Ghost Megathread

[JD27]

I love Ghost. Papa's pretty great. Their show last year was one of my favourite in a very long time. I'm not sure whether this whole 'Papa firing all the other members' is legit or a marketing stunt, but I'm hoping it won't change their sound too much. That being said, I love 'Square Hammer' so if that's the direction Papa takes the band, I won't care. Wishing the whole band, former and present, success.

Who knows, Persner has not been playing in the band though. Supposedly the bass player took over his spot on guitar, hence the new female bass player appearing. Guess will will see when they start the European tour with the supposedly new lineup.

 

[technomancer]

Love this band so hope this is all marketing crap and the sound doesn't change going forward. While incredibly cheesey they're also just a lot of fun.

 

[JD27]

Love this band so hope this is all marketing crap and the sound doesn't change going forward. While incredibly cheesey they're also just a lot of fun.

Even if it isn't, Tobias Forge I'm sure writes a lot of the music, so I hope it doesn't either.

 

[WhiskeyPickleJake]

They've been a weird, evolving enigma for a while so I wouldn't worry at all about supposed changes. Listen to Subvision and MCC, then all the Ghost albums. There's a clear line of evolution (and even repeated lyrics [see secular haze]) going on a decade or so. No reason to worry.

 

[jwade]

Really, as long as the voice is the same, the likely small changes to the sound that could hypothetically result from the rest of the people being out shouldn't make that much difference, since it's primarily been the same main songwriter's vision the whole time anyway.

 

[Rachmaninoff]

Listen to Subvision and MCC, then all the Ghost albums. There's a clear line of evolution (and even repeated lyrics [see secular haze]) going on a decade or so. No reason to worry.

I've noticed this lately. Feels like the same sound is being composed and played for a long time, but it just reached success under the Ghost persona. Same guys, same music, different band name/custumes.

 

[BlackMastodon]

So I gave Ghost a try a year or 2 ago and just never jived with it. I think I was expecting some really heavy, growly, doom metal and was thrown off by the sound (books and covers and all that). But then I heard Square Hammer recently and it was stuck in my head for weeks. Such a great and catchy tune and now they're finally clicking for me and I'm loving it. Easily the most fun you can have with Satanic rock.

 

[SnowfaLL]

So I gave Ghost a try a year or 2 ago and just never jived with it. I think I was expecting some really heavy, growly, doom metal and was thrown off by the sound (books and covers and all that). But then I heard Square Hammer recently and it was stuck in my head for weeks. Such a great and catchy tune and now they're finally clicking for me and I'm loving it. Easily the most fun you can have with Satanic rock.

the best thing about Ghost (and I'm sure they feel the same) is that its not to be taken "seriously".. its a fun band. They know its not the heaviest, or most difficult guitar parts, or most "satantic" and all that, but they dont care. I think people who expect them to be demonic and all that are missing the point.

My girlfriend loves this band after I showed it to her, to the point where she started looking at their tour dates to see if we can find one close enough.. she usually hates all the bands I'm into. (But she loved seeing Steven Wilson live.. great show there!) So thats awesome. I'm not ashamed to admit Ghost is one of my fav bands lately, even if they are "pop" in comparison to most metal bands.

Check out MCC too (Magna Carta Cartel) - the band that spawned Ghost, their songs are very similar in structure, but with more of a Radiohead-esqe sound to it. Very cool.

 

[WhiskeyPickleJake]

^ Strongly agreed, fun is by far the primary point. Also my wife had the same response, fell in love with the songs, sings along, wanted to go see them despite not wanting to see any other band. That MCC album gets airtime in my house as much as any other too.

 

[Rachmaninoff]

the best thing about Ghost (and I'm sure they feel the same) is that its not to be taken "seriously".. its a fun band. They know its not the heaviest, or most difficult guitar parts, or most "satantic" and all that, but they dont care.

Exactly!

 

[BlackMastodon]

the best thing about Ghost (and I'm sure they feel the same) is that its not to be taken "seriously".. its a fun band. They know its not the heaviest, or most difficult guitar parts, or most "satantic" and all that, but they dont care. I think people who expect them to be demonic and all that are missing the point.

