Ghost's 'Impera' - Album Review

It is amazing how quickly you can do a U-turn on something. Despite it not always being easy to do, I generally try to be open-minded - even regarding things which I have previously dismissed for whatever reason. As someone who constantly likes to discover new music, being open-minded is important. Few things are as divisive as music, and whether you like a band or not is a personal choice - and often a choice that we make subconsciously. As such, bands choose us rather than the other way around - and only someone who is trying to 'fit in' or cultivate a specific image for themselves would say that they enjoyed a band which they actually did not really like. Despite this, though, there are often bands that we consider that we should like, based on our wider tastes, but do not for whatever reason. For many years, one such band for me was Ghost. I remember when the Swedish band's debut album, Opus Eponymous, was released in 2010 as it started to gain traction pretty quickly. I remember listening to a couple of songs from it around this time too, but they did nothing for me. I tried again when Infestissumam was released in 2013 but, again, nothing grabbed hold. At this point I decided that Ghost were probably just not for me, and stopped making the effort - but their meteoric rise was impossible to ignore. They seemed to get bigger with each album, and it was great to see a new band doing so well - even if they were one that I personally had no connection with. Despite never getting into their music at the time, I always liked their image and general vibe. It was clear that main man Tobias Forge likes a lot of classic rock and metal from the 1970s and 1980s, and the theatricality of Ghost was a bit of a throwback to many of the great bands of those eras. Something changed for me in 2018, however, and that was the release of Rats - ahead of Ghosts fourth album Prequelle (which I reviewed here), which came out in the June of the same year. I am not sure why I decided to click on the link to the song's video, but I am glad that I did. It was the first Ghost song that I connected with, and I enjoyed Prequelle a lot when it followed a few months later. Since then I have amassed the whole Ghost catalogue, have seen them live, and will be travelling up to Birmingham tomorrow to see them again. I think that it is fair to say that I have U-turned on Ghost, although I have to admit that Opus Eponymous still does not do that much for me.

The reason for this preamble, however, is the fact that Ghost have recently released their fifth studio album. Impera, which came out last month, was recorded throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and builds upon the more overtly-melodic sound that made Prequelle such a success. There is little of band's early mystique left at this point, but Impera still very much sounds like Ghost - and, in fact, it seems to re-introduce some of the 1970s occult vibes that were generally absent from Prequelle. For me, it sounds like the perfect mix of Prequelle and 2015's Meliora - with the pop accessibility of the former and the compositional nous of the latter. As usual with Ghost, it is hard to know exactly who contributed to Impera - beyond Forge of course. Guitarist Fredrik Åkesson (Talisman; Krux; Opeth), drummer Hux Nettermalm, and keyboardist Martin Hederos (The Soundtrack of Our Lives) are all credited in the album's booklet, but it hard to know the extent of their contributions - and it is likely that many others also played on Impera. As always, however, Forge is the mastermind behind the whole thing - and his signature style is all over the album's 12 tracks. Impera is made up of nine 'proper' songs and three short instrumentals; and it is the first of these shorter pieces, Imperium, that opens things up. The song starts slowly, with a simple acoustic guitar melody, before a marching snare drum and some mournful guitar leads join in. It gradually grows in stature over its 90-odd second length, and it has an understated grandness that perfectly gives way to the opening Rush-inspired guitar melodies of Kaisarion - the first 'proper' song here. The song's intro has strong The Spirit of Radio vibes in my opinion, although a big vocal scream from Forge also brings a lot of early 1980s metal to mind. The Rush comparisons only really apply to the song's intro, though, as once the verse takes over it becomes much more of a chugging track - with a strong rhythm guitar presence and a big snare sound that punches its way out of the speakers. Despite the plethora of hooks to be found throughout, it is a song that took a few listens for me to fully appreciate - which I find is common with Ghost's work. The opening guitar melodies really hooked me from the off, but the chorus took a few goes - but now I think it is a really strong moment. There is a heaviness to the track which is not always present throughout the album, too, and there is a reason that the band have been opening with it on their on-going tour this year.

Some Ghost songs, however, hit from the off. They generally come from the poppiest end of the band's work, and the extreme earworm Spillways is one that I knew was going to be a hit. From the Survivor-esque keyboard opening, the song is just hook after hook - with the heaviness of the opening cut stripped away to allow the song to really revel in the Prequelle sound. Despite the poppiness, though, the song is extremely well crafted. It feels more mature in a way than many of the similar songs on Prequelle, and some of the vocal melodies hark back to Ghost's older albums - whilst maintaining the smoothness that the band have adopted in recent years. The chorus is one of the album's best, and it soars like an AOR hit of the 1980s, whilst the shredded guitar solo is packed full of melody and 1980s-esque guitar hero antics. Call Me Little Sunshine loses some of the pop sheen from the previous song, and takes on more of an occult rock vibe that harks back to the band's earlier albums. There is a strong Meliora vibe to the song, and there is little of the brightness of the band's recent work. It is based around a great hypnotic guitar melody whilst Forge's thin voice croons atop in his inimitable style. The same guitar melody forms the basis for the choruses too, but a punchy pre-chorus provides something of a break with some crashing snare rolls and plenty of big vocal harmonies. Despite the old-school Ghost sound on display here, the song is still extremely melodic. It is instantly catchy, and the hypnotic guitar line is sure to be playing on repeat in the brain after only a couple of listens. Hunter's Moon is similar, and the Meliora vibes are retained throughout. The song was originally released last year on the soundtrack to the film Halloween Kills, and it is a great mix of haunting and heavy. The opening sections are similarly hypnotic to Call Me Little Sunshine, but the song becomes much crunchy as it moves along. The forgoes a proper chorus, and instead has a single lyrical refrain which accompanies a great guitar riff that acts as the song's main melodic hook. When I first heard the song I was disappointed at the lack of a proper chorus, but now I am more familiar with the piece I like how the riff acts as a chorus. It is another musical motif that easily sticks in the brain, and it allows the song to become one of the heavier pieces here - and bring the old Ghost sounds to the fore again.

