Album review: GHOST – Skeleta

Loma Vista Recordings [Release date 25.04.25]

Album number six from Ghost, produced by Gene Walker, who is actually Ghost main man Tobias Forge, as said Gene Walker name is a pun on the Swedish word gengångare i.e ghost, zombie. Interesting variety of co-writers including Salem Al Fakir who has written for Madonna & Lady Gaga – and guest musicians – guitarist Fredrik Henrik Åkesson (Opeth, Talisman).

Papa V Perpetua is the latest incarnation to take the mic stand, making his debut on the video for the album’s first single, the insanely catchy ‘Satanized’. Do watch the video as it is well worth it.

‘Skeleta’ has it all, be it the big, powerful power ballad ‘Guiding Lights’ or the lively ‘Lachryma’.

Ghost do pomp rock perfectly as the choral intro to ‘Peacefield’ lures the listener into a safe place before the rest of the album hits home. ‘Marks of the Evil One’ is a perfect piece of melodic metal, with its sing-a-long chorus and its darkly atmospheric lyric.

Those after a riff banger look no further than ‘Cenotaph’, which features frantic guitar solos and the deep drums sound. Bliss on the headphones.

The only blot on this fine musical landscape is ‘Missilia Amori’, where the chorus would give Steel Panther pause for thought and recalls the cringeworthy lyrics on Vinnie Vincent Invasion’s 1988 nadir ‘Dirty Rhythm’ & the line “Pull the pin of my love grenade”. More tea vicar???

Closing the album is the emotional ballad ‘Excelsis’, as Ghost pour on the emotion, guitar solos (and church bells!), giving the album a suitably pomp-tastic send off.

Ghost have quite rightly become one of the world’s biggest metal bands of recent times, with ‘Skeleta’ topping the album charts in six countries including Tobias’s native Sweden and the US. Catchy, hook filled, modern sounding melodic metal never sounded so good and proof that the Devil does have (some of) the best tunes… ****1/2

Review by Jason Ritchie

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Power Plays w/c 1 December 2025

We feature all the artists selected in this sequence in 2025.

Featured Albums w/c 1 December 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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