GHOST Announces Arena Shows For New York, Los Angeles; BLABBERMOUTH.NET Presale Available

GHOST has announced two arena shows as part of its "A Pale Tour Named Death" in the fall.

A special BLABBERMOUTH.NET presale will begin on Thursday, May 3 at 10:00 a.m. local time and end on Thursday, May 3 at 10 p.m. local time. When prompted, type in the presale code "BLABBER" to access tickets before the general public.

General admission tickets will be available for purchase starting Friday, May 4 at 10:00 a.m. local time.

Nov. 16 - The Forum - Los Angeles, CA (buy tickets)
Dec. 15 - Barclays Center - Brooklyn, NY (buy tickets)

GHOST broke news of the arena performances this morning (Monday, April 30) with a special press conference helmed by Papa Nihil and Sister Imperator at Irving Plaza in New York City. Watch their special sermon via the band's Facebook below. The duo also debuted the "Chapter Three: Back On The Road" live at the event, finally putting to rest the age old question of where all the Papas go.

GHOST has officially announced a June 1 release date for its new album, "Prequelle", which follows up the breakthrough 2015 album "Meliora". The new disc was recorded last year at Artery studios in Stockholm with producer Tom Dalgety (OPETH, ROYAL BLOOD) and was mixed in January at Westlake Studios in West Hollywood, California with Andy Wallace (NIRVANA, SLAYER).

A number of pre-order packages for "Prequelle" have been launched, and among the items available are GHOST-themed masks similar to those worn by plague doctors back in the 17th century.

GHOST lead singer Tobias Forge, who performs under the names Papa Emeritus and now Cardinal Copia, has hinted that the theme of the album has to do in part with the arrival of the Black Plague in Europe, among other events in history.

GHOST will kick off a run of North American dates on May 5 in Riverside, California.

Forge last year revealed his identity while responding to a lawsuit filed by four former members of GHOST, who accused him of cheating them out of their rightful share of the profits from the group's album releases and world tours.

Forge told The Pulse Of Radio what inspired him to write "Rats", the first single from "Prequelle". "A few years ago, I decided, like, 'I really want to have a big opening track that just blows people's minds immediately,'" he said. "So I wrote 'Square Hammer' and that went well. But I didn't want 'Square Hammer' to turn into a 'Start Me Up', where that always feels best to play first. I want to be able to mix it up. So we needed another song that works as an opening track. That was basically my intention with 'Rats'."

The official video for "Rats" can be seen below. The clip was directed by Roboshobo (a.k.a. Robert Schober),who has previously worked with METALLICA, ALICE IN CHAINS, MASTODON and GREEN DAY, among others.

Photo credit: Mikael Eriksson