“Tobias is a genius”: Halestorm Singer Lzzy Hale Gushes Over Ghost Singer Tobias Forge

Sven Mandel, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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Lzzy Hale of Halestorm is a hardcore fan of Ghost and the band’s singer, Tobias Forge.

Ghost has to be one of the most polarizing bands in all of heavy metal; even the mentioning of Ghost will stir metalheads and rockers into a frenzy. But on the flipside – we don’t think we’ve seen or heard of many (if any) prominent metal or rock artists talk smack about the band as of yet.

If anything, Ghost and that of their singer Tobias Forge have consistently been a band to receive great praise from their fellow metal and rock colleagues. One such colleague who is super passionate about Forge and the band is that of Lzzy Hale.

In a video associated with Rock Sound, the Halestorm singer spoke to not only her enjoyment and fascination with Ghost, but how much she is impressed by that of Ghost singer Tobias Forge.

Lzzy Hale talks Ghost singer Tobias Forge

“This new album [referring to Impera by Ghost], I’ve listened to about 20 times now, and I’m obsessed with it.

“I love just the idea that you can have this heavy music that’s almost religious satire and it has this comedic aspect to it and a smile; but also if you’ve ever been to a Ghost concert, there are people that legit think they’re worshipping Satan. Like, they go into full worship mode. I just love all of those things together, in a nice little package, with this band.”

“Tobias is a genius. He’s such a smart man. And one of the most interesting people – if you get to have a conversation [with him], he’s the most interesting person, I think, that I’ve ever met — very well spoken.

“What I admire about him – I don’t think I know any other band that does this, but Tobias always has a plan — he’s thinking about five years ahead, where he needs to be with this band and this project. I remember talking with Nick Raskulinecz, the same producer that just did our last record; he also did an album with Ghost. I remember him talking to me about how Tobias would show him all of these songs that were not meant for this specific record; they were meant for two records down the line. ‘Cause he has a timeline and he has the story already figured out and all of the production already figured out. And [Nick Raskulinecz] was like, ‘Oh, these are such great songs. We should record them.’ And Tobias was, like, ‘No. The world isn’t ready yet.'”

Hale continues:

“[Tobias has] done the same thing with me in the past where he’s shown me some production drawings and little things that he’s gonna be doing a couple of years from now. And then a couple of years would go by and we would go and see them [perform live and be] like, ‘Oh, yeah! That was that thing he was talking about. That’s amazing.’ So just to be able to think like that I really admire, as far as just a career plan and a mission statement. Because I am completely not like that. I’ve tried the five-year-plan thing. And every time I make plans, we finally get to that point and something has changed, so I have to pivot and do something different. So I’m more of a living-in-the-now person. So we’re the complete opposite, me and Tobias, in that aspect, but I definitely admire him for the way that he is.”

We agree with a lot of what Hale has to say here; Forge is a fascinating artist who not only looks far into the future of his creative goals, but also shows a desire to expand upon his creativity.

You can find everything that Lzzy Hale had to say about Ghost singer Tobias Forge via the Rock Sound video below:

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Words by: Michael Pementel