Ghost has always thrived in contradiction. They’re a band that walks the thin line between sacred and sleaze, between cathedral choirs and whiskey-soaked backroom riffs. But with their new single Lachryma, from the upcoming album Skeleta, they’re not just walking that line—they’re dancing in between the lines of metal and glam.
From the first notes, Lachryma drips with dark glamour. It’s seductive, subversive, and theatrical as hell—equal parts vampire waltz and stadium anthem. You’ve got shimmering melodic hooks, soaring double guitar harmonies, and an AOR sheen polished to perfection. But underneath the gloss, there’s a sharp bite. This song bleeds.
Tobias Forge has described Lachryma as a song about self-deceit, and you can feel that duplicity in every layer. It’s beautiful, but haunted. It lures you in like a glam rock siren, only to whisper secrets in your ear from the crypt.
And let’s talk about the look—because Ghost never just releases a song. They unveil a whole aesthetic universe. In Lachryma, the band dons new outfits that scream satanic cabaret meets 80s glam revival. Think something like a vampiric, almost Cruel Intentions-esque, but make it horror rock. Forge’s presence here is pure theatrical sleaze—like a fallen televangelist who started fronting Crashdïet.
Which brings us to the most delicious little fact: Tobias Forge used to play in Crashdïet. Yeah, that Crashdïet. The Stockholm sleaze legends that helped carry the glam metal torch into the 2000s alongside bands like Crazy Lixx, H.E.A.T., and today’s wild bunch The Cruel Intentions. It’s not a stretch to say Lachryma feels like a spiritual cousin to those bands—just darker, draped in incense, and ready to stake hearts instead of break them.
So what is Lachryma, really?
It’s a glam metal ghost wrapped in a velvet funeral shroud.
It’s too pretty to be metal, too deadly to be glam.
It’s a love letter to deception, dressed like a resurrection.
And it just might be one of the most exciting turns Ghost has taken in years.
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