- Country: Sweden
- Style: Hard rock / Heavy metal
- Label: Loma Vista Recordings
- Release date: 11 March 2022
Ghost’s fifth album is their glossiest yet, and also their least metal. Klas Åhlund produced it and Andy Wallace mixed it, so Impera sounds enormous, every guitar lead polished to a mirror finish and every chorus built for an arena roof.
When it works, it’s irresistible. “Kaisarion” is a galloping, Eighties-flavoured rocker with a riff that sounds like it was written for a stadium in 1986. “Spillways” leans straight into power-pop and gets away with it on sheer melody, and “Call Me Little Sunshine” is the album’s darkest, most hypnotic moment.
The problem is the length. Twelve tracks feels padded, and “Twenties”, with its stomping, half-shouted delivery, splits listeners right down the middle. Some will call it a bold left turn. Others will skip it every time. Ghost have earned the right to take risks, but the second half of Impera could have used a tighter edit.
Best tracks:
Kaisarion
Spillways
Call Me Little Sunshine
Author’s rating: 8.2/10
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