NOTE: All photos of Priest taken by photographer Anders Sjöberg. Follow his Instagram for more great photos.
Priest is calling it quits. Or something, it’s all very confusing.
The masked synthpop band performed a concert in Gävle, Sweden, over the weekend that they called “the last 1.0 concert” and a “final mass.” During the show, lead singer Mercury removed his bondage-themed mask and revealed his face for the first time.
He looks strikingly similar to Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty from Blade Runner. Time to die.
On Facebook, Priest promises something new is coming. “See you in new forms!” they write.
This all sounds vaguely similar to the theatrics of Swedish metal band Ghost, whose lead singer dies on stage at the end of each tour and gets resurrected as a new character with each album cycle. Probably not a coincidence, some of the members of Priest were once “nameless ghouls” in Ghost. Ghost’s lead singer was unmasked himself when his former bandmates sued him.
Priest have actually made a fairly big splash in the dark synth scene. They’ve played a couple of big festivals and toured with Aesthetic Perfection.
They’ve released one album called New Flesh and an EP called Obey. Some of their best known tracks are “History in Black,” “Obey,” and “The Cross.” Here’s their latest, “Neuromancer.”
