Ghost

Hiding their identities behind masks, face paint, and religious robes, Scandinavian rock demons Ghost create over-the-top, Satanic heavy metal. The group formed in 2006 in Linkoping, Sweden, inspired by B-movie horror films as well as 1970s metal bands. Led by frontman Papa Emeritus (real name: Tobias Forge) and a cast of musicians known only as Nameless Ghouls, Ghost's debut album Opus Eponymous transformed the musicians from underground cult oddities into nominees at the 2011 Grammis Awards, making them breakthrough stars on the hard-rock circuit across Europe. They also toured North America with Mastodon and Opeth, before their frontman undertook a new persona as Papa Emeritus II. Ghost's second album, Infestissumam, offered a mix of progressive, classic rock pomp and anthemic metal thunder. The combination earned the group their first Grammis Award in 2014. Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl became a fan of the band and produced their EP If You Have a Ghost, and Ghost returned in 2015 with Meliora. The single "Cirice" won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance, with the group operating under the name Ghost B.C. in the United States. Four members left the group and took legal action in 2016, but Forge pushed forward with a new lineup and a new frontman persona, Cardinal Copia, who made his debut on 2018's Grammy-nominated Prequelle. Four years later, the band released Impera, which peaked at number 2 in America as well as the UK. Impera reached Number 1 in Sweden, and Ghost returned to the Number 1 spot one year later with the Phantomime EP, which reached number 7 in the US. The band returned to the charts in 2024 with "The Future is a Foreign Land", from the Rite Here Rite Now narrative concert film, which premiered globally in cinemas in June. The film's soundtrack achieved international success, reaching Number 1 in Sweden and the UK, charting in the top 10 across Europe, and peaking at Number 21 on the US Billboard 200. In 2025, it's with a new frontman named Papa V Perpetua that Ghost returned with the sixth studio album Skeletá, featuring charted singles "Satanized" and "Lachryma", before the beginning of an international Skeletour from April to September.