Review by Michael on March 17, 2022.

Ghost – I guess there are just two opinions that one can have. One is to absolutely adore them and the stuff they do and the other one is to hate them for some incomprehensible reasons. I have to admit that I have loved the band since their beginning when they released Opus Eponymous which was more heavy metal than everything else they did afterwards. Nevertheless the band around Papa Emeritus I-II, Cardinal Copia and now on Impera Papa Emeritus IV aka Tobias Forge in my opinion always released superb and entertaining albums and EPs / singles and never disappointed me although the last album Prequelle had to grow until it fully found a place in my heart.

So what about their newest output Impera? First of all the cover and the artwork in the booklet was created again by Zbigniew Bielak and is full of lovely designed little things that want to be discovered. If you liked the last ones, your eyes will not be disappointed. As the predecessor was lyrically about mortality and transience the band is confronting the listener now with the decline of world empires, tragic stories in the history of mankind and the decline going hand in hand with all this. This sounds quite visionary in times like these but we also all know that history repeats itself.

Now we have to talk about the music. After a slight calm acoustic intro the band starts with 'Kaisarion' which is a track that doesn't surprise too much. The song is groovy and catchy as hell with sweet melodies and riffing and very memorable vocals and choirs. It is a track which also could have had been on the albums before and that puts the listener into a good mood. 'Spillways' starts with an Abba-esque piano part and here the nameless ghouls around Tobias Forge start to play more soft melodic and cheesy music. Okay, here and there a guitar riff but this one slight at the border to pop music. But this also fits perfect into the whole frame. 'Griftwood' is another track which wraps up some blasphemous lyrics into some pop tunes. This track could also have been on a Boston or Journey album, like some of the others, too. Ghost really know how to write songs that still don't sound too kitschy but also almost unbearable cheesy songs that nevertheless keep attracting the listener to them. Maybe the one or the other remembers the good old Greek sirens. I guess Ghost is the modern resurrection of them.

On the other side there are these typical Ghost songs that spread this dark but nevertheless warm and somehow comfortable atmosphere with all the technical finesse in the arrangements of the songs. 'Call Me Little Sunshine' has a very dark and doomy basic riff which is kept quite simple but the refrain is so damn catchy and positive that this satanic message almost appears like a persiflage. 'Hunters Moon' is one of the best tracks on Impera in my opinion. Not that the guys do something really new here but they combine a lot of hard rock and pop elements into a very bombastic and memorable song which grows with every listen. And this is the same with the closer 'Respite On The Spitalfields'. Some hard rock tunes meet some 80s vibe and a lot of really heart-breaking guitar riffs that underline the sad message of farewell are quite impressive. I guess it has some similarities to 'Life Eternal' from their last album Prequelle.
But there is also a point of criticism on Impera. The introduction of 'Twenties', namely the short instrumental track 'Dominion' is a dramatic and well-done, almost cinematic piece of music but 'Twenties' is at least for me the weakest track on the album. Here you can find boring riffs that are quite repetitive and monotonous and the lyrics aren't that rousing as well.

So what is my conclusion about Ghost's fifth full-length? First of all I would say that the album is definitely a grower. You cannot open up the album within one or two listening sessions, it takes much more time to fully get into it but when you get that far, my guess is that you will fully appreciate the album. Though it is still not their magnum opus (and I am sure that this will come in the future) the band has taken a further step to a very big popularity. Who knows, maybe the next album will be mentioned in one breath with some Queen or ehem… Abba albums. What did Boston sing? More than a feeling…..

Rating: 9 out of 10 fallen empires

Review by Felix on November 6, 2019.

War, Total War. My homeland has made bad experience with a total war. But Sweden is the European country with the longest period of peace. Thus, some dudes from Stockholm thought it would be a nice idea to use these names for their band and the debut. Well, Dr. Goebbels said that "total war is shortest war", and the guys from Sweden are aware of this dogma of Germany's most hated propaganda minister. Their kind of total war lasts only 17 minutes - and even this is too long. It is rather a caricature of a war. I am sure that their parents were posers, otherwise this output would not suffer from this blatantly stereotyped wording.

Total War is primitive. Nothing else. People without taste may call it raw, aggressive, brutal or whatever they want to call it, but it is exclusively primitive. The first line of the first song is "Aaah, we are fucking war". Let me summarize: War, total war, fucking war. The totally unholy trinity of war is, of course, completely satanic, provocative and shocking. Too bad that this martial triad cannot compensate for compelling riffs, stirring leads and precisely designed like the opener "Satan" (another very subtle title) do not score with straightness. Their main feature is the absence of all that makes metal usually interesting. Okay, the band tries to deliver a minimum of diversification while changing the tempo during the following tracks. Yet this alone does not push the dudes on a higher level.

Despite the famous band members, Total War sounds amateurish. Just listen to the awkward fade-out of "Reapers of Satan" (yes, the fanciful song titles are the result of a long decision-making process). Death / black metal can be very exciting, and I think that I do not need to mention names like Necrophobic in this context. But Total War does not offer any fascinating riff and nothing leaves a long-lasting impact. Okay, maybe I want to make an exception. "I Am Elite" delivers a very rare asset, a modicum of melodies. I don't hate straight compositions, by no means, but I shit on noisy clumps. Furthermore, the name of the song is misleading, "I Am an Idiot" would have been much more correct in view of the fascist lyrics. Nevertheless, this marks the only track with a more or less gripping chorus and a pretty reasonable structure.

The mediocre riffs of the title track, the stupid hammering of "Revenge" and more or less any other detail tell us that the musicians spat out semi-finished songs which seem to be composed and recorded in less than two hours. And this is exactly what makes me angry. The faceless production is not worth mentioning and to be honest, the same applies for this parody of an extreme metal album. Five guys just play the brutal clowns. Give peace a chance.

Rating: 4.2 out of 10