The breakout success of Ghost’s EP this week has proven how legitimately popular (popeular?) they are. Any artist that can surprise-release an EP and still sell 20,000 copies of it deserves kudos regardless of genre. And while some may dismiss the band as a gimmick, even if they are a bit gimmicky, it’s obviously paying off in a big way. And with their Popestar tour happening as you read this, the band aren’t going to sit back afterwards and bask in the glow of their Grammy win. In fact, they’ve already gotten pretty deep into recording the proper follow-up to Meliora. In addition to the four covers, we’ve already gotten a new song in the form of “Square Hammer.” One of the Nameless Ghouls spoke about it to Billboard:

It was conceived around the end of the conception of Meliora,” the Ghoul recalls. “I guess there was a moment there where it was like, ‘Oh, shit, I have a new song,’ but then ‘forget it,’ ’cause by then Meliora had already been hammered out, as the conceptual aspect of it was already in place, and ‘Square Hammer’ felt like a different song. And also knowing that you don’t have to blow your load every time. If you have something you can sit on it — sit on your load, man! So we basically saved it until a rainy day, and that rainy day came a few months later and we recorded it.”

The Ghoul also spoke about Meliora‘s follow-up:

“We haven’t really started the pre-production yet, but I am very far into the writing,” the Ghoul says. “I’m usually piling stuff up, and then by the time it comes to pre-production, that’s when you start going through it and see what you have. I think that we have a pretty good idea of what we’re doing next, but once we start recording I usually get very inspired and work a lot faster.”

2017 – new Mastodon, new Steel Panther, maybe new Tool and now new Ghost? Things are looking up. Check the band’s tour dates out here.