MARCH 5TH, 2025. V HAS COME AND NOW, THE WORLD IS SATANIZED.

And he comes bearing great news for all to hear: Skeletá, the sixth studio album by Ghost, is slated to release on April 25th, 2025! And thus began the Tobias Forge media circuit, during which we eagerly ate up the scraps about Skeletá that we were fed.

Skeletá: Track List, Themes and Breakdowns

Tracklist

WIth the release of Satanized on March 5, Skeletá was officially announced including the full tracklist of 10 songs available for pre-order and pre-saving on music platforms. The track list is:

1. Peacefield (5:40)

2. Lachryma (4:36)

3. Satanized (3:56)

4. Guiding Lights (3:24)

5. De Profundis Borealis (4:32)

6. Cenotaph (4:17)

7. Missilia Amori (4:31)

8. Marks of the Evil One (4:15)

9. Umbra (5:31)

10. Excelsis (6:01)

The ten tracks keep up the tradition of Ghost’s albums (with the exception of IMPERA) although according to interviews this will be the first album since Infestissumam to feature no instrumental tracks (depending on how you look at it). Also interestingly is that Skeletá’s song titles has the highest concentration of latin since the days of Opus Eponymous and Infestissumam, perhaps suggesting a return to early Ghost style for these tracks? Peacefield is also the longest opening track to date, beating Kaisarion and Spirit by more than 30 seconds. Excelsis takes second place for longest closing tracks, being beat by Respite on the Spitalfields, but also sharing a nearly identical runtime to Cirice. Now what do these runtimes and track names truly reveal? Nothing really.

Themes

Ever since Forge’s press circuit beginning on March 5th the description of themes has remained extremely consistent, Skeletá will be about humanity and being human. Thus continues the tradition of Ghost’s albums being centered around a theme (or themes) and telling a narrative revolving around said theme. Opus Eponymous dealt with impending darkness and the process of procreating the Antichrist, Infestissumam with the arrival of that darkness, then Melioradeparted slightly to ponder a society without God. Prequelle and IMPERA were both incredibly narrative driven, with Prequelle telling the story of an oncoming plague from many (but mostly human) perspectives, while IMPERA told a more theoretical and symbolic story about the rise and fall of an empire. Skeletá seems to be breaking from that formula.

“During the writing of Skeletá I felt because the previous record IMPERA was quite heavily reflecting on society and structural external elements, I felt not very inspired at all to continue writing an IMPERA 2. It wasn’t simply enthusing me to write, it wasn’t inspiring. I had a feeling that that is not what I want that’s not what I need. That’s not what people who are keen on hearing what I think needs.”

Skeletá promises to be different. Forge said that he felt that “societal and structural critique is probably an evergreen subject if you want to write conscious rock” but that “internal human elements that [are] equally important”. This sets Skeletá up to be the most emotional Ghost album to date. Forge also spoke to the individualistic nature of the songs off this album, more than before. When responding to if he thinks that each song functions as a “vignette” Forge said “I don’t now how to elaborate more than a yes, I hope”. While Ghost’s songs have functioned excellently as a single piece of music, Skeletá’s songs will be the most individualistic.

Skeletá and it’s 10 songs will be different in the sense that they will not be chapters of a story, but separate stories of an anthology. Forge wrote each song as a song and not a chapter of a narrative, being especially careful to not retread the same ground. Forge said that he set out to write one song about one subject that would be collected on Skeletá.

“I went into the writing process with the intention of writing a song: one love song, one hate song, one hope song, one regret song and all kinds of basic human sentiments”

And it tracks true, especially for the meanings found in each song. According to the Metal Hammer article that focuses on Skeletá more in-depth, Tobias Forge carefully (but surely) elaborates further on what to expect for the songs approaching from the misty horizon. Starting it all off,

Song Breakdowns

The recent Metal Hammer article delves Skeletá further and includes a little breakdown of what each track will entail. These breakdowns pertain to subject matter, instrumentation, ‘vibes’ and more. Here's what we’ve compiled:

Peacefield

Children’s choir that brings us into a ‘heart-bursting’ 80’s rock n roll. Forge wants the album to begin with a tone of hope before “[we] go sideways now and go on a little trip”

Lachryma

Classic Ghost territory, Vampiric motifs, filled with broken hearts. This song is about self-deceit.

Satanized

A song about love, according to Forge, being so in love that others may think you possessed.

Guiding Lights

According to Forge, Guiding Lights is more of the traditional hard rock ballad of Skeletá. It’s about the non-ability to be able to speak to someone you know is going in the wrong direction.

De Profundis Borealis

The name translates to “From the Northern Abyss” and alleges a bit of Opus Eponymous era DNA beneath the makings of a Ghost earworm.

Cenotaph

Explores how those who have passed away stay with us. A cenotaph is a monument that acts as a grave but does not have a body inside. Expect to use tissues listening to this.

Missilia Amori

All about love! Pew pew peeeew, bear witness to the love rockets hitting your face. Sometimes you just need a good cheesy Kiss style song.

Marks of the Evil One

80s rock anthem! Classic Ghost- very real. Promises ‘devilishly evil lyrics’.

Umbra

Promises a return to overtly horny lyrics. To quote Forge “the message is, basically, all you need is love! I felt there needed to be one coital song on the record”.

Excelsis

Spiritual sister track to album enders Life Eternal and Respite on the Spitalfields. STAY FREE, EMBRACE MORTALITY, REJECT IMMORTALITY. “You are alive, and you should live life as effectively as possible, because death is inevitable”

But Wait! What Do We Know About Perpetua?

Nothing really. Chapter 20 confirmed Perpetua to be the fraternal twin of Papa IV/Frater Imperator but beyond that we can only guess. (If you’re looking for historically based guesses about Perpetua, read the article ‘Papa V Perpetua / Karl Johan). On Perpetua, Forge said, “I can’t really say much until he has been able to strut around for a while and find his place” and that for the time being he “can’t really make a profile description of who he is”.