Ghost’s Tobias Forge: I’m a devil-liking kind of guy

(Image credit: Harmony Gerber - Getty)

Ghost leader Tobias Forge says he is, for lack of a better term, a “devil-liking kind of guy.”

He made the comment during an interview with Sacramento's News Review, when he was asked if he was a Satanist.

Forge responds: “From a strictly Christian point of view, if that means believing in a physical, half-man, half-ram living in the underground, no, I don’t believe there is such a thing.

“I’m not the opposite either. I’m sure in the eyes of the beholder, if I was put in front of true god-fearing bible thumpers, I would probably be regarded as a Satanist – just because I’m not a god-fearing bible thumper. 

“But the concept of Satanism has many forms. In the last 50 years, ever since Anton LaVey and pop-cultural Satanism, when that rose in the latter of the part of 60s with the Church Of Satan and Black Sabbath, Black Widow and Coven and that hippie Satanism, which at the end of the day, heavy metal, black metal, all that is based upon that cultural Satanism, I grew up with that.

“So from that point of view, I would definitely say that culturally, I am definitely, for lack of better way of putting it, I’m a devil-liking kind of guy. 

“But I wouldn’t sacrifice a baby to a half-ram that I believe to be living in the underground – and I would never ever encourage anyone to do that.”

Last week, Forge hinted that the band could release a new EP in 2019, saying: “My intention is not to release just another EP of covers. 

"There might be something else coming out next year, maybe, that might have been recorded already, that won't be covers.”

Ghost are currently on tour across North America in support of their latest studio album Prequelle and will return to Europe next year.

Ghost: Prequelle

<a href="https://target.georiot.com/Proxy.ashx?tsid=38569&GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Famazon.co.uk%2FPrequelle-VINYL-Ghost%2Fdp%2FB07BZ5B9C1%3Ftag%3Dhawk-future-21%26ascsubtag%3Dhawk-custom-tracking-21" data-link-merchant="Amazon UK"" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ghost: Prequelle
Ghost return with their biggest and best record of their career with Prequelle. The follow-up to 2015's Meliora features instant classics Dance Macabre and Rats

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.