Driving home today my volume control got stuck on my car. Hopefully it is just a temporary glitch, but if not, at least it was turned up nice and high when it happened.
Disc 1592 is…. Impera
Artist: Ghost
Year of Release: 2022
What’s up with the Cover? In some cyclopean cathedral, a horde of Satan’s technicians work day and night to build a massive Papa Emeritus IV who will, no doubt, bring in a new era of darkness. A sort of “shipyard of terror” or something.
How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a Ghost fan for almost ten years but for whatever reason haven’t managed to roll any of their albums for review. Now it has been so long I can’t remember how I discovered them in the first place, but for “Impera” it is easy – I just bought their new album when it came out and hoped for the best.
How It Stacks Up: Including two EPs, I have seven Ghost albums, which is pretty much all of them. “Impera” lands at #4, or plumb in the middle.
Ratings: 4 stars
A few years ago I overheard a couple shopping in the metal section of the local record store. “How about ‘Ghost’?” asked the young woman making up half of the duo. Her young beau responded with a derisive, “Ghost isn’t metal.” I had a laugh under my breath, thinking that, despite his Comic Book Guy vibe, the guy was at least half right.
Ghost both is and is not metal. At their heaviest they have a definitive thump to them and are not strangers to a well-placed power chord. At the same time, they mostly occupy a space somewhere in anthemic hard rock, with a bit of artful harmony. The best equivalent I would say would be a latter-day Blue Oyster Cult, with the theatrical addition of Alice Cooper’s unknown progeny. Frequent readers will know this is high praise.
“Impera” is their latest album and after a much heavier foray on 2018’s “Prequelle” they opt for a lot more of the artful harmony side of things. These are songs that are meant for raising your arms in praise, with choruses that are catchy earworms; easy to remember, and inspiring to sing along with. The guitar is powerful, and the songs are buoyed by the clean streamlined production that I am an eternal sucker for.
Now, if you decide you want to do some singing along, you should know first that Ghost likes Satan, and they like him a lot. Songs like “Call Me Little Sunshine” are not about having a positive outlook on life, they are references to Lucifer. The lead singer is Papa Emeritus IV, with previous Papa Emerituses often being removed from the band for not being sufficiently Satanic.
At this point, lest I scare any with a timid heart, I should point out that the Satan thing is entirely an act (all the Papa Emerituses along the way are played by the same guy – the band’s principle songwriter and lead singer). I shall not name Papa, however, because Ghost is like professional wrestling; way more fun if you suspend your disbelief and just get into the theatre of it all.
That said, this band is a lot more than theatre. They make great music, and after a slight downturn with their previous record, on “Impera” they return to form. This album is chock full of anthemic glory. It isn’t the most creative thing the band has ever done (their early work has some serious prog elements) but it is so good at those soaring melodic structures that all its simplicity is not only forgiven but is cause for celebration. This is a record that will have you waving your lighter aloft by the second track, and not bring it down until the metal bit scalds you.
My favourite track on the record is “Call Me Little Sunshine” which combines a perfect guitar bit at the beginning with the heaviest thump on the album. This song will have you thinking of Ronnie James Dio at his Holy Diver heights. Songs like “Hunter’s Moon” and “Watcher in the Sky” will also have you reminiscing of the glory days of eighties metal, mixed with the creepy dissonance of late seventies Blue Oyster Cult. Ghost are masters at incorporating old school forms into their work and making it a celebration, rather than a heist.
This also makes “Impera” one of their most accessible albums and there is no sin in that. Sure earlier, weirder records like Meliora and Opus Eponymous are overall superior, but I found this latest entry in their catalogue an eminently enjoyable record to find yourself frozen on “loud” on an October drive home.
Best tracks: Kaisarion, Spillways, Just Call Me Little Sunshine, Hunter’s Moon, Watcher in the Sky, Darkness at the Heart of My Love
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