GHOST's Nameless Ghoul Explains 'Meliora' Album Title

One of the nameless ghouls from Swedish occult rockers GHOST was interviewed on a recent edition of the "Metal Hammer Magazine Show". You can now listen to the chat at this location. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the title of GHOST's third album, "Meliora":

"I think that the super-correct translation [from Latin] is 'for the pursuit of something better,' or 'all things better,' or something like that. It is actually more thematical with the lyrical content and the backdrop that we wanted to paint in front of which we're playing these songs, basically, which was supposed to be, or is supposed to be, a super-urban, metropolitan, pre-apocalyptic, dystopic futuristic thing. The title is more implying, ironically, this zenith that we think that we have reached. We're always building higher, and we're always getting a little bit faster, and everybody keeps earning a little bit more money, and everybody gets a little bit taller and a little bit tighter and a little bit… It's a constant improvement that we're hysterically trying to achieve."

On GHOST's constantly evolving image and lyrical content:

"Some of these things have been with us for many years, just because… Not only was it intended, just from a fan point of view, that we wanted to… for lack of a better way of saying it, to be a sort of an IRON MAIDEN-esque band in the sense that we wanted to revamp our schtick every time that we make a record, basically, just in order to keep it fresh and interesting, so that we could go through eras. And also, that was definitely a necessity, just because we are, also for lack of a better word, a gimmicky band. Like, aesthetically, we cannot live off, or feed off, our actual story the way that a more biographical band can, so we have to tell a story, basically. And what better way is there than to revamp into different eras."

On the "departure" of GHOST frontman Papa Emeritus II and addition of Papa Emeritus III:

"I think he's on some sort of vacation right now. Yeah, he's been relieved of his duties. That means that we have another one of those guys in house now, creating new problems. Different age, different problem."

On being influenced by classic rock bands:

"I suppose we do have have sort of archeological approach to what we're doing. We're trying to find that fine line where we're not all in just a retro band, which is very, very hard to intellectualize, because, obviously, we are embracing a lot of old-fashioned attributes in terms of playing on old-fashioned guitars and looking for a more analog feel as opposed to playing on a seven-string. Yeah, we're slightly retrospectively wallowing in the past. But we like to think that we're trying to create something… a new dish out of old seasoning."

"Meliora" will be released on August 21 via Loma Vista Recordings. The follow-up to 2013's "Infestissumam" was helmed by Klas Åhlund, a prolific songwriter, producer and guitarist who is also a member of the Swedish rock band TEDDYBEARS, and was mixed by Andy Wallace (SLAYER, NIRVANA, SEPULTURA, LINKIN PARK, GUNS N' ROSES).

GHOST will embark on the "Black To The Future" North American headlining tour in the fall. The procession will begin at The Fillmore in Washington, D.C. on September 22.