Given how huge Ghost have become in the past five years, it's easy to understand why some fans assume frontman Tobias Forge simply found a winning formula of sound and theatrics and exploded fresh onto the scene. But as is often the case, Tobias worked hard to get where he is, and was a member of several bands before he started Ghost (including Repugnant, who absolutely slay). For proof of Tobias' steady descent into hell, one only needs to look at this photo of the frontman in full black metal corpse paint at the tender age of 15.
As reported by MetalSucks, the photo surfaced when posted to the Ghost fan Facebook page School Of Ghoul. The shot comes from a 1996 copy of a zine titled Scriptures Of Malignancy, who interviewed Forge about his band Superior. At the time, the musician was listed as -- get ready -- Don Juan Leviathan.
"Forge was interviewed by the zine and from reading this we learned that he was in a band called Absurdum in 1994 aged just 14," says the caption of the post.
"Tobias played in a series of bands in 1995 which he refers to as 'unserious shitbands' and in August 1995 he decided to change the name of Absurdum to Superior.