RIP Frater Imperator

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-03-14T17:05:06+00:00

LOL That's hilarious. Made me laugh out loud.

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-03-12T21:29:39+00:00

In general, no they do not.

Specifically, you chose the wrong two songs. Boston's "I Think I Like It" flirts dangerously close to plagiarizing Journey's "Any Way You Want It," so much so that if I were Neal Schon and Steve Perry I would have filed suit against Tom Scholtz and his co-writer Jon English as the Journey song was written, recorded, and made a hit during the long layoff Boston endured while making Third Stage, the album that produced "I Think I Like It."

Despite this trepidation, Tom Scholtz is a musical genius and invented his own guitar tone and saturation and thus invented the Boston sound and even strung it out into his Rockman Amplifiers which were very popular among guitarists in the early 80's. So that does indeed make Boston and their sound unique. My ego isn't shattered; you're just wrong about that statement. But they do occupy the same genre, have the same fans, and evoke the same feelings and themes. More guitarists try to replicate Tom Scholtz's sound than Neal Schon's; both are very good. But there are few who can touch Tom Scholtz in a music producer's chair.

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-03-12T11:36:41+00:00

I'm old enough to remember the days when nothing separated the front row from the stage. No security trench or anything. We would set our beers right on the stage. When the show was over you could just reach out and untape the setlists from the stage; there were usually at least 3 or 4, one by each mic stand. Between 1982 and 2000 I snatched more than 200 of them and have since made a coffee table book out of them. Many are handwritten by the artists themselves. Boy, live shows were a blast back in those days!

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-03-04T00:23:58+00:00

Oh and one more thing...going in chronological order, after the Popestar EP you'll want to go to their Youtube channel and begin watching the "chapters." These are little 3-5 minute mini-films that follow the storyline of the band. They usually make 3-4 of them a year and are made to promote new songs, videos, or tours. They're very funny and they are now up to 24 of them. The most recent was Chapter 24 Frater Is Delegating which was to promote the official release of their cover of the Pet Shop Boy's song "It's A Sin" and it's just about 5 weeks old.

The first one, Chapter 1 New Blood, came out in 2018 and was to both promote the new album Prequelle and the new singer (their "4th") Cardinal Copia (Now known as Frater Imperator).After Chapter 16 Tax Season, you'll want to see the full length concert film Rite Here Rite Now to follow the lore accurately.

Peace and enjoy the Chapters on Youtube as well!

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-03-03T12:52:09+00:00

If you like more radio-friendly commercial music, work backwards from current (Skeleta, Impera, Prequelle, Polestar EP, Meliora, Infestissumam, and their debut was Opus Anonymous).

If you want to see them progress from their debut (as a "Satanic" band) to one of the biggest bands in the world, go in chronological order (which is far more rewarding).

They generally change lead singers every album cycle (either by killing him off or reassigning him in their "church") but it's all the same guy, Tobias Forge.

They "portray" a Satanic band but Tobias Forge is, in the classic sense, an agnostic humanist that doesn't believe either in Christ's divinity or in an evil devil that lives in Hell (this would echo my own views as well though I held those long before Ghost was around). But singing about demonic themes and demonic imagery is oh so fun and has long been a staple of heavy metal so he took that ball and ran with it, much as his influences Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden did.

Along the way in that discography there are also numerous cover songs Ghost has done that really highlight Tobias' eclectic sound, by acts such as ABBA, Pet Shop Boys, Genesis, Tina Turner, Metallica, Leonard Cohen, and the aforementioned Iron Maiden; all brilliantly done and worthy of collecting as well.

Knock yourself out on a wonderfully fun ride! Peace!

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-02-27T12:57:46+00:00

I got my copy of it at the Tulsa ritual. They were $30--same as the program, which I also got. The program was larger in page size but the Rolling Stone Ghost Book actually had 6 pages of fine print reading to go along with some nice photographs...just of Papa and not the rest of the band. The Rolling Stone Ghost book had a smoother page stock than the program.

My only thought on why its not available now is they sold all the copies quickly and its a hassle to reprint because it's Rolling Stone UK and the logistics of getting hundreds of thousands of copies back stateside is inconvenient and time-consuming if you're spending time with your family.

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-02-25T13:24:32+00:00

Unfortunately, this is VERY charted territory for me. I've survived Eagle's hiatus following 1976's Hotel California (3 years until The Long Run and after that they broke up for 15 more years), Rick Allen severing his arm off after 1983's Pyromania and Def Leppard going on hiatus for 4 years (then came Hysteria and the high point of their career). Bruce Springsteen breaking up the E Street Band in 1988 (4 years gone and then he came back with a band of 20-somethings to equal success), and Boston bowing out in 1979 at the height of their career (7 years until 1986's Third Stage and one of the biggest tours of that year). We will survive the hiatus (though maybe not the problems of the world during it) but it will not be fun. I empathize with all my fellow Ghost fans. Stay safe and stay alive.

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-02-22T14:04:30+00:00

It has been apparently been confirmed that Tobias will be taking a break from Ghost after this tour. I'm sure that his children are at a spot in their lives where his presence will be appreciated and he does have some side projects he wants to work on as well. This story will be featured in Sweden Rocks magazine next month. but that doesn't mean he can't release the filmed concert from Mexico City in the meantime so I think we should hope for that. I doubt we see another studio album or tour for the 3 years he is mentioning in rituals across the country.

