Cast your mind back to the 23rd of October 2010. Now, you might not instantly know what we’re talking about, but if you’re a diehard Ghost follower you’ll know that this date marks the debut of the Swedish band – led by Papa Emeritus I and his Nameless Ghouls back then – on the live stage. Ghost may have formed a few years prior, but the legacy didn’t start setting into motion until that fateful night at Germany’s Hammer of Doom Festival. Now, fast forward to April 2025. Ghost have risen stratospherically through the heavily gatekept ranks of rock and metal by largely sticking to their guns while expanding on a neverending lore which has seen the story of Ghost grow by the day. We’re a few popes and cardinals (as well as a viral TikTok hit) later, as new album (or psalm, as they put it) Skeletá prepares to land at the end of the month. Following on from 2022’s Impera, Skeletá is an intricately crafted logical next step in Ghost’s repertoire, spearheaded by Tobias Forge’s latest frontman Papa V Perpetua. But does it hold a (church) candle up to its predecessors?
Peacefield kicks off proceedings in rousing fashion, opting for the more subtle approach as it works its way towards the first of Skeletá’s many larger than life choruses. It comes straight out of the 1980s hard rock handbook, but then with a healthy dose of Ghost injected into its veins. It’s the ultimate opening track, complete with a choral introduction, fists in the air moments and swashbuckling guitar lines. It precedes new single Lachryma, and finds Papa and his Ghouls treading on familiar sonic territory. The opening riff is dark and nasty, akin to older cuts From the Pinnacle to the Pit and Faith. It’s pretty much exactly what you’ve come to expect from them at this stage, but that’s not to say it’s phoned in – the riffs are big, the chorus is even bigger, and the air of mystique is omnipresent. Lead single Satanized subsequently picks up the pace, offering more of the same but with a bit more grit and energy.
Although Ghost have got an incredible knack for writing mid-tempo hard rock power ballads, one of Skeletá’s drawbacks is that three of its first four tracks operate on this wavelength. The record could have done with a bit more energy during its opening chapter. The solo in Guiding Lights more than makes up for this, wailing in and out of consciousness as Papa proclaims that “the road that leads to nowhere is long”. De Profundis Borealis veers back into hard rock territory with its rampant drums and chugged guitars, as well as a memorable solo during the song’s mid-section. Like with most of this album, De Profundis Borealis ticks all the boxes for a solid Ghost record: riffs, anthems and grandeur. Grandeur has been ever present since day one, no matter the song. Cenotaph harks back to the Ghost we got to know on debut album Opus Epnymous during its eerie and pacing verses, before launching into – you guessed it – another massive chorus. There’s a glimmer of hope in Papa’s voice, a sense of yearning which only grows stronger as the song goes on.
It’s worth noting that perhaps the biggest contrast between Skeletá and previous albums is a visible shift in the lyricism. While still heavily indebted to the overarching lore, these ten songs portray Papa V Perpetua as the most introspective Ghost frontman to date. Where 2022’s Impera looked at the rise and fall of empires, Skeletá finds the singer soul-searching and having conversations with himself about love, loss, growth and the undying devotion to and presence of Satan. The tongue-in-cheek Missilia Amori is a largely by-numbers radio rock song which will satisfy with its catchy chorus (“Love rockets, shot right in between your eyes!”), but falls short of the mark. Mark of the Evil One is up there with some of Ghost’s best songs to date, complete with a fists-in-the-air chorus and plenty of classic Ghost-isms, but it’s penultimate track Umbra where the magic really happens. It’s a sprawling epic filled to the brim with tension and urgency, onset by a haunting intro of arpeggio synths, riffage and…very prominent cowbell? The cowbell has a starring role throughout Umbra, which takes top spot for best everything on Skeletá. You could even go so far as to suggest that the entire story of Ghost has been building up to this moment. “In the shadow of the Nazarene, I put my love in you” declares Perpetua during the gigantic chorus, before a drawn out, proggy bridge takes things to a whole new level. It’s the closest Ghost has come to a masterpiece, and even that is an understatement. Album closer Excelsis is the ideal comedown after the raucous Umbra, calling the curtain on Skeletá with poignant lyrics, lilting instrumentation and angelic choral flourishes. “Everyone goes away, you will too, I will too” muses Perpetua during its chorus, closing the door on this journey as he invites you to join him to Rainbow’s End. It sounds like a love child between the album closers of the last two Ghost records (2019’s Life Eternal and 2022’s Respite on the Spitalfields), with Papa sounding pensive and emotional more so than any of his predecessors. A fitting end to a record which, although predictable in places, will stand the test of time as one of Ghost’s best. Skeletá is out on 25 April.
8/10
