It is unlikely that there will be at least one heavy metal fan who would not have heard about the work of the Ghost group, which means “ghost” in translation.
The team attracts attention with the style of music, original masks that cover their faces, and the stage image of the vocalist.
Ghost's first steps to fame and stage
The group was founded in 2008 in Sweden, which consists of six members. The vocalist calls himself Papa Emerit. For almost two years, the group was in the formation stage.
It was during this period that the guys finally decided on the style of music, stage images and manner of performance. The music of the Ghost group combines several directions at once, which, at first glance, may seem incompatible with each other - this is heavy, occult rock, proto-doom with pop.
These styles can be clearly heard in their album Opus Eponimus released in 2010. Two years after the formation of the group, its members signed a contract with the British label Rise Above Ltd.
During this period, the band members worked hard on new songs, and the result of their work was a demo album consisting of three tracks Demo 2010, the single Elizabeth and the full-length album Opus Eponimus, which received a lot of positive feedback from music critics and listeners almost after the release.
The album was nominated for the prestigious Swedish music award Grammis, but then the luck turned away from the guys a little, and the award was given to another band. But the group still managed to loudly declare itself and contribute to the musical everyday life.
The further fate of the group and its members
The next year and a half (the end of 2010-2011) the team spent on constant travel, riding all over Europe with concerts.
The band members managed to perform on many stages, with many famous bands and performers: Paradise Lost, Mastodon, Opeth, Phil Anselmo.
During this period, they performed at several festivals, on the Pepsi Max Stage, and also took part in tours with Trivium, Rise to Remain, In Flames.
In 2012, a cover version of the song Abba I'mmarionette and the single Secular Haze were released, which were included in the album Infestissuman, released in 2013.
The release of the album was scheduled for April 9, but it was postponed for a week. The delay was due to several CD companies that refused to print the cover for the upcoming album, or rather the deluxe version.
This was argued by the extremely indecent content of the picture. The group immediately after the release of the new album got into many charts, where it occupied a leading position. In the same year, a mini-album was released with the participation of Dave Grohl.
The following years were no less successful for the team. At the beginning of 2014, a tour took place in Austria, and then another in Scandinavia.
After returning to his native country, Infestissuman was nominated for the prestigious Grammis award in the Best Hard Rock / Metal Album category and won it. The following months, the guys traveled with concerts in Latin America.
At the end of 2014, a new album was announced, as well as the change of Pope Emeritus II to Emeritus III. Allegedly, the previous one did not cope with his duties.
Although, in fact, the vocalist of the group is its only member who remains in it from the very day of its foundation. The album was presented to the general public in the frontman's hometown of Linköping in 2015.
This year, the single Cirice, written for the new album, received a Grammy Award at the 58th ceremony of this prestigious award, in the nomination "Best Metal Performance".
At the award ceremony, a new image of the group was presented. The band members put on original metal masks, and changed their clothes to formal suits.
Group image
Of great interest to the public is the unusual image of the members of the team. The vocalist enters the stage in the clothes of a cardinal, and his face is covered with makeup imitating a skull.
The remaining members of the group cover their faces with full-fledged masks and call themselves nameless ghouls. The idea (to hide real names and faces) did not appear immediately, but about a year after the creation of the team.
This was supposed to increase the interest of listeners in both music and personalities under masks. Often the guys forgot their passes behind the scenes, and this repeatedly ended with the fact that their security drove them away from their own concerts, they had to return for a forgotten document.
Until recently, the guys carefully concealed their names. It was a kind of hallmark of the team. There were rumors that the leader of the band was Subvision frontman Tobias Forge.
But he denied it in every possible way, as well as the authorship of songs for the Ghost group. And just recently, Papa Emeritus shared names with journalists, which caused dissatisfaction among the former participants. And as a result, a lawsuit was filed against the vocalist.
All these trials in court gave rise to again talking about the fact that Forge wrote the songs for the group after all, since his name repeatedly appeared.
Over the entire existence of the group, 15 members have changed in it, who, according to the terms of the contract, had to hide their identities. And this created inconvenience for the group.
New participants had to be taught everything practically from scratch. But the group still, as after the release of the first album, was very popular.
