GHOST wins Swedish GRAMMIS 'Best Hard Rock/Metal' award for 'Skeletá'
01-05-2026
GHOST was honored in the “Best Hard Rock/Metal” category at this year’s edition of the Swedish Grammis awards (Swedish Grammy equivalent), which was held Wednesday night (April 29) at Annexet in Stockholm. He received the award from EUROPE frontman and hardrock legend Joey Tempest.
GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge was joined by his songwriting team of Max Grahn, Vincent Pontare and Salem Al Fakir when he accepted the award for last year’s “Skeletá” album, beating out fellow “Best Hard Rock/Metal” nominees SABATON (“Legends”),SARCATOR (“Swarming Angels & Flies”),THE HAUNTED (“Songs Of Last Resort”) and THE HELLACOPTERS (“Overdrive”).
In his acceptance speech, which can be seen below, Tobias reportedly said that he was “incredibly grateful” to everyone involved in the making of “Skeletá” and joked that “hopefully, even after I’ve stood here rambling through this speech without notes, people will keep loving this record into eternity”.
GHOST was presented the award by singer Joey Tempest of fellow Swedish hard rockers EUROPE, who took to social media afterwards to share: “Huge congratulations to GHOST for winning the Swedish Grammis! It was an absolute honour to present you with the award! And thanks for joining us to have some fun during the recording of our upcoming album.”
GHOST was nominated in a total of six categories at this year’s edition of the Swedish Grammis awards. In addition to being up for the “Artist Of The Year” and “Album Of The Year” awards, GHOST was in the running for the “Hard Rock/Metal” honor, while Forge, Grahn, Pontare and Al Fakir were also up for “Producer”, “Songwriter” and “Lyricist” awards for their work on the record.
GHOST had been nominated for seven Grammis awards in the past, and had won the “Hard Rock & Metal” award four previous times: for “Infestissumam”, “Meliora”, the “Popestar” EP and “Impera”.
In May 2025, “Skeletá” landed at position No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 86,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the LP’s first week of release. According to Billboard, 89% of that figure (77,000) consisted of traditional album sales, with vinyl purchases accounting for over 44,000 copies. Notably, “Skeletá” was the first hard rock album to reach the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 since AC/DC‘s “Power Up” in 2020.
In March of this year, Forge was asked by Adam Wallis of Canada’s Global News, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge was asked if there are any plans for the band to record a new EP, considering that GHOST has released a new EP after almost every full-length album since the group’s early days. Forge responded: “No. As of right now, there is no EP coming. Besides the (ongoing North American leg of the ‘Skeletour’) tour that we’re doing now, we have nothing else planned. So the future is right now very open. Creatively, I have a lot to do. I’m actually recording currently, but it’s not a covers EP and it’s not a new GHOST record. So, I actually do not know exactly what and when anything will happen. And that’s a good thing, because for 15 years now we’ve been going at it nonstop, where cycles have basically just sort of been stitched together. Every time we’ve ended an album cycle, I’ve walked off stage knowing that Monday morning I will be in the studio and our next show is there. So it has been that sort of sort cyclical nonstop thinking ahead, thinking forward, expand, expand, expand, expand, for a long time, and I’ve come to a point where I’m just, like… I still have ideas, I still have dreams, I still have things that I think we have not achieved — definitely the wish list is still there — but that’s gonna be at some other point.”
Forge also once again talked about why GHOST‘s current world tour is mandating a no-phones policy. Fans entering venues for GHOST‘s “Skeletour” shows have to place their mobile phone into what is called a Yondr pouch. The bag is then magnetically sealed, with fans having to approach venue staff situated outside of the main auditorium if they wish for it to be unlocked. Asked if he has had any hesitations about implementing the no-phones policy at first and how he found the reception to be since then, Forge said: “I had that in the back of my head, and, of course, when we released the tour and the tickets came out on sale, we knew beforehand that there was gonna be chatter, let’s put it that way. There were gonna be discussions, pushback, mixed emotions about it. And I believe — still now 50 plus shows in — that we did the exact right thing, because people that have showed up, with a few exceptions, have been overwhelmingly positive. I absolutely believe that it was the right call. But some of the things that we had to completely shun away from on this tour was festivals. The production that we’re doing is big and it’s heavy. It’s hard to maneuver. So there were places on the planet that we simply couldn’t get to. And, to me, it was very important that with these (chuckles) restrictions, that is the Yondr world where people get to actually enjoy the show and get to experience something cool, it’s important that we bring the entire thing. If we can’t do the whole thing, we can’t mask it as the ‘Skeletour’.”
Forge continued: “As of right now, I only know that we’re doing this tour, and after that it’s a big, big, big question mark. At some point, I need to get to terms with if what I’ve said about the ‘Skeletour’ and the Yondr pouches and the restriction or the refraining from using your phones, because I think that that is the best thing that has ever happened. The shows are so enjoyable for everybody, and I love being on stage when I can actually connect with the crowd. So I don’t wanna ever go back. But, as I said, then I have to value in which forums we’re playing in the future.”
Last year GHOST revealed that they filmed the final two shows on this year’s “Skeletour” for future release.
