[2] Prequelle is the fourth studio album by Ghost, and the first to be recorded since the band's leader was officially confirmed to be Tobias Forge.

[3][4] Forge stated that in contrast to the "very, very lavish, stupid sort of procedure" used to record the previous album Meliora, they "streamlined down a lot of things" for Prequelle.

[6] Three singles were released for the album, "Rats" on 13 April 2018 (Nominated for 'Best Rock Song' at the 61st Grammy Awards), "Dance Macabre" on 18 May 2018, and "Faith".

[5][3] He wanted to make a record about the Plague and the Black Death, which led to one-third of the population of Europe dying.

[3] In another plague reference, "Dance Macabre" aims to capture a "joyous nocturnal sort of life in a disco song", such as people excessively partying because they know they are going to die.

He and Meliora producer Klas Åhlund played with the idea of having a "sort of Brian May guitar symphony" with it on that album, but did not have the time.

Feeling it would make a good start for a new song, Forge transcribed the notes from his demo, which was done with strings on a keyboard, and sent it to a conductor who recorded it in finality.

Their strengths – including one for imitation – are fully assembled and focused in an exercise of irresistible arena rock excess without sounding like a pastiche.

"[13] Metal Injection's Cody Davis cited "Dance Macabre" as the album's best track, but found the songs that follow it to be hit or miss.

wrote that the album "expertly builds momentum, only to be bogged down by uninspiring tracks" and suggested that "With a bit better pacing and fewer drawn-out moments between songs, the record could have been the best of their career.