My girlfriend loves this band after I showed it to her, to the point where she started looking at their tour dates to see if we can find one close enough.. she usually hates all the bands I'm into. (But she loved seeing Steven Wilson live.. great show there!) So thats awesome. I'm not ashamed to admit Ghost is one of my fav bands lately, even if they are "pop" in comparison to most metal bands.

Check out MCC too (Magna Carta Cartel) - the band that spawned Ghost, their songs are very similar in structure, but with more of a Radiohead-esqe sound to it. Very cool.

Couldn't agree more. I was really expecting something "more serious" and metal, but after I accepted that they're just a really fun rock band I can finally get into them.

 

[brector]

^ Strongly agreed, fun is by far the primary point. Also my wife had the same response, fell in love with the songs, sings along, wanted to go see them despite not wanting to see any other band. That MCC album gets airtime in my house as much as any other too.

x3! My wife says she gets their songs stuck in her head. We have seen them 3 times and she even went when she was about 7 months pregnant

-Brian

 

[ferret]

Bummer news: http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/ghost-leader-slapped-with-lawsuit-by-former-members/

According to Corren.se, GHOST lead singer and founder Tobias Forge — who performs as Papa Emeritus — is being sued by four former members of the band who are accusing him of cheating them out of their rightful share of the profits from the group's album releases and world tours.

 

[TGOD]

Yeah, everyone was speculating that EVERY member of the band had been changed, and now with the news of the lawsuit, it's pretty much confirmed.

Seeing as Persner isn't a part of the suit, it's safe to say that the other four members who are suing were the same four members who seemingly quit in December (because of reasons they're now suing for) thus forcing a replacement band.

Safe to say it's an entirely new band aside from Tobias now, even though I'm pretty sure before they were replaced, Alpha and Air were the only original members.

Tobias seemed pretty fast to deny their claims that the band was a "partnership", making me believe that he is, in fact, the mastermind behind the entire concept that is Ghost, including stage show, management, and songwriting.

As someone who loves the music (and hopes that he IS the mastermind behind the songwriting so future albums are just as good), it blows my mind that it may be true that Tobias wrote most of, if not all of the music by himself and just hired band members to play it with him.

If that is the case - what an unbelievably talented and creative individual he is (while also being slimy about underpaying his bandmates and not releasing the bands earnings info to the rest of the band)

 

[anomynous]

From the videos it looks like the bassist is the same as their last US tour judging by the stage presence and that it's still a woman.

 

[TGOD]

From the videos it looks like the bassist is the same as their last US tour judging by the stage presence and that it's still a woman.

It's absolutely 100% not the woman.

I saw them back in November and the new bassist is a lot lankier, and is missing the signature tattoo and ring that she wore on her hand at every show and signing during that tour.

The girl bassist also had a lot more "stoic" stage presence in comparison to the new guy, who is all over the stage interacting with the other ghouls during the show.

Not even just that, but people in a Ghost group I'm in on Facebook said they stayed out back after the show in London and saw all the new members and they're all guys, including the bassist.

Like I said, considering Persner isn't in the lawsuit, but the suit is still being filed by four people, I think it's safe to say those four people are the rest of the band that quit in December, minus the bassist that was on the Popestar Tour because she had literally JUST started playing with them on that tour, and may not have even been a permanent replacement bassist.

 

[Rachmaninoff]

I just read this note:

"Ex-Ghost members accuse Tobias Forge of trying to turn band into solo project"

Our vocalist and former friend is now attempting to, in a underhand and shameless way, transform Ghost from a band into a solo project with hired musicians. Naturally, this is not something we can accept.

That's some ugly s--t!

We who are suing Tobias Forge are:

Simon Söderberg (Alpha) – member of GHOST since 2010
Mauro Rubino (Air) – member of GHOST since 2011
Henrik Palm (Eather) – member of GHOST since 2015
Martin Hjertstedt (Earth) – member of GHOST since 2014

“The Nameless Ghouls”

Source:
http://www.metalinsider.net/legal-w...orge-of-trying-to-turn-band-into-solo-project

 

[jwade]

Yeah, everyone was speculating that EVERY member of the band had been changed, and now with the news of the lawsuit, it's pretty much confirmed.