After’s GHOST‘s September 23 concert in Mexico City was canceled due to frontman Tobias Forge having food poisoning, the band’s two performances at the 20,000-capacity Palacio De Los Deportes on September 24 and September 25 were shot on 16mm film “for the rest of the world to see at some point”.
GHOST posted on social media: “Children of Mexico! Two out of three nights of heat, jumping, singing, passion, rawk, roll and filming at the classic Palacio De Los Deportes. We shot it all on 16 mm, for the rest of the world to see at some point. But for now it’ll be our little secret. Again; Deepest apologies for the first night being cancelled. Thank you and Good Night / A Nameless Ghoul”.
MTV Europe “Headbangers Ball” legend Vanessa Warwick, who hosts GHOST‘s own GTV for exclusive coverage of all things GHOST and “Skeletour”, also weighed in on the announcement that the Mexico shows were filmed for future release, writing on social media: “The rat is out of the bag! A new GHOST live concert movie is in the making, filmed in Mexico City on 16mm film — old school style! This will make the magic of the ‘Skeletour’ available to everyone in perpetuity!
“Last night’s ritual was on another level and I am so glad it was captured on celluloid for everyone to enjoy.
“GHOST always provide so much to look forward to and keep the magic alive for all of us.”
Through the use of technology like Yondr, fans are able to place their phones in a pouch that unlocks only after they leave the no-cell-phone zone. The pouch can also be unlocked at specific cell phone stations inside the venue.
Phone-free concerts are touted as a way to cut down on illegal filming and non-stop selfies that can take away from the performance.
Yondr founder Graham Dugoni said his company’s pouches were created for “phone-free spaces” where “creativity and productivity could flourish in the absence of technology.”
Phones, Apple watches and other communication devices are placed in the pouch and sealed using a magnetized lock, which can be opened with an unlocking base.
Musicians like Jack White, Alicia Keys, and comedians Dave Chappelle and Jerrod Carmichael have used Yondr pouches at their shows to encourage people to live in the moment.
A number of other musicians have come out in recent years to say that mobile technology is ruining the concert experience, including SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR singer Corey Taylor. He told “Loudwire Nights” that “it’s fine” if people want to take pictures of his bands’ shows, but not so much if they are videotaping entire performances. “It’s one thing to film it, it’s another thing to just be staring at your screen while you’re filming it,” he said. “It’s right there. Are you so terrified of real life that you can’t do anything unless it’s on that little four-by-four screen? Ugggh. It’s very weird.”
Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach in 2015 urged fans to keep their cell phones at the bottom of their pockets and just watch his performances. “Be in the moment,” he said. “You’re distracted and it’s distracting to the performer as well. Like, put your fuckin’ cell phone away, dammit! You’re never even going to watch that footage.”
The overuse of cellphones to capture grainy, blurry photos and videos at concerts has for years vexed and enraged artists like Bach, who lamented the fact that every one of his performances could be recorded and shared on YouTube almost immediately.
“If I go to a wedding and sing a song, it’s on Blabbermouth the next day and everybody analyzes it,” said Bach. “It’s a really backwards way to watch a band. It’s a drag sometimes when I go up there and the first thing I see is everybody getting their phones out and holding them toward my face. It makes you feel intimidated.”
Back in 2012, Bruce Dickinson chastised a fan for texting during an IRON MAIDEN concert, calling him a “wanker.”
When Axl Rose reunited with his former GUNS N’ ROSES bandmates Duff McKagan and Slash for the first time in 23 years at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in April 2016, the concert was phone-free.
“God, it was wonderful,” McKagan told The New York Times. “It was the old-school feeling, where people were dancing and getting down. It was really cool.”
Yesterday, GHOST announced they will release their new album, “Skeletá”, on April 25 via Loma Vista Recordings. The official music video for the LP’s first single, “Satanized”, is now released.
Watch “Satanized” below.
“Satanized” is described in a press release as “an avalanche of infectious hooks and harmonies is buoyed by a hypnotic shuffle, as the narrator succumbs to dark forces within and without, helplessly acknowledging their own blasphemy and heresy as it inexorably consumes them.” By the time the song’s opening lines “There is something inside me and they don’t know if there is a cure” have moved from the inner monologue of the possessed to the ears of the hapless listener, it will already be too late: You will have been “Satanized”.
The “Satanized” music video introduces the new character who will be fronting GHOST for its 2025 touring cycle: Papa V Perpetua.
GHOST has also launched an interactive element dubbed The Satanizer, a first-of-its-kind music video experience for fans who wish to be “Satanized.” Developed in partnership with Jason Zada (Elf Yourself),The Satanizer will morph its users into characters featured in the song’s melodramatic video. With a quick upload of your photo, The Satanizer will send out a personalized music video clip featuring the participant, who can in turn share via social media that they too have been “Satanized.”
“Skeletá” track listing:
01. Peacefield
02. Lachryma
03. Satanized
04. Guiding Lights
05. De Profundis Borealis
06. Cenotaph
07. Missilia Amori
08. Marks Of The Evil One
09. Umbra
10. Excelsis
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