Watch Ghost cover Metallica's Enter Sandman

Ghost paid tribute to Metallica at a Swedish award ceremony with cover of Enter Sandman.

Ghost singer Cardinal Copia (aka Tobias Forge) performed the song at the Konserthuset in Stockholm, Sweden during the Polar Music Prize.

He was backed by members of Swedish metal legends Candlemass and songwriting duo Vargas & Lagola.

Metallica were the recipients of this year’s Polar Music Prize, one of Sweden’s most prestigious awards. They were presented with the award by King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Picking up the award, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich looked back on the band’s rise.

“Who would have thought, when Metallica started this musical journey 37 years ago, that one day we would be standing in front of both musical royalty and actual royalty, accepting one of the most prestigious prizes that can be bestowed upon musicians,” said Ulrich.

“The type of music that we played was not supposed to be acknowledged or embraced by the mainstream, the media or even large audiences. In 1981 when this band formed, I just wanted to play music in a collective setting and feel like it belonged to something bigger than myself.”

Metallica were introduced by Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover, who recalled discovering the band at a festival in the 80s.

“I'd heard the name, didn't know anything about them,” Glover said. “I went on the side of the stage to have a look and I thought, ‘Yeah, there's something happening here.’ I’ll tell you why: because the audience were singing every word they sang. And that’s what impressed me. When you touch that many people with your music, there's something special going on.”

The Polar Music prize awards its recipients one million kroner (roughly £85,000 or $125,000 US). Metallica will donate the prize money to their All Within My Hands Foundation.

Dave Everley

Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on Kerrang! and Classic Rock, Associate Editor on Q magazine and staff writer/tea boy on Raw, not necessarily in that order. He has written for Metal Hammer, Louder, Prog, the Observer, Select, Mojo, the Evening Standard and the totally legendary Ultrakill. He is still waiting for Billy Gibbons to send him a bottle of hot sauce he was promised several years ago.