Tobias Forge says Ghost's hiatus works as a finale rather than a bookend

Tobias Forge has explained why Ghost stopped after Skeletour, the 70-date run that supported the band's 2025 album Skeleta and finished in February. Speaking to Kerrang!, he said the weight of other people's expectations was what he no longer wanted to carry between tours.

"I don't want to call it a bookend, but it serves as a great finale," he told the magazine, comparing the end of the tour to the aftermath of a large wedding and saying he was pleased with the repertoire, the band and the show they had been playing most nights.

The trigger was not exhaustion alone. Forge said that for the first time in the band's career he reached the end of a tour without knowing what to do next, and refused to treat an album as a contractual obligation. Every previous Ghost record, he said, came from a clear thought and a purpose, and this time he did not have one.

He had signalled the break in February, telling Full Metal Jackie that he needed to be home. He described 15 years of two children waiting with his wife while he worked, and noted that they are now 17 and will not be around indefinitely.

There is other work in the meantime. Forge said he has two film projects underway and other creative plans outside the band, and framed stepping away as the only route back to a new idea rather than as a retirement.

Nothing is in the books for Ghost, which is what he means by a normal hiatus. The band's most recent release was a live album called 2 Big To Rig, paired with an IMAX film, and it is now the last thing on the shelf while the metal and rock audience waits.