{"id":724240,"date":"2026-06-09T02:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T02:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/724240\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T02:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T02:05:11","slug":"mortiis-interview-anonymity-ghost-and-sleep-token","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/724240\/","title":{"rendered":"Mortiis interview: anonymity, Ghost and Sleep Token"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mortiis was sporting a mask when Sleep Token<\/a>, Ghost<\/a> and President<\/a> were still learning how to play their instruments. For a feature set to appear in a future issue of Metal Hammer, we sat down with the dungeon synth maestro and ex-Emperor<\/a> bassist to talk about his lengthy career and new album Ghosts Of Europa. Here\u2019s a short preview, where the man born H\u00e5vard Ellefsen explains why he never wanted to be nameless like the current crop of stars.<\/p>\n

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\"A\n<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been an influx of very popular rock and metal bands wearing masks, such as Ghost and Sleep Token. What do you think of these artists popping up and quite quickly reaching the mainstream of heavy metal<\/a>?<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t pay a lot of attention to it. I think Tobias [Forge] has done some really cool stuff with Ghost. I like some of his music and I\u2019ve only met him once. He was quiet, seemed very nice. Sleep Token, I\u2019m only aware of them because people talk about them, so I don\u2019t have a whole lot of opinions on them. I\u2019ve seen a couple of photos of them, and it looks alright, but a lot of people look that way, though, right? I feel like I\u2019m seeing a shitload fly by in my algorithm: masked band, masked band, masked band! The weird thing is, I feel like I\u2019m the only guy who wears a mask and still a face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From Louder<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yeah, I can see your face now! If I were talking to Sleep Token or any other of those bands in the algorithm you\u2019re alluding to, I\u2019d never get to see their faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just that, but the fact that the Mortiis mask is still a face. But you\u2019re correct, too. It\u2019s so natural for me to do interviews as this. I don\u2019t feel the need to hide my face. I did try that in the 90s for a little while: it was sort of half-hearted, to do that Kiss<\/a> thing, where you\u2019re not supposed to be seen without your makeup. I copied off the originators for a short while, and I was like, \u2018This is boring! This is fucking exhausting!\u2019 Trying not to be seen and, when people ask you, you pretend you\u2019re not Mortiis? Fuck this! Maybe I\u2019m lazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It must be really, really difficult to keep that mystique up 24\/7.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcluding those 15 minutes in the 90s where I tried to hide it, I\u2019ve just always been myself. It\u2019s the most natural thing for me to do, and this is just the most natural way for me to interact with people. When it\u2019s time to become Mortiis, I become Mortiis.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the same with Gene Simmons and The Demon. You can find it on YouTube, one talk show where he was fully in character, in the face paint, looking at people and doing the tongue thing. He basically says about it what you \u2019re saying about that 15 minutes in the 90s: it didn\u2019t feel right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t really like putting on an act. It feels phony. The times it doesn\u2019t feel phony is when I go onstage. I go into a different sort of mental space when I for that. You transform as a person, so that doesn\u2019t feel like an act, either. If I had put on my mask before we got on the Zoom meeting here, it would have been phony.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it would have been very weird for me!<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a few TV things in the mask, and they look cool, but it\u2019s awkward. You can tell. People aren\u2019t put off by it, but it\u2019s a strange experience for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mortiis\u2019 new album, Ghosts Of Europa, is out on June 21 via Prophecy.<\/p>\n

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