GHOST
Biography and discography of Ghost, the Swedish band formed in Linköping in 2006 and led by Tobias Forge, with a page for each of their six studio albums from Opus Eponymous in 2010 to Skeletá in 2025, including running orders, CD details, liner notes and a record of their concerts in Japan.
Biography
GHOST
Biography
Ghost are a Swedish rock band from Linköping, known for a stage on which masked players called Nameless Ghouls stand behind a singer dressed as a series of anti-popes. They have made six studio albums, from Opus Eponymous in 2010 to Skeletá in 2025. The band kept its identities hidden for years; in 2017 Tobias Forge acknowledged that he is the man behind it. "Cirice" won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2016, and Skeletá gave them their first number one on the Billboard 200 in 2025.
From the beginning to the debut (2006-2010)
It began in Linköping in southern Sweden, a formation the English Wikipedia dates to 2006. The band's shape was set from the start: the players wore masks and were called Nameless Ghouls, and the singer appeared as a character modelled on a pope.
The debut album, Opus Eponymous, came out on 18 October 2010 on the British label Rise Above Records. It is nine songs on the theme of impending ruin; the Japanese edition followed on 6 April 2011 (XNTE-00035) with "Here Comes the Sun" added for ten. Universal Music Japan's own biography of the band takes this record as their starting point.
Infestissumam and the major label (2013)
The second album, Infestissumam, was released on 10 April 2013. Its subjects are the Antichrist and the Inquisition, and it was recorded in Nashville. Universal Music issued the Japanese edition on 22 May that year under the number UICU-1237.
The covers EP If You Have Ghost followed in November. Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters produced it, and Universal Music Japan's biography names him for that record.
Meliora and the Grammy (2015-2016)
The third album, Meliora, arrived on 21 August 2015. Ten songs on humanism and greed, it reached the top ten of the Billboard 200, and one of them, "Cirice", won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2016 — the band's first win.
The Popestar EP followed in 2016 and topped the American rock albums chart; its "Square Hammer" became one of the songs the band is now best known for. Entertainment Weekly called them one of the most dynamic and loud bands on earth around this time.
The identity revealed (2017)
In August 2017 Tobias Forge acknowledged that he is the man who runs Ghost. What brought it out was legal action over royalties, started by several of the musicians who had worked with him on the project. Nothing about the presentation changed afterwards: Forge has gone on taking a new role for each record, from Papa Emeritus I to IV through Cardinal Copia to Papa V Perpetua.
Prequelle and Impera (2018-2022)
January 2018 brought the first live album, Ceremony and Devotion. The fourth studio album, Prequelle, followed on 1 June: the Black Death and the Middle Ages, produced by Tom Dalgety. It entered the Billboard 200 at number three and took the number one spot on that magazine's Top Rock Albums chart and on the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish album charts.
At the 61st Grammy Awards Prequelle was nominated for Best Rock Album and its first single "Rats" for Best Rock Song. In June 2019 Kerrang! gave the album their Best Album award.
September 2019 brought the seven-inch single Seven Inches of Satanic Panic, released on the conceit that a Ghost led by Papa Nihil had played the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood in 1969 and that the master tape of their debut single had since gone missing. One of its two songs, "Mary on a Cross", later went platinum with the Recording Industry Association of America.
The fifth album, Impera, came out on 11 March 2022. It is a concept record on the rise and fall of empires, produced by Klas Ahlund, who had also made Meliora. "Call Me Little Sunshine" was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 65th Grammy Awards, and the album won the rock album categories at both the American Music Awards and the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Skeletá and a first number one (2025)
A covers EP, Phantomime, followed in 2023, and in 2024 the live record Rite Here Rite Now came with a film of the same name.
The sixth album, Skeletá, was released on 25 April 2025. Its production is credited to Gene Walker, an alias Tobias Forge used for himself. It is the first Ghost record to reach number one on the Billboard 200. Universal Music Japan issued the Japanese SHM-CD (UICB-10018) the same day with translated lyrics and a commentary booklet.
