“Are your taints tickled??” cries Papa Emeritus IV, AKA Copia, to a sea of cultishly enthralled fans, his sequinned blue blazer resplendent under kaleidoscopic stage lights in Los Angeles’ Kia Forum. To those not familiar with the Swedish hard rock band Ghost, which was thrust into the mainstream with their 2019 hit “Mary On a Cross,” the band’s flamboyantly satanic theatrics seem a bit absurd. What do you mean there’s a rock band with a satanic pope frontman and mask-donning “ghoul” musicians frolicking onstage in front of fans belting out their pledge to the devil?
Over the summer, Ghost’s popularity culminated in the worldwide theater release of their highly-acclaimed concert film Rite Here Rite Now, featuring footage from their two-night performance at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles in September 2023, interspersed with a continuing narrative.
When Ghost first appeared in the hard rock/metal scene in 2010, no one knew what to make of their debut album “Opus Eponymous” with catchy gothic riffs and the phantasmagorical sight of Papa Emeritus I with his cloaked musicians performing eerie tunes. It wasn’t until their third studio album “Meliora,” helmed by the third frontman Papa Emeritus III, that the band achieved true mainstream success with their Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 2015, awarded for their single “Cirice.” At that time, not many fans were aware that the band’s mastermind was Swedish musician Tobias Forge — known in Sweden’s underground scene for his death metal band Repugnant — who secretly was behind all of the “Papa Emeritus” characters onstage. He wasn’t officially unmasked until 2017, after a lawsuit from his former bandmates who claimed to not have been given equal partnership. Despite their falling out, Forge proved his songwriting prowess with the 2018 album Prequelle, which ushered in a new era led by newcomer Cardinal Copia as well as a more in-depth exploration of the band’s fictional lore in the form of 18 chapter videos on Youtube.
Ghost’s most recent album, “Impera,” was released in 2022 and received critical acclaim for its complex guitar melodies and drum rhythms, evoking ’70s and ’80s arena rock. “Impera” was supported by two world tours, Imperatour and Re-Imperatour, which were met with an explosion of new fans. Finally, after years of meticulously crafting the band’s musical aesthetic and accumulating a voraciously loyal fanbase, Forge was able to realize his dream of releasing a film that highlights the band’s triumph.
Although many fans, myself included, feared for the fate of frontman Copia within the satanic clergy, the film assures itself as less a harbinger of tragedy and more of a glorious celebration of life. Indeed, despite the uncertainty of the lore’s future, the movie displays the beautiful visuals and fantastic musicianship of the band as it celebrated two phone-free nights at the Kia Forum before tens of thousands of fans, concluding the North American leg of their 2023 Re-Imperatour. The movie is able to transfix fans and the uninitiated alike, rife with quirky story elements, crunchy riffs that’ll make you headbang in your seat and beautiful melodies that encapsulate all that Ghost has to offer. Even if you aren’t so impressed by the satanic aesthetics, the music speaks for itself. Forge has emphasized continuously throughout his career that his primary goal is to bring joy and happiness to fans’ lives. At my live “ritual” I attended in August 2023, Papa Emeritus IV instructed all of us in the audience to take care of each other, yelling over ear-splitting guitar reverb: “I want you to give yourselves a round of applause. For being here tonight and having fun and enjoying life together. That is so goddarn important.” True to his word, the movie, co-directed by Tobias Forge and New York filmmaker Alex Ross Perry, is a passionate love letter to fans, presenting itself as “not a tale about death, but one of life.” To the delight of fans, a new ’60s-inspired song titled “The Future is a Foreign Land” debuted during the film’s end credits, a song which Tobias affirms is there to remind fans to “enjoy life, embrace it and do everything in your power to make life better for you and everyone you know.” After a limited four-day release from June 20 to June 23, the film earned a gross $4.77 million worldwide and skyrocketed to Ttp five at the worldwide box office and top 10 at the North American box office. All in all, Rite Here Rite Now is a testament to the happiness that Ghost brings to millions of fans, and perfectly illuminates the presence of joy throughout the chaos of life … all while hailing Satan.
Isabella DiLizia is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at [email protected].