WDHA’s Metal with the Mikes is giving you the chance to win a pair of tickets to see Ghost at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, July 22nd!
The Swedish metal band Ghost was formed in Linköping, Sweden in 2006 by Tobias Forge. Tobias, best known as the many incarnations of Papa Emeritus and for a short while Cardinal Copia, first started the band when he was writing the song “Stand by Him” and being so overtaken by the need to form it into a fully fleshed out song led to him entering a studio with Gustaf Lindström in 2008.
While in the studio, Tobias and Gustaf would record two other songs, “Prime Mover” and “Death Knell”, along with “Stand by Him”. The duo quickly came to the conclusion they didn’t look the part for the music they were making, so Tobias decided to create the theatrical presentation and anonymity that Ghost has become known for. The three songs were posted online which led to labels and managers all trying to work with the brand new group within days.
Ghost would release their debut album Opus Eponymous in the fall of 2010 to much praise, even earning a Grammis Award nomination for Best Hard Rock album. Tobias and his troupe of Nameless Ghouls were quickly snatched up for tours and festivals, supporting Paradise Lost in April of 2011 and making their first appearance in the US at the Maryland Deathfest the following month. They continued to tour throughout 2012 and would earn the “Breakthrough Band” at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods.
At the end of December 2012, Ghost would “retire” Papa Emeritus and introduce Papa Emeritus II, a tradition the band has followed with each new album since. The band would release their sophomore album Infestissumam in 2013 which quickly gained praise from critics and fans, landing at number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart and topping both the US Top Hard Rock Albums and Swedish Albums charts, as well as being certified Gold in Sweden and winning the Grammis Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Album. The album contains the live staple “Year Zero”, which has since become even more popular thanks to a trend on TikTok using the intro to show off the user’s pets, and the deluxe version contains a cover of ABBA’s “I’m a Marionette”.
Later in 2013, Ghost put out their If You Have Ghost EP that consisted of several covers and a live version of the lead single from Infestissumam, “Secular Haze”. After “firing” Papa Emeritus II to bring in Papa III, the band released their third album Meliora in 2015. The album contains some of the band’s biggest hits in “From the Pinnacle to the Pit” and Cirice which reached number 4 on the US Mainstream Rock chart, is certified gold by the RIAA, and won the 2016 Grammy for Best Metal Performance beating out industry titans Slipknot and Lamb of God.
In 2016 Ghost released another EP that was comprised mostly of covers titled Popestar, which also had the original song “Square Hammer” that quickly became a fan favorite and live staple. To mark the end of the Meliora era in 2017, Papa Emeritus III was dragged off stage, leading to the introduction of Papa Nihil, the first Papa to not be Tobias, and eventually the “new” singer Cardinal Copia.
Cardinal Copia’s era with Ghost started in 2018 with the release of the fan favorite single “Rats”, the lead single for the new album Prequelle (2018). The album is arguably the band’s best to date, featuring numerous hits and live staples in “Faith”, “Dance Macabre”, “Witch Image”, and “Miasma” which features Papa Nihil performing a saxophone solo. Prequelle was nominated for the Best Rock Album Grammy and the Best Hard Rock/Metal Record Grammis and was named the Best Album at the Kerrang! Awards, as well as topped many charts internationally.
Ghost would end their Prequelle era by introducing Papa Emeritus IV to replace Cardinal Copia while announcing they were going to be taking all of 2020 to work on their new album Impera which was released in 2022. Impera is undoubtably the band’s best-charting album, hitting the top 5 on nearly every chart they qualified for, including peaking at 2 on the Billboard 200 and topping the US Independent, Hard Rock, and Rock Albums charts. The album features several earworms, something Ghost has become very well known for, including “Kaisarion”, “Call Me Little Sunshine”, and “Hunter’s Moon” which would be featured in Halloween Kills (2021). The album also has the song “Spillways” which would be re-recorded and re-released featuring Joe Elliot of Def Leppard in 2023.
The most recent release, Phantomime (2023) follows Ghost’s trend of releasing a covers EP between each album, this time containing covers of Genesis’ “Jesus He Knows Me” and Iron Maiden’s “Phantom of the Opera”, both of which receiving great praise. In October of 2023, Papa Emeritus IV played his final show with Ghost, with his replacement still to be announced.
Enter below for your chance to win:
Tickets are on sale now at ticketmaster.com.
Click HERE to check out 5 bands from TV and film we wish were real!
Contest Rules
From 11:00pm on 11/22/24 to 11:59pm on 12/22/24, enter for a chance to win during this online contest. Five (5) random entrants will win a pair of tickets (2) to see Ghost at the Prudential Center valued at $69.50 each (plus fees), courtesy of Live Nation. Must be at least 18 years old and legal residents of the United States. Unless otherwise specified, listeners are eligible to win in station’s contests; a prize valued under $600 only once every seven (7) days and a prize valued at $600 or more, only once every thirty (30) days. Only one winner per household (whether related or not) is permitted in any contest. Otherwise, WDHA's General Contest Rules apply and are available by clicking HERE.
