In Review: Ghost - "Impera"

 

You've got to hand it to Ghost (more accurately, Tobias Forge and his rotating cast of Nameless Ghouls); when they go after a motif, they go all the way after it. Their first four records took the blackened blueprint of Satanic metal (which, as it turns out, is Ghost's seemingly eternal curse) and stretched the sound to what one could assume are the absolute outer limits. With each subsequent release up to and including 2018's Prequelle, each record has its own distinct hallmarks; Opus Eponymous found them at their most classic metal-leaning, Infestissumam was their psychedelic Sabbath record, Meliora saw them give in to their most riff-centric and melodic tendencies, while Prequelle blew out their sound to its most cinematic and accessible state yet.

Of course, as soon as you're told you're metal by the gatekeepers, you dare not step outside of your box lest incur the wrath; in just over a decade, Ghost has gone from leaders of a new generation of metal to hot garbage in the eyes of some within the more toxic element of the metal community. It's really quite silly that so many feel so protective over a genre of music, to the point of casting out bands they love at the first sign of artistic growth or the slightest softening of sound; this is, in my opinion, the number one reason the world at large doesn't take metal all that seriously.

Anyway, I digress; Ghost's fifth album, after such an interesting arc, adds yet another shift in tone. Whereas there's always been a healthy dose of campiness in what they do, on Impera Ghost lean into their campiness full force; from the arpeggios, pick slides and falsetto howl that opens Kaisarion, it's made clear immediately that this record is taking cues from hard rock/metal's cheesier touchstones. That song does a lot of heavy lifting in its five minutes, going through several changes and setting the tone for the album.

An early highlight is Spillways, opening with a stabbing piano melody that recalls Cold As Ice (yes, by Foreigner) before unfolding into perhaps the album's stickiest chorus. It's this song that most openly reveals Forge's gift for crafting big pop moments; you know, the kind that get you called trash by the same people who once championed you. After this, we get the pair of singles that first announced Impera's arrival, the dark and unsettling Call Me Little Sunshine and the slasher soundtracking Hunter's Moon; while the former has rather grown on me, I admit that neither single impressed me at the same level some of their bigger singles (say, Cirice, Square Hammer or Dance Macabre) did. The first half closes out with Watcher In the Sky, which goes back to the noodly '80s prog metal of the album's beginning; that said, the harmonies are very strong on this one, and as a result it comes off less cheesy than Kaisarion (although it does feature a classic '80s long, long fade out).

Impera's B-side starts out decidedly darker, opening with the mournful interlude Dominion and the crunchy, nasty, horns-garnished Twenties (which, with its key changes, weird backing vocals and speak-singing, is probably the oddest single Ghost has ever released); I'm still not completely sold on it, even with that sick solo. Darkness At the Heart of My Love, meanwhile, is sinister in tone even while transforming into an organ-and-guitar soaked power ballad; you can hear it on early '90s rock radio alongside, say, Saigon Kick (sorry, can't help but reach for some glam metal street cred with that reference). That's followed by the soaring and unabashedly harmonic Griftwood, which makes me wonder if there's such a thing as spandex priest's robes for the band to wear during performances (super tight and designed with the offset lines from Eddie van Halen's signature axe, of course); I swear I mean that in the most complimentary way, because it absolutely rips.

This leaves the album's closer; Respite On the Spitalfields, stretching to over seven minutes with its lead-in interlude, carries references to Jack the Ripper lyrically while pulling out all the late-'80s power ballad stops. As someone who first fell in love with music during the rise of so-called hair metal, hearing little callbacks to classic stuff like Whitesnake's Still of the Night in the bridge are the cherry on top for a song that was well on its way to being my favourite song on the album before it even got to the Whitesnake section (and hey, while we're at it have another long, long fade out because the party never ends). 

Having said all of this I recognize that Impera, with all of its '80s throwbacks and amplified campiness, is much less likely to resonate with younger fans who never connected with the Def Leppards and Mötley Crües of the world; furthermore, I feel like once the nostalgic glow wears off, I'll probably be returning to Impera less often than Meliora or Prequelle. In this way, it does feel like ever so slightly a step back for Ghost, although I had fun with it and I'm left wondering what kind of wild detours they might have in store for us next time. Maybe they'll enter their Meat Loaf phase?

March 11, 2022 • Loma Vista

Highlights Spillways • Griftwood • Respite On the Spitalfields