Ghost hint at long-awaited new frontman in announcement for Black Sabbath farewell concert
Black Sabbath’s original line-up have announced their first show in 20 years at Villa Park, Birmingham which will mark Ozzy Osbourne’s final performance before retirement. The event will feature metal legends, including Ghost, who have hinted at the identity of their next frontman.
Details around Ghost’s next charismatic leader have remained under wraps since their successful concert movie Rite Here Rite Now, which chronicled the build-up to the current leader’s final moments leading the charge. The end of the movie saw Papa Emeritus IV coming to terms with his fated withdrawal, revealing the next stand-in as nothing more than a silhouette.
As part of Sabbath’s coveted metal gathering, aptly titled Back to the Beginning, Ghost will share the stage with other rock gods, including Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice In Chains, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Mastodon, and more.
However, as part of Ghost’s official announcement on social media, they included a cryptic image adorned with the large letter ‘V’ with the caption: “We wish to inform you V is coming … To Birmingham on July 5th.”
Swedish musician Tobias Forge, the mastermind behind the band, has typically regenerated the band’s leading character in almost every album and touring cycle, culminating in four ‘Papas’ to date. Each one is given its own unique story, with the latest—Papa IV—seemingly having the most intricate after being “promoted” from his previous name, Cardinal Copia.
Papa V—who the band have just hinted at—still remains something of a mystery, but considering the band is scheduled to begin their much-awaited tour independent from the festival circuit this April, it seems as though they may continue with the current frontman until July 5th.
Although popularity seemed to soar to unprecedented heights with the latest era, Papa V will no doubt arrive as a culmination of Forge’s unrelenting imagination, especially if the storytelling devices used in Rite Here Rite Now and all previous albums are anything to go by.
For instance, instead of relying on a simple concert movie formula, the team behind the film ensured it was heavily intertwined with band lore and narratives to hint at where their next chapter was heading. However, this didn’t come without its challenges.
As Forge explained to Metal Hammer: “We were essentially shooting a film, and we used two nights of crowds as extras…It’s going to be a film with a concert element. So a lot of what you experienced [at the two LA shows] is going to be part of this project.”
He continued: “When I first started putting it together, I was, like, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to faint because there’s so much to think about’. Then it was, like, ‘No, no, just don’t think about it at all.'”
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