Across their career the band has gathered close to ten billion streams and five Grammy nominations. In 2026 the concert film 2 Big To Rig was released and shown in cinemas across Japan through August and September.
The members
Tobias Forge is the only person this band has named. The players are called Nameless Ghouls and appear masked, with neither their faces nor their names given out. That is why the member list on this site holds one name and no more: nobody else is listed here on a guess.
Discography
There are six studio albums: Opus Eponymous (2010), Infestissumam (2013), Meliora (2015), Prequelle (2018), Impera (2022) and Skeletá (2025).
Beside them stand the EPs If You Have Ghost (2013), Popestar (2016), Seven Inches of Satanic Panic (2019) and Phantomime (2023), and the live records Ceremony and Devotion (2018) and Rite Here Rite Now (2024). The album list on this site covers the studio albums.
Concerts in Japan
The first visit was Summer Sonic 2014, in August of that year: the Tokyo day on the 16th at QVC Marine Field and Makuhari Messe, and the Osaka day on the 17th at the festival's temporary Maishima site, both on the MOUNTAIN STAGE. The announcement billed them as Ghost B.C., the name their American releases carried then.
The second was Download Japan 2019, on 21 March 2019 at Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Halls 9 to 11. Universal Music Japan's report of the night describes Cardinal Copia calling out to Tokyo again and again, a stage of pyrotechnics and confetti printed as 666-dollar bills bearing his own face, and the singer telling the crowd that five years had passed since the last visit and that the next would not take so long. The following evening the band held their first signing and photo session in Japan, at Tower Records Shibuya.
Those three concerts are what the LIVE section of this site carries. The signing is not among them, because it was not a concert.
About the sources
The facts here come from Universal Music Japan, the band's licensee in this country: their artist page's biography and discography and their news items of 10 April 2014, 15 June 2018, 8 December 2018, 21 February 2019, 14 March 2019, 26 March 2019, 12 July 2019 and 18 September 2019. They also come from the Summer Sonic official site's history page for 2014, from Tower Records' product pages and the label-supplied copy on them, from MusicBrainz, and from the English Wikipedia articles on the band and on the individual albums. No player's name has been filled in by inference.
Trivia
The band's first visit to Japan was Summer Sonic 2014. Universal Music Japan's biography states plainly that they came to the country for the first time at that festival, and the label announced the booking in a news item on 10 April that year, billing them as Ghost B.C., the name their American releases carried then. The festival's own history page for 2014 puts them on the MOUNTAIN STAGE on the Tokyo day of 16 August and the Osaka day of the 17th, on a bill headed by Avenged Sevenfold with Megadeth, Suicidal Tendencies and BABYMETAL.
The second visit was Download Japan 2019, on 21 March 2019 at Makuhari Messe. Universal Music Japan's report of the night says Cardinal Copia called out to Tokyo again and again and told the crowd he was truly glad to be there. The stage used pyrotechnics and confetti, and the confetti was printed as 666-dollar bills carrying Copia's own face. Late in the set he told the audience that it had taken five years to come back and that the next wait would not be so long.
The next evening, 22 March 2019, the band held their first signing and photo session in Japan, on the sixth floor of Tower Records Shibuya. Entry tickets went to buyers of selected records on a first-come basis, and Universal Music Japan's report says the allocation was taken almost as soon as it was announced. Among those who came were people in Ghost shirts, people with painted faces, and a five-year-old boy wearing a Nameless Ghoul mask. Cardinal Copia signed, shook hands and posed for every one of them, then appeared at the Shibuya crossing to be photographed, which closed the visit.
Only one person in this band has ever been named. The players are called Nameless Ghouls and appear masked. Universal Music Japan, the band's licensee here, writes in its biography that Ghost were an unidentified band for a long time, and that in August 2017 Tobias Forge finally acknowledged that he is the man who runs Ghost. That is why the member list on this site holds one name: nobody else is listed on a guess.
The band's first Grammy came from "Cirice", a song on Meliora in 2015. Universal Music Japan's biography states that it won Best Metal Performance at the 2016 Grammy Awards. The same passage records that Meliora reached the top ten of the Billboard album chart and that the Popestar EP that followed took number one on the rock albums chart.
