Swedish theatrical rock phenomenon Ghost is carrying massive momentum into the 2026 Grammis. The band has secured six nominations at Sweden’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards, which will be held on April 29 at Annexet in Stockholm.
The group is up for top honors, including Artist of the Year and Album of the Year for their 2025 chart-topping record, Skeletá. The band is also nominated in the Hard Rock & Metal category. Furthermore, frontman and mastermind Tobias Forge shares nominations for Producer, Songwriter, and Lyricist alongside his collaborators Max Grahn, Vincent Pontare, and Salem Al Fakir.
Ghost already has a strong track record at the Grammis, having previously won the Hard Rock & Metal trophy four times for Infestissumam, Meliora, the Popestar EP, and Impera. Their latest release, Skeletá, proved to be a commercial powerhouse as well, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in May 2025. It notably became the first hard rock album to hit the top spot since AC/DC‘s Power Up in 2020.
Despite the massive success of the ongoing “Skeletour,” Tobias Forge recently revealed that he plans to step away from Ghost for a while. Speaking with Full Metal Jackie on February 21, Forge confirmed the band has “nothing else planned” once the current tour concludes.
When asked about his downtime and hobbies, he explained his priority is returning home:
“One, I have my family. Duh. Of course, everybody knows that. I’ve had two kids waiting at home with my wife for 15 years… I’ve definitely come to a point where not only do I need – I feel physically and mentally I need to be home, simply because they’re 17; they’re not gonna be around for an eon.”
He used a construction analogy to describe the creative exhaustion of managing every single aspect of the band:
“Imagine you being a house builder… you draw up houses, great ideas, but you’re also doing the permits and you’re also doing the tiles and you’re building everything… I don’t simply have an idea. And I’m out of tiles. I’m out of wood. I just don’t have it.”
He added:
“So the only way for me to come up with a new idea and get some new inspiration is to just step away. It is as simple as that.”
Stepping away from Ghost does not mean a complete vacation for the musician. Forge noted he has two movie projects in development and had already been recording music for a separate project before the current tour even began.
“I have tons of stuff lined up for me [for] the coming years,”
Looking back on his many years on the road, he acknowledged the emotional toll of touring and the sacrifices he had to make.
“There were a lot of moments where you had to sort of sneak out before they woke up… when you jump into the car. And that was not easy. But when you’re driven by a conviction… I was convinced, and I am still convinced, that I did the right thing.”
Now, with his children approaching adulthood, the family dynamic has evolved.
“We’re very connected. We’re very good friends… And now they’re the ones sort of pushing me, like, ‘Yeah, it’s only three weeks left.'”
Forge concluded with an optimistic look toward the future, signaling that this necessary break will eventually lead to a fresh start for the band.
“When I come back, we’ll start this new chapter, this new reality.”
Ghost brought their massive “Skeletour” to a dramatic and historic close on Monday night, February 23, at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The sold-out arena show marked the final scheduled performance for the band, capping off a cycle supporting their 2025 album, Skeletá.
To ensure full show experience, the concert enforced a strict phone-free policy using Yondr pouches, forcing the thousands in attendance to focus entirely on the spectacle before them. The stage, designed to resemble a gothic cathedral complete with stained-glass visuals, set the scene for Papa V Perpetua to lead the congregation through hits like “Year Zero“, “Call Me Little Sunshine“, and the viral sensation “Mary on a Cross“.
In a move that stunned the audience and ignited immediate speculation about the band’s future, Papa V Perpetua broke a career-long tradition during the show. For the first time in Ghost history, he introduced the Nameless Ghouls by their real names and countries of origin. The band’s backing musicians have historically remained anonymous, hidden behind identical masks and uniforms.
