Ghost's Satanized: Obey or be Damned

Themes of Skeletá and the evil of false dichotomies

Short & Sweet + Published!

I wanted to quickly share up top that one of my short fiction stories – “The Litany of Renewal” – has been published in the first issue of Vellum Mortis, a free e-zine by the fine folks at Memento Mori Ink & Crystal Lake Publishing! You can find the issue here if you’re interested in giving it a read.

Today is also the last day of a family vacation I’m on, so I’ll be trying to keep the piece fairly short. Gives you more time to check out the story, perhaps?

As you may be able to tell from the title and music video above, I’m writing today about the song ‘Satanized’ off of Ghost’s 2025 album Skeletá. If you missed it, I’ve previously discussed ‘Marks of the Evil One’, ‘Lachryma’, ‘Missilia Amori’ and ‘Umbra’ off this fantastic album, as well as ‘Twenties’ off of their 2022 album IMPERA.

Covers for Skeletá and IMPERA

Skeletá vs IMPERA

Speaking of those two albums, I thought it might be helpful (for myself as much as anyone) to bring up a few details Tobias Forge has shared about his creative process and vision. In an April interview with Mixdown, he spoke to the fundamental difference between the two:

“Then conceptually, having written IMPERA that was shining a light onto outward factors like societal structures, I knew when I made IMPERA that I want to make another record that is completely— not devoid of criticism if you will, but the challenge was to make a whole record where there’s a certain degree of introspection going on.”

IMPERA, as seen in ‘Twenties’, is for the most part an examination of figureheads, institutions and systems of power. It is a reflection of the horrifying rise of fascism and demagogues in the world – not unlike the many novels from the past decade which have engaged with the same ideas. I've seen speculation that Forge became a little disillusioned after more recent events – who hasn't – and that this played a role in Skeletá being as inward-facing as it is in comparison to IMPERA.

(For what it's worth, I feel like I've walked down that same path from criticizing the obviously corrupt structures to working on understanding what is going wrong at the human level in our society.)

Skeletá is dedicated to examining the inner life and the human condition, which I think my previous discussions have represented fairly accurately. Even Tobias says there is still a little criticism to be found within, which may or may not tie into my analysis of 'Marks of the Evil One'. I also have a bit of a crackpot theory about a possible inspiration for the album as a whole, but I'll save that for another time.

Papa V Perpetua fan art, by More-Breakfast-8266

Satanized & Dichotomies

If I had to pick one song to exemplify Skeletá, it would certainly be 'Satanized'. After all, it was both the first single released and offered our first look at Papa V Perpetua, the supposed brother of and long-awaited successor to Cardinal Copia/Papa Emeritus IV. Moreover, the song beautifully ties together the album's themes with the band's, merging introspection with religion and (of course) a little bit of crude double entendre. Rather than go line-by-line through the song's lyrics – find them here – I'll examine the story and message as a whole.

'Satanized' is about a member of the Catholic clergy struggling with his (statistically and thematically the character is almost certainly male) vows. The song contains a Latin reading of Corinthians 6:19, and it's not difficult to see how Ghost is playing with the word 'membra' (members) in relation to the character's faith and vow of chastity.

He compares his bodily urges to an 'incurable disease', a 'demonic possession' and a 'deadly affliction', and prays desperately to God to relieve him of his torment. Of course, the urges themselves are then compounded by his guilt over them: 'a monster eating him' and 'a sickening heartache slowly tormenting his soul'. He sees his thoughts as 'blasphemy' and 'heresy' since they go against everything he has been taught, and believes that by giving in just once he has condemned himself to Satan – 'Satanized', if you will.

Once he does finally give in, he's 'no longer sure' whether he wants or needs God's remedy. While this could be because he's finding a healthy middle ground between absolute obedience and full Satan-worshiping, I think it's more likely that he's just fully switched: the line "I'm laicized" strongly implies that he has either voluntarily or forcibly left the clergy at the end of the song.

I think what Ghost is getting at here is that this kind of all-or-nothing, black-and-white thinking is incredibly dangerous – perhaps especially when imposed on someone externally, with their career, life and eternal soul on the line. The band is all about discussing the failings of organized religion, and you can be sure they've touched on this topic before – the line "It's the continence of bishops with their choirboys en-suite" from 'Kaisarion' immediately comes to mind for one.

I've written before about false dichotomies – the suggestion that there are only two distinct options when in fact there is a spectrum – in relation to gender, us-vs-them thinking, guilt and more, and it's never proven to be a good or helpful idea. What use is a (religious) counselor to anyone if he's being eaten alive by shame over his own humanity? Not much, compared to one who recognizes his own shortcomings and can empathize with others.

Papa V Perpetua fan art, by Guido Giminez

Go with Grace

I actually really like that Tobias Forge puts a line between criticism and introspection in his quote above. Skeletá isn't about judging our interiority, but simply about recognizing and expressing it. Just as repressed priests have been shown to exercise their frustrations in extremely dangerous ways, many in our society bury every aspect of themselves that doesn't fit within traditional values and expectations. And look where it's gotten us.

As with other times I've discussed these false dichotomies (and just most of my posts I suppose), I'll suggest that mindfulness is a powerful tool for recognizing when our thinking has become narrowed – either by internal cognitive distortion or societal programming.

But more specifically, I think this topic also needs a reminder to practice self-forgiveness and give yourself a little grace. Look at the Serenity Prayer that I discussed a few weeks ago! Or to look at it another way, Satan wants a lot more from you than a few miniscule indiscretions.

Thanks for reading and until next time <3