Watcher in the Sky is also on the heavier side, but is overall a great mix of 1980s-style melodic metal and pop hooks. The song's main riff might be my favourite on the album, as it sounds like something Jake E. Lee would have written for Bark at the Moon or The Ultimate Sin with its mix of strident power chords and snappy runs. The verses are mid-paced, with punchy drums and lots of rhythm guitar presence, whilst the choruses re-use the opening riff along with a strong organ backing - which Forge sings a hooky refrain atop. This chorus is so easy to latch onto, and I really like how the song essentially retains its metal credentials throughout. There is no downtime here really, and the track is one of the crunchiest here - with plenty of guitar tricks to enjoy. Following the short, moody Dominion, which is packed full of keyboard drones and a slight regal touch, the strange Twenties kicks in. To me, Twenties is easily the most left-field piece here; and it goes for a rhythmic, heavy vibe that at times reminds me a little of System of a Down - but with more of a retro, organic sound. Forge's vocal melodies are unlike anything he has really done before, and he tackles the song in something of a pseudo-rap, spoken word style that sounds suitably creepy - given the bass-led music that sits behind him. This is very rhythmic piece, so the bass and the drums are high in the mix - and there is plenty of double bass grooves throughout, in what sounds like a mix of time signatures. It is not a song that will work for everyone, but I like the strangeness of it - and it adds some great grooves to the album. The album's sole ballad, Darkness at the Heart of My Love follows. At time of writing, it is the only song on the album that has not really clicked with me. It is certainly not a bad song, but for me it feels somewhat pieced together - so much so that the chorus does not really feel like it fits with the rest. I like how the song starts, with gentle guitar melodies and Forge's crooning voice, but the staccato drum crashes of the chorus disrupt the atmosphere for me. Later reprises of the chorus are somewhat smoother, but for me the heaviness could have been toned down significantly - which would have allowed the song to have relied more on its creepy atmosphere. There is still a lot of strong lead guitar work throughout the piece, and a nice atmospheric depth thanks to layers of keyboards, but there are elements of the track that still feel jarring to me - and it is my least favourite cut here as a result.

Griftwood gets the album truly back on track, however, and the overtly poppy vibes of Spillways return. It might not be quite as instantly-hooky as Spillways, but Griftwood is still built around a number of really strong hooks. There was clearly an attempt made, however, to keep the song feeling somewhat spooky too - and the balance between pop hooks and atmosphere works well. It is certainly balanced more heavily in the favour of the former - but there are shades of Meliora again throughout, such as some of the whispered vocal lines and the various guitar melodies that border again on the hypnotic. The bridge section that appears about two-thirds of the piece has an old-school Ghost vibe too, with its dense atmosphere and slower pace, but generally this is a song that goes for hooks in a big way. The chorus really sticks in the brain, and the song's guitar solo is full of fast-paced melodies harking back to the 1980s. The final short instrumental piece Bite of Passage follows, before the album's closing track Respite on the Spitalfields kicks in with a mid-paced drum beat and a Marillion-esque guitar melody. It is the album's longest song, at just shy of seven minutes - and it is another that mixes elements of both Meliora and Prequelle perfectly. It generally reminds me more of the former, though, as the song has a real atmospheric depth. It is an example of Forge's progressive songwriting tendencies; as the song is one that shifts in tone a number of times. Atmospheric sections are often punctuated with moments of heavy riffing - whilst the chorus has a real theatrical quality thanks to its epic melodies and soaring harmonies. Given that the song is the album's closer, it is fitting that everything here just sounds that little bit more over the top. The song was clearly written with sounding 'big' in mind, and every melody is lingered on just a little longer - and every harmony is just that little bit fuller. It works well to bring the album to a close - as it has the sense of wrapping everything up neatly. The album has a completeness to it as a result, and for me that is a big reason why Impera really works. Prequelle had a lot of great songs, but for me it never flowed that well as an album. Impera has built on Prequelle perfectly, however, and it really is a complete piece of work - and one that also reintroduces some of Ghosts older sounds back into the picture. Ghost in many ways keep getting better, and Impera may well be my favourite album of theirs so far. It is one that I can see myself listening to a lot this year, and I am really looking forward to hearing some of the songs live tomorrow.

The album was released on 11th March 2022 via Loma Vista Recordings. Below is the band's promotional video for Call Me Little Sunshine.