On April 25, 2025, the Swedish rock band ‘Ghost’ released their 6th studio album Skeletá. After a short break from the immense popularity of the 2022 album ‘IMPERA’ and the multiple tours with it, along with new singles as well as an EP sprinkled in, the bar for the album was high and failed to disappoint in adding to the next chapter in the satanized world Tobias Forge has worked all these years to build.
IMPERA
The last album released by Ghost on March 11th ,2022, titled IMPERA set a new standard for what Ghost was as a band. Impera told the story of the rise and fall of an empire. This album won two awards and was a massive success in sending Ghost into the trending charts. Songs like ‘Spillways’ and ‘Call Me Little Sunshine’ were fits for the band, quickly taking over the top listens on spotify.
SKELETA
Skeletá begins with a tribute to IMPERA with the song ‘Peacefield,’ which throughout the song with lines like, “the end of a monarchy” look back at where we’ve gotten from the end of IMPERA to now. Tobias Forge, the voice and brain behind the band, shared where the ideas and the soul for the album came from, with a goal to never make a duplicate song. In interview with Rock Sound, Forge recounts his thought process, “Don’t make Impera 2”, so cross that idea out. “Make an introspective record”, circle that. Then what are the basic subjects around that? Let’s say love, hate, hope, acceptance. Good, I understand this. What do they sound like? Then you try and figure that out.” In the same interview, Forge shared his feelings on what Skeletá was going to be under these ideas, in which he admitted, “When I went into ‘Impera’, I knew what it was going to be, I knew what ‘Meloria’ and ‘Prequelle’ were going to be too. With this one, I didn’t…”
All these factors combined together to create a setlist loaded with melodies to evoke emotion, put on a show, and of course represent the glittering sounds and aesthetics of the rock from the 70s and 80s.
SONGS
As previously mentioned, the songs setlist includes 10 songs, 3 of which had live premieres prior to the album’s full release.
1) Peacefield- This song works great as an opener, playing tribute to the story of Impera and starting with an excited hopeful sound to jumpstart the album with something that generally contrasts the later themes evident in the album.
Overall rating: 8.9/10
2) Lachryma- Translated to ‘tears’ in English, this song which takes inspiration from vampires and various screenplay tellings. This song has a heavy riff mixed in with comfy melodies that are easy to get stuck on the mind.
Overall rating:10/10
3) Satanized- This song encapsulates the sound of what ghost has become, the sound crafted by Forge over the years makes this song a good choice for the albums first official single.
Overall rating:8.5/10
4) Guiding Lights-A more traditional ballad within the album, strong vocals built up with the quickening shifts with background music to create an emotional experience. This slow burn emotional journey of Guiding Lights is a magical blend of what ghost in the emotion department.
Overall rating:7.7/10
5) De Profundis Borealis-A more classic heavy metal sound with hints of the remaining soul from the first Ghost album, Opus Eponymous. This song is filled with words of promise and trust making it another dip into the world of emotions with Forges roots.
Overall rating:10/10
6) Cenotaph-This song is a burst of theatrical 80s rock-n-roll. This song dives into strong emotions while also keeping a very up lifting exciting sound. This song shows a lot of the influence Forge has had without losing its ghosty echoing charm.
Overall rating:8.5/10
7) Missilia Amori-A very intense riff with enthralling lyrics to accompany it, a story of love turned into hate with the classic intense rock of the 80s. The song is a contradicting love song of intensity and ruthless catastrophe.
Overall rating:7.5/10
8) Marks Of the Evil One-Another song that dips into theatrical story telling with a heavy riff and 80s sounds to create a devilishly catchy song that hooks onto you for the long haul.
Overall rating:10/10
9) Umbra-A song that continues to explore the feelings that come with love, death and the supernatural. The choice of background cowbell instrumentals to keep the story going as well as its synths of excitement that crescendo into that iconic ghost guitar sound.
Overall rating: 9/10
10) Excelsis-A very gentle ballad to end an epic album, a song that basically just reminds you that you are here now, even if it’s the end you are alive and you are here.
Overall rating:8/10
FINAL FEELINGS:
The album dives into deeper darker topics of self that other ghost albums chose not to dip into the waters of, but Forge used everything he has created as an artist and used inspiration of those he looked up to to create an emotional journey that sticks to your brain like gum.