MK ULTRA

On October 16, Sweden Rock Magazine met Tobias Forge in the studio in Sweden where he is writing and doing pre-production for GHOST‘s fifth album.

“The plan now is for me to be here [in the studio] writing for another two months until Christmas,” Forge said, according to an English-language translation provided to BLABBERMOUTH.NET by Sweden Rock Magazine. “The idea is for the album to be recorded in January. The actual recording will last around six weeks and then there’s two to three weeks of mixing and mastering. So sometime in March the record should be finished, but it won’t be released until after the summer. As it looks now, knock on wood, we will then go on tour. We won’t release an album until we know that we are actually going on tour. The album release will coincide with the start of a tour. Of course, we could announce an album release date and then, for some reason, it might not be possible to tour, but that’s a whole other matter.”

Read the full interview in Sweden Rock Magazine‘s November 2020 issue, due out on November 24.

Earlier this month, a number of media outlets erroneously reported that GHOST would be issuing a new album this winter. The report was based on an interview that Forge gave to Sweden’s VK.

This past March, at the final concert of GHOST‘s “Prequelle” album cycle in Mexico City, the band introduced the new character who will front the act for its next LP phase: Papa Emeritus IV.

Forge performed as a “new” Papa Emeritus on each of the band’s first three LPs, with each version of Papa replacing the one that came before it. Papa Emeritus III was retired in favor of Cardinal Copia before the release of 2018’s “Prequelle” album.

In October 2019, Forge confirmed to U.K.’s Kerrang! magazine that there would be a new character fronting GHOST by the time the group’s next LP sees the light of day.

“Prequelle” debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and features the chart-topping singles “Rats” and “Dance Macabre”.

In December 2018, GHOST nabbed two Grammy nominations, “Best Rock Album” for “Prequelle” and “Best Rock Song” for “Rats”.

Four years ago, GHOST became the first Swedish rock band ever to win a Grammy — 2016’s “Best Metal Performance” for the song “Cirice”.

Out on January 15th 2021 is the brand new Front Line Assembly album “Mechanical Soul”. The Canadian industrial outfit offers 10 new tracks and a remix of the track “Hatevol “.

For this release Bill Leeb again joins up with long-time cohort Rhys Fulber. The album also includes guest appearances from Jean-Luc De Meyer of Front 242 and Dino Cazares of Fear Factory.

Tracklisting:

1. Purge
2. Glass and Leather
3. Unknown
4. New World
5. Rubber Tube Gag
6. Stifle
7. Alone
8. Barbarians
9. Komm, Stirbt Mit Mir
10. Time Lapse
11. Hatevol (Black Asteroid Mix)

Further details will be made available soon.

This SINday on an all new MKULTRASOUND PodCast: new music from Heather Wagner and special guest co-host Emily Sifrit of e.Kay Designs with the Looney Bin aftermath!

The Crusade of the Lord of Lard began in a Berlin basement in the shadow of the Wall. Perhaps it was the terror and turmoil that gives that certain sense of menace to PIG’s trademark decadence. When the Wall fell, our Salacious Savior set out into the desert on a journey that has spawned many albums and projects … Not only PIG, but KMFDM’s finest material and many other collaborations including scoring for Alexander McQueen’s shows, installations and exhibitions.

His new single, “Rock N Roll Refugee” taken from the upcoming album “Pain Is God,” is a delicious taste of danceable electronic rock. The hook heavy new single features a healthy dose of swine and swagger, while Michelle Martinez’s backing vocals add that extra touch of soul. Watts also reunites with guitarist Steve White for the first time since the PIG albums on Nothing Records and Wax Trax! in the 90’s.

Raymond Watts says, “Rock n Roll Refugee is my demon seed of glam and electronica, stirred to an apotheosis of ejaculating guitars and lamenting vocals … A song that’s loose enough for your vices and tight enough for your virtues.”

The “Rock N Roll Refugee” video is a decadent dive into pop art influences. The resulting clip could be seen as more of a nod to theFluxus movement’s Nam June Paik or George Maciunas than the more mainstream Warhol-ian aspects of the genre. The song and video interplay as a homage to intermedia, filtered through the mind of the Swine. “Pain Is God” will be released by Metropolis Records on November 20, 2020 on CD as well as through all digital and streaming platforms.