Prequelle, from 2018, was the band's highest-charting record to that point. Two weeks after its release Universal Music Japan reported that it had entered the American album chart at number three and topped that magazine's Top Rock Albums chart, on the chart dated 16 June 2018. It also reached number one on the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish album charts. It was their fourth album, three years after Meliora.
Prequelle was nominated in two categories at the 61st Grammy Awards. On 8 December 2018 Universal Music Japan reported the nominations announced the previous day — Best Rock Album for Prequelle and Best Rock Song for "Rats" — and noted that the ceremony would be held on 10 February 2019 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It did not win, but on 19 June the following year, in London, the album took Best Album at the Kerrang! Awards 2019.
The seven-inch single Seven Inches of Satanic Panic, released in September 2019, arrived with a story attached. The press release Universal Music Japan carried tells it this way: in the summer of 1969 a rising band called Ghost, fronted by Papa Nihil, played their first show at the Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, a show held to mark the release of their debut single on Galaxy Recordings, the double A-side "Kiss the Go Goat" and "Mary on a Cross". The original line-up then broke up, and the master tape — along with the video for "Kiss the Go Goat", the only footage of the band playing — went missing, until Papa Nihil recently found and restored the tape and the 8mm film. One of the two songs, "Mary on a Cross", later went platinum with the Recording Industry Association of America.
News
Ghost Tobias Forge Makes His Directorial Debut In Shudder Horror Anthology V/H/S/MIXTAPE
The ninth instalment of the V/H/S franchise streams on Shudder from October 9. Forge directed a brand-new music video included in the film, which also features an appearance by Gwar.
EUROPE Release 'Scandinavian Eyes' Video From September 25 Album 'Come This Madness'
The performance clip was directed by Patric Ullaeus. The album was recorded at RMV Studio in Stockholm, features Tobias Forge (Ghost) and Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) on backing vocals, was produced by Tom Dalgety and mixed by Mike Fraser.
Play MVGHOST’s Concert Film “2 Big To Rig” Opens Today In Cinemas And IMAX Worldwide, Through August 30
The film captures two sold-out shows recorded at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City on the Skeletá World Tour 2025. Screenings run through August 30.
Play videoGHOST Announces “2 Big To Rig (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”
It arrives to stream or download on August 27 via Loma Vista Recordings. Leading it is a live rendition of “Umbra” captured over two sold-out Mexico City shows at Palacio De Los Deportes that drew nearly 40,000 fans.
Play MVPRIEST, Featuring Former Members Of GHOST, Announces New Album “Altered State Police” For October 23 — Shares The “Python” Single
The Swedish dark synthpop act, which contains former members of GHOST, releases its fifth studio album via Blue Nine; it is billed as a concept record about surveillance.
Play MVAccept Shares New Recording Of “Save Us” Featuring Tobias Forge, Frank Bello And Ray Luzier
A new version of the track from 1980’s “I’m A Rebel”; the 50th-anniversary album “Teutonic Titans 1976-2026” arrives September 4 via Napalm Records.
Play MVGHOST’s TOBIAS FORGE Contributes Music Video To SHUDDER’s Horror Anthology “V/H/S/MIXTAPE”
The ninth installment of the found-footage franchise premieres October 9 on Shudder, with Forge directing a brand-new music video alongside contributions from RZA, Flying Lotus and Ernest Dickerson, plus an appearance by GWAR.
Current Members
Current line-up as published by the official site, verified on 2026-09-29.
Albums
Ghost's sixth studio album, from April 2025, and the first of their records to reach number one on the Billboard 200.
Ghost's fourth studio album, from June 2018, built on the Black Death and the Middle Ages; it entered the Billboard 200 at number three.
Ghost's third album, from August 2015; "Cirice" from it won the 2016 Grammy for best metal performance.
Ghost's second album, from April 2013: recorded in Nashville, their major label debut, and a 2014 Grammis winner.
The debut album by Sweden's Ghost, released by Rise Above Records in October 2010 and nominated for a Grammis.