Prequelle

Tobias Forge told NME:

I think this record might be the first positive record ever written about the plague. Essentially, it’s a record about survival, start to finish. The record takes you through the idea of mortality, before ending on the question, ‘if you could circumvent death… would you?’ I come from the metal underground, and the subject of The Black Death has been excavated many times. But those records are about the decimation of everything, and little light is shown to the survivors. There’s an argument that mankind learned a lot of good from what happened…

Forge told Tone Deaf that the album was forged over the course of approximately two years, in which a string of ideas were accumulated from phone recordings and home demos.

As a control freak, I really wish I was more organized. The way I do things is not always pleasant, but it seems to come through okay in the end. When I write a song, I write everything. I don’t just record a riff and hope that a bass player or a drummer will be able to come in and straighten it out.

Tobias Forge told Post-Gazzete:

It’s a record that, thematically, draws parallels with modern-day life and the modern individual trauma but also on a worldwide basis, with this sort of pre-apocalypse ambiance that we have right now. But it draws parallels to back in the middle ages when half of Europe was wiped out by the Black Death, or the plague. Whereas there have been a lot of extreme metal records done about that concept in the past, they have focused on the ones that died, whereas I wanted to make a record that would focus on the ones that would survive, but obviously during that process didn’t know they were going to survive. There was a great sense of urgency, obviously, so basically it’s a record surrounded by death, but at the end of the day, it’s about survival.

Tobias Forge, the man behind the mask of Cardinal Copia, said in an interview:

Since the record is about death and life and mortality, there’s another aspect that is important to that and that is the circulation aspect. All old things shouldn’t just be pushed over the ledge so that the new can rule. There’s a gray zone where there needs to be some sort of master apprentice situation — as the juniors, you need to learn from the seniors. Throughout civilization, we’ve been very good to embrace that — up till now, where we think all old people are completely superfluous and it’s just us. And us, I mean, I’m 37 and I’m assuming I’m old. But it’s like all the rules are supposed to be dictated by any IT genius that is 20 years old, so Cardinal Copia is the apprentice, he’s the toastmaster, but under supervision. If he does a great job and if he learns, he could potentially become Papa Emeritus IV, but he has to deserve his skull paint. But [Papa III] needs to acknowledge that he is also replaceable, so he needs to teach Cardinal Copia how to become a Papa Emeritus, so it’s an important balance. Both parties need to meet, and that is usually a struggle. One, they’re not there yet, even though they feel like it. You’re young and you’re ambitious and you want to lead, but usually that’s when you’re not fit to lead.

Tobias Forge told HMV about the name Prequelle:

It went through a few different titles. I always struggle with titles, I always seem to give records names that no one can pronounce. I thought Meliora was smart and easy, but I got Melora and Mellara and all kinds. I didn’t understand why it was so hard. I was toying with the idea of using an English word, but it felt flat and it didn’t measure up with the others.

Prequelle has multiple meetings. We’ve gone back in time, Meliora is set in this futuristic, 1920s, Prequelle is back to Medieval times. I also felt, personally, like I was back in time. The record’s themes are life and death and the circle of it all.

Contrary to all other released by Ghost, the band did not release any single artwork for Prequelle. The only other art released, apart from the album itself, was a cover designed by artist Marald van Haasteren for Revolver Magazine.