Seeing as Persner isn't a part of the suit, it's safe to say that the other four members who are suing were the same four members who seemingly quit in December (because of reasons they're now suing for) thus forcing a replacement band.

Safe to say it's an entirely new band aside from Tobias now, even though I'm pretty sure before they were replaced, Alpha and Air were the only original members.

Tobias seemed pretty fast to deny their claims that the band was a "partnership", making me believe that he is, in fact, the mastermind behind the entire concept that is Ghost, including stage show, management, and songwriting.

As someone who loves the music (and hopes that he IS the mastermind behind the songwriting so future albums are just as good), it blows my mind that it may be true that Tobias wrote most of, if not all of the music by himself and just hired band members to play it with him.

If that is the case - what an unbelievably talented and creative individual he is (while also being slimy about underpaying his bandmates and not releasing the bands earnings info to the rest of the band)

I was thinking the same thing. There's an article on some website (Ultimate Guitar I think?) where they've broken down the songwriting credits, and aside from Martin and a producer friend, Ghost is Tobias. Like...I love the music a lot, and the fact that the overwhelming majority of the music/art/etc is basically done by one dude is really impressive.

If it does come out that there was profit that should've been distributed better amongst the live performers, that's unfortunate and pretty crappy. Simon (white RD guitarist ghoul) is an absurdly impressive guitarist/live performer, and it's a bummer that I won't get to see him play with Ghost any more.

 

[TGOD]

I was thinking the same thing. There's an article on some website (Ultimate Guitar I think?) where they've broken down the songwriting credits, and aside from Martin and a producer friend, Ghost is Tobias. Like...I love the music a lot, and the fact that the overwhelming majority of the music/art/etc is basically done by one dude is really impressive.

If it does come out that there was profit that should've been distributed better amongst the live performers, that's unfortunate and pretty crappy. Simon (white RD guitarist ghoul) is an absurdly impressive guitarist/live performer, and it's a bummer that I won't get to see him play with Ghost any more.

Yeah it was on MetalSucks - but I read it this morning and it is astounding to say the least.

I understand the rest of the band wanting compensation for touring because technically they DID perform the music on tour and put all their time into it. They should be rewarded compensation for that.

But any of the Ghouls in that suit claiming that they deserved royalties from the music or, and I quote, "put in an equal amount of work into the band as Tobias Forge" is completely unfounded by the finding of the writing credits.

It's now a known fact that Forge basically IS Ghost, in a musical sense, and he objectively writes the bulk of their music.

And before anyone (including MetalSucks) comes out of the woodwork saying things like "yeah, but there have been instances in the past where band members were left out of writing credits for bigger bands" - you have to look at the reasons for the lawsuit coming from the mouth of one of the men that is filing it, and realize that they NEVER brought up being left out of writing credits as one of the things Forge did to wrong them.

Not to mention that on Ghost fan pages since very early on in the band's existence, rumor has been going around that Forge literally wrote the entirety of Opus Eponymous by himself. And what's said in the MetalSucks article supports that claim.

Actually - if you look at the MetalSucks article about the songwriting credits, the only man REGULARLY listed as a songwriter on the albums other than Forge, Martin Persner, is the only OG Ghoul that's NOT taking part in the lawsuit.

Again, it's perfectly understandable that the Ghouls want monetary compensation for touring. They did their job in that instance and deserve part of the money made off of every date they played live.

But when it comes to getting some of profits made from Ghost music releases and Merch, it seems like Tobias writes nearly all of the music and looks like he manages nearly all aspects of the band's inner workings as well.

If that's the case - outside of touring pay, the band does not "do an equal amount of work" like they claim they do, and the money made off of the work that mostly Tobias seems to do himself shouldn't be "spread equally through all band members".

If they were all truly equal partners like the band members claimed, you'd think they'd have more involvement in the inner workings of the band aside from learning songs they don't write and playing them live.

Meliora has the most co-writer credits out of all the albums, and even then there aren't many and Forge is still listed as the primary writer of every song on the album.

 

[vilk]

If it means that the future of Ghost will be more like Opus Eponymous then I am all for it