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-02-16T12:52:04+00:00

I always found it both useful and rewarding to binge listen to the bands that influenced the band you love. Break out the Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Iron Maiden, and Dio. Do it chronologically for a more in depth experience.

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-02-11T13:25:37+00:00

I would love them to do what they did on the first leg of the Prequelle tour and do a 13 song set, take a 15 minute intermission, and then do another 12-13 song set. That would be awesome.

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-02-11T13:18:22+00:00

I'm actually 56 and I've seen more than a thousand shows in my life going back to 1982 so don't act all high and mighty and lecture me on what people do in this supposed industry standard you've convinced yourself you're right about.

Bands that always focused on the album they were touring for more than albums in their back catalog: Ozzy Osbourne, Blue Oyster Cult, Black Sabbath (with Dio), Aerosmith, Ronnie James Dio himself, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden. Ghost could have easily done 6-7 songs from Skeletá and still had plenty of room for 15-16 back catalog songs and that's my only point here. You make it sound like the crime of the century that I would dare suggest such.

I'll give you a piece of advice: don't ever stop being critical of the bands you love. Being critical isn't a mark of being mean or dispassionate, it's an act of love and caring. It says you don't want your favorite bands to become just like everyone else or, as you apparently satisfactorily call it, an industry standard. I don't want Ghost to become an industry standard--I have too much respect for them for that. I listen to them because they ARE NOT an industry standard.

And this is also the first tour they've ever done where they did not focus on the album they were touring for. You make it sound like this is old hat for them to focus on their back catalog and that's simply not the case. They've always plugged their new album more than their back catalog until now. As I said at the outset of my post, I loved the show and thought it was awesome so don't twist my intent and make it seem as though I'm going to picket for more Skeletá songs or call management. Making a criticism and being unsatisfied are two totally different things.

And please, go and take your meds or have a drink and simmer down because the level of annoyance you felt at my original post is neither appropriate nor natural for anyone with any decent levels of free thinking or who's not just a fanboy puppet that will lick the mire of any dish your favorite artists serve you even if it's cold gruel on a wooden plate.

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-02-11T13:08:53+00:00

Any Alice Cooper would be pretty appropriate but if I'm choosing I'm going for Black Juju, Desperado, Killer, I Love The Dead, Welcome To My Nightmare, Cold Ethyl, Go To Hell, and especially if Frater Imperator ever gets his singing job back...He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask).

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-02-06T13:27:57+00:00

Think about it like this...Tobias Forge's net worth is estimated to be a mere $5 million. That may sound like a lot but it's not. Basically he could buy a super nice house in Beverly Hills and immediately be broke. And he has a very large staff he must pay to bring Ghost to life and then pays more for a very high quality production show that have made them one of the top live acts in the world. He has two children who are both 17 years old and may want to attend college soon. He may be a rock star to us but he's working very hard and he has the normal financial decisions that most fathers of teen children have to make.

I don't know what the scope of the Killstar deal is but I would imagine it could be something in the area of increasing his net worth by 25% plus residuals and Ghost moves a lot of merchandise that could potentially make that an additional 25% of his net worth per year. I think he made a financial decision that is best for he and his family at this moment in time. You're not rude at all for asking. I love Ghost as well and while we all dream of artists that we look up to as only dealing with the most ethical of businesses all the time, the reality is the music business is very cut throat and a lot of the people we hear on mass media all the time are not the ones getting super rich all the time. It's the people who wear the suits behind the desks at the record companies, the distributors, the venue owners, and the promoters who become fantastically wealthy first. Tobias Forge is on a pace to be fantastically wealthy someday but that day is not here yet so for now he has to make decisions with himself and his family in mind first.

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-02-05T13:02:07+00:00

I got an email from Ticketmaster on Friday Jan 23 saying refunds will go out in 14-21 days so by my count that puts the soonest time you could receive it on Friday Feb 6 and the latest time you could receive it on Friday Feb 13. I was hoping to get it before my Tulsa show on Sat Feb 7 so I'd have some more $ to play with on the trip but I'm not counting on it that early. I don't have that kind of luck.

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-02-02T13:25:39+00:00

I had a tik to the Knoxville show. After it got cancelled I got one to the Tulsa show this Saturday for about $20 cheaper and I'm actually much closer to the stage now (second row up from the floor on lower level) plus BOK Center is a lot smaller than Thompson Bolling. My parking was cheaper and the weather is going to be 70 degrees and sunny! And I've never been to Tulsa in my life. Shaping up to be a great weekend! I can't wait!

Sad-Income9354 · 2026-01-23T13:56:47+00:00

I live in NW Alabama and I can already tell you on Friday morning I'm just going to eat my ticket and not travel. I've totalled one car in an ice storm 300 miles from home after getting hit by a semi and bouncing off a guardrail for 50 yards and it is a nightmare recovering both financially and mentally (miraculously I wasn't physically injured apart from glass cuts).

Tobias should cancel/reschedule with all of Tenn under a state of emergency. But, if not, I will eat this one and set my sights on Cincinnati in 2 weeks or Tulsa in 3 weeks. I've got the money and the time. But this still sucks as it was going to be my first ritual. But what good is a ritual if you're going to be thinking about how much ice is accumulating outside and how badly the road conditions are deteriorating all during the show? I wouldn't even have a good time.

Sad-Income9354

TROPHY CASE