Instant Impressions: 'Impera' by Ghost

After four years that felt like a decade, Sweden’s premier metal act, Ghost, have returned with their fifth full-length studio album, Impera, the highly anticipated and long-awaited follow-up to 2018’s Prequelle. While Prequelle contained heavy themes of the Middle Ages/Black Plague, mortality, and survival, vocalist and mastermind Tobias Forge has stated that Impera is more focused on the idea of empires, primarily with their rise and eventual descent. The frontman has also cited several sources of inspiration, most notably the book The Rule of Empires: Those Who Built Them, Those Who Endured Them, and Why They Always Fall.

The album’s first single arrived last fall in the form of ‘Hunter’s Moon,’ a song that featured prominently on the soundtrack to slasher sequel Halloween Kills. The song felt like a one-off that was made for the movie, until the band made an announcement of Impera’s March release and revealed another single, ‘Call Me Little Sunshine.’ New songs were played on the road while the band was on a co-headlining tour with Volbeat (Ghost’s setlist opened with ‘Kaisarion,’ Impera’s second track, along with ‘Hunter’s Moon’), and another single, entitled ‘Twenties,’ was released on March 2nd.

Having been a fan of Ghost since 2015, shortly after the release of their third album, Meliora, it’s obvious that this has been an album I’ve been extremely excited for. For me, it feels like forever since Prequelle came out, so it’s nice to see a new cycle from the band and to hear some new songs. A press release from Ghost’s record label, Loma Vista Recordings, states, “the most current and topical Ghost subject matter to date is set against a hypnotic and darkly colorful melodic backdrop, making Impera a listen like no other – yet unmistakably, quintessentially Ghost.” Let’s see about that.

As I said earlier, this isn’t meant to be a review, there are already enough of those out there. Instead, these are just some quick thoughts I’ll be jotting down as a fan while I listen through this for the first time. I’ll be going track-by-track and writing down a couple bullet points that stick out to me for each song and giving my overall opinion at the end, so here we go:

1.     Imperium (1:40)

• Another instrumental intro like in Prequelle, but feeling a much different tone this time around
• Not as dark and heavy to start off, much brighter than Prequelle’s ‘Ashes’

2.     Kaisarion (5:02)

• Super fast-paced and upbeat from the jump
• Never heard Ghost this energetic, I like it
• Love the juxtaposition between the genial instrumentals but dark lyrics, especially in the pre-chorus (“It’s the truth of candor shown through the prism of deceit . . . It’s the tongue selling adulation that licks to no avail”
• 2:57-3:27, that’s more like the Ghost we’re used to. Somehow sounds like something new, but familiar
• THIS is how you start an album

3.     Spillways (3:16)

• Very poppy, more than anything else Ghost has done up to this point (yes, including ‘Dance Macabre’)
• Almost reminds me of a more musically cheerful version of ‘Absolution’
• My God, this is catchy
• Not used to this from Ghost but I’m loving it

4.     Call Me Little Sunshine (4:44)

• This sounds more like Ghost if I’m being honest, both musically and lyrically
• Big Meliora vibes from this one
• Musically it reminds me a little bit of ‘Majesty,’ lyrically like ‘Cirice’

5.     Hunter’s Moon (3:16)

• I know this song didn’t even play until the end credits, but I can’t listen to this without thinking of Halloween Kills
• Spoiler alert, the song is much better than the movie
• I love how it’s 2022 and Ghost is out here making bangers that feel like they’re straight from the 80s
• I feel like if ‘Dance Macabre’ was a little darker, then it would become this song

6.     Watcher in the Sky (5:48)

• One of Ghost’s best talents is being cohesive with an album. While each song sounds independent from each other, they flow together seamlessly from track to track when you’re listening straight through the album, and this new record is doing a great job with that. I’m probably getting ahead of myself since I’m only halfway through the album, but hopefully this continues
• The bridge and guitar solo is hands down the best part of this song in any and every way imaginable (the vocals and lyrics during the bridge, the arrangements of the solo, and then the way they transition between each section and head into the final chorus) *chef’s kiss*

7.     Dominion (1:22)

• Another instrumental, feels like a shift is coming
• Love the classical instruments

8.     Twenties (3:46)

• That intro already has me hooked
• Metal musicians, please have more horns and reeds in your music. Sincerely, a former band geek
• This isn’t my favorite song on the album, nor is it the most catchy in my opinion, but I feel like the chorus is going to be stuck in my head for a long time for some reason
• 2:42-3:10, beautiful

9.     Darkness at the Heart of My Love (4:58)

• (Another) pretty different sound for Ghost
• It’s times like these I think of how far they’ve come from their first couple albums. It’s almost like two different bands, both of them great, but still
• I love how versatile this band is

10.  Griftwood (5:16)

• I know I’m making a lot of comparisons here, but hear me out: does this not sound like a brighter version of Prequelle’s ‘Witch Image?’ Am I tripping?
• Good lord, I can’t get over how great these guitar harmonies are
• Didn’t realize this song needed a key change at the end, but I’m so glad they went with it

11.  Bite of Passage (0:31)

• Ah yes, another instrumental (we love instrumentals)
• Really dig the title (we also love wordplay)
• Can’t really say much about this because it’s only 30 seconds, but I honestly wish it was a little longer because good lord I love how it sounds

12.  Respite on the Spitalfields (6:42)

• Oh, thank God this continues off of the last track
• Love the gradual buildup from the intro to the pre-chorus to the chorus
• It’s not fair how well these guys transition into musical breaks and solo sections, they’re just too good
• I don’t know how else to describe it, but this song just sounds and feels big. There are a lot of different layers musically, and it all comes together really well
• THIS is how you close an album

Personally, I really enjoyed this album and I had a great time with it. I appreciate how much the band has evolved and added to their arsenal from a musical standpoint, with the incorporation of more classical instruments and the expanding presence of the background vocals being two prime examples. However, I’ll be honest when I say I don’t know how the rest of Ghost’s fanbase will react to it. With every big rock and metal act, there comes a time where a band evolves too much for a fraction of their following’s taste, and those same ‘fans’ will begin to turn on them for expanding as musicians, with the term ‘sellout’ often being thrown around. It happened in 1965 when Bob Dylan went electric, in 1991 when Metallica released The Black Album, in 2006 when AFI released Decemberunderground, the list goes on and on. In all honetsly, the only band that could be exempt from this list is AC/DC because they’ve been doing the exact same thing for almost half a century, but I digress.

What I’m getting at is I feel like this album might be that turning point for Ghost. Prequelle definitely had its detractors, but something about Impera makes me feel like it’ll be the one that truly divides the fanbase. While there are familiar-sounding songs on here that can be compared to those from previous albums, the songs on here with sounds unique to this release are going to be a transition that some fans may not be ready for, which is fine, but that doesn’t make them bad songs either.

Metal elitists will want to stay away, but if your taste is more tolerant, then you should be able to find at least one song off of here that you like. As a fan of this band and this type of music, I do recommend checking it out and reading along with the lyrics here because the annotations help give a lot of context and meaning to what the songs (and even specific lines, in some cases) are about from Tobias Forge’s perspective when he was writing them. If you want to read even more of Forge’s insight on the writing of the songs, check out this track-by-track rundown by the man himself.

I’ll have to give it a few more listens, of course, but as far as first impressions go, the 3 songs that stuck out to me here were:

- Kaisarion

- Spillways

- Respite on the Spitalfields

Thanks for reading! If you liked this article and want to keep up with more from me, feel free to subscribe. Are you a fan of Ghost, or a new listener? Have you listened to Impera? What are your thoughts? Whatever your opinion is, let me know by leaving a comment