Ghost’s Missilia Amori, Umbra: Love & Manipulation

With resonances throughout Ghost's music & human experience

On the Surface

Let's get it out of the way up top: 'Missilia Amori' and 'Umbra', tracks off of Ghost's 2025 album Skeletá, are about sex. For Missilia Amori it's at least contained to one double entendre – "Love rockets // Shot right in between your eyes" – though it's also the chorus, so I find it does rather stick out. Apparently the song was inspired in tone and cultural context by Kiss' "Love Gun", which certainly checks out.

On the other hand, it's hard to mistake the lyrics of 'Umbra' for describing anything other than having sex in a church (though I'll try my best below, don't worry); singer & songwriter Tobias Forge described it as 'coital', which sums things up quite well.

Sex isn't the most complex topic – especially given Ghost's ability to tackle larger ideas, as I wrote about regarding 'Twenties' and 'Marks of the Evil One' – but I respect Forge's reasoning that it is a very human one (and perhaps worth discussing with regard to depictions in mainstream speculative fiction, another time).

It also isn't anything new for Ghost, whose brand is defined by religious taboo. Many of their songs are about sex in one form or another: 'Monstrance Clock', 'Death Knell', 'Mary on a Cross', 'Kiss the Go-Goat', 'Jigolo Har Megiddo' – not to mention their covers of 'Nocturnal Me' and 'Missionary Man'.

In comparison to many of those older songs, 'Missilia Amori' and 'Umbra' are remarkably subtle and fairly brimming with deeper meaning. So let's get into it!

Cardinal Copia & Ghost, by Yukke_Art

Shades of Manipulation

Tobias Forge has described the album as being more intimate than most, concerned with internal and interpersonal feelings and struggles. I think that's especially true of these two songs, and not just for the reasons described above. Both songs use love – whether physical or emotional – as a vehicle to explore different types of manipulation between people and perhaps other entities.

Missilia Amori first; I won’t go line by line for either song today, but you can find the lyrics here. The song depicts a relationship that once seemed genuinely loving, but in which the singer is now using the existing bond to coerce their partner.

Each verse has its own example of this manipulation. The singer's opening lines ambiguously taunt their partner or try to warn them against throwing the relationship away. Later verses demand obedience now, while they (supposedly) still love each other: "Before my love has turned to hate", "Give in or the war is on". The Bridge turns these threats even more explicit, implying that the partner will never escape anyway, so why not just keep things as they are?

"A man of faith is hard to find" certainly stands out here in the rare Ghost song the doesn't otherwise mention religion. I think the singer is simply saying that their partner won't find anyone better: at least they are a known quantity and faithful to the partner, whereas have you heard the horror stories out there?

But I also really appreciate that this meaning isn't necessarily confined to relationships between two people. Ghost is always interested in people's personal relationships to religion, and this song absolutely fits the idea of someone trying to escape a cult or similarly indoctrinated religious group. One commenter suggested it being about a powerful country bullying another into subservience, which brought the brilliant sketch below (and, you know, all of modern history) to mind.

"Umbra" (lyrics here) takes a little more imagination to extract a deeper meaning, mostly hinging on the early reference to death and the line "I see your light shine through."(Again, the song is undoubtedly about sex, perhaps even beyond the surface: check out the annotations on the lyrics at that link to see explanations for a lot of the double entendre and imagery. For one, using 'le petit mort' to connect the themes here is classic Ghost genius.)

I suppose I have a couple errant takeaways from the song which may or may not coalesce into a reading of the piece as a whole. The first, as I referenced above, is to see the Church attracting (seducing?) followers by playing on their fear of death with promises of eternal afterlife. This resonates with their song 'Cirice', which goes much further into the manipulative tactics used by religious institutions.

In my mind, "I see your light shine through" has to mean an honest inner beauty coming to the forefront of a person's being. On the surface this is certainly through intimacy and bliss, but it also obviously connects to the religious imagery – it's that honest inner self that God supposedly loves and judges, after all. Yet the singer certainly isn't God, finding beauty in the sacrilegious act on display here.

Instead I think the subject of the song's inner beauty is shining through because they are either transgressing against imposed doctrine, acting of their own will and being themself, or intimately meeting death and having everything but their truest self melt away in the face of an existential crisis.

And you know what, I think this does all fit together! The subject had previously been drawn into the religion by the idea of eternal life, but upon actually coming face to face with their mortality (and maybe making love to death) they find the inner strength to stand and act on their own terms; their true inner beauty allowed to shine through.

'Pro Memoria' and 'Zenith' both carry similar themes, reminding us to accept the fact of our mortality not out of some Halloween spookiness but for the sake of making the most of our time in this world.

Papa Emeritus III & Nameless Ghouls backstage, by Feu Vyper

Again, really?

Yep! It's about the grimmest reminder to practice mindfulness you'll get, but I don't think it's any less helpful for that. And the same goes for Missilia Amori: if you're in any kind of relationship that resembles what's depicted, don't assume that time and inaction will fix anything. We've got one life, so let your light shine through.

Would love to hear your thoughts on my interpretation. Any other meaning or imagery that you picked up on and I missed?

(Also, to follow up from my Thursday post: Murderbot is looking pretty good so far! Already some striking changes in the adaptation process, but interested to see where things go!)

Thanks for reading and until next time <3