It looks like 2021 will be a big year for Ghost. The Swedish occult rock band have a new album in the works, which was tentatively planned to come out this winter, though this appears to have been either rescheduled or misspoken. For now, though, fans can enjoy this footage from Swedish television of frontman Tobias Forge performing the Rolling Stones classic “Sympathy For The Devil” alongside garage rockers The Hellacopters.
The performance went down on Swedish show På Spåret (‘On The Track’), and included some pointed satanic stage elements, most notably the inverted cross in lights behind the band. In classic Ghost-like fashion, Forge and the Hellacopters took down the desert sex witch vibe of the track for which Mick Jagger & Co. are so well known, instead giving the song an ecclesiastic sort of vibe. That doesn’t mean Tobias doesn’t belt it out, though, as heard when the vocalist cries, “And all the sinners, saints!” with full force.
Check out the performance below:
Whether or not Ghost will release an album before spring rolls around remains to be seen. Swedish publication VK (and translated via Google Translate) wrote, “The idea was that Ghost would hit the road again in March next year. Those plans have been postponed until the autumn of 2021, but a new album will be released this winter.”
Obviously, “this winter” is a broad term — Ghost could be releasing a new album around Christmas, or they could be dropping it as far out as March 2021. But fans can apparently take comfort in knowing that new Ghost is on its way.
Forge also discussed the possibility of Ghost continuing their live shows, which have become such an important part of their persona and worldwide renown.
“We have played with the idea of perhaps playing in a smaller context if it is an alternative. But my purpose in playing live with Ghost is not to do it at any price, because that’s not what people want to see. People want to see a show, he says. It’s not just that I show up and it’s done, quite the opposite.”
More about Ghost’s new album as we know it.
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Words by Chris Krovatin
