GHOST Announces 'Impera' Album, Shares Music Video For New Single 'Call Me Little Sunshine'

Swedish occult rockers GHOST will release their fifth album, "Impera", on March 11 via Loma Vista/Concord. The official music video for the LP's latest single, "Call Me Little Sunshine", lensed by iconic director Matt Mahurin and starring Ruby Modine, can be seen below.

According to a press release, "Impera" "finds GHOST transported literally hundreds of years forward from the 14th century Europe Black Plague era" of its previous album, 2018's "Prequelle". "The result is the most ambitious and lyrically incisive entry in the GHOST canon: Over the course of 'Impera''s 12-song cycle, empires rise and fall, would-be messiahs ply their hype (financial and spiritual alike),prophecies are foretold as the skies fill with celestial bodies divine and man-made… All in all, 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."

Produced by Klas Åhlund and mixed by Andy Wallace, "Impera" consists of the following 12 songs:

01. Imperium
02. Kaisarion
03. Spillways
04. Call Me Little Sunshine
05. Hunter's Moon
06. Watcher In The Sky
07. Dominion
08. Twenties
09. Darkness At The Heart Of My Love
10. Griftwood
11. Bite Of Passage
12. Respite On The Spital Fields

"Hunter's Moon", which was originally released in September, is also featured in the latest blockbuster installment of the legendary film franchise "Halloween Kills". The "Halloween Kills" soundtrack arrived on October 15 via Sacred Bones, with the film hitting theaters (and Peacock) the same day as well.

"Hunter's Moon" plays as the "Halloween Kills" end credits roll, and will be released January 21 as a collectible seven-inch single by Loma Vista Recordings. "Hunter's Moon" can be streamed, purchased, and/or pre-ordered in its vinyl incarnation. The retail version of the seven-inch will feature the special B-side "Halloween Kills (Main Title)", performed, produced and engineered by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.

"Hunter's Moon" features OPETH's Fredrik Åkesson on guitar and THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES founder Martin Hederos on the piano. Producer Max Grahn and "A Ghoul Writer" are listed as the song's composers and lyricists.

In a recent interview with the KLAQ radio station, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge spoke about how the extraordinary world events of the last couple of years have served as an inspiration for the band's new material. He said: "The album that I have been working on, I came up with that concept years ago. We played in Seattle in 2013, 2014 — something like that — we played at Showbox At The Market. [Editor's note: The concert took place in April 2013.] I remember that day I came up with the idea for this record, this upcoming record. Because I got a book called 'The Rule Of Empires'. So, basically, I wanted to make a record about the rise and ultimately the unescapable fails and falls of empires. And an idea like that can take — at least me — quite far. So once you get that idea of, like, 'Oh, now I know what the pile is gonna look like. I know now what not to put in there.' And it was the same thing with [2018's] 'Prequelle' [album]; it was gonna be about the great death, a medieval, primordial threat of annihilation which was, I guess I wouldn't say carnal but maybe a tiny tad more spiritual and philosophical death, with the ever presence of actual termination, whereas this record about the empires was gonna be a little bit more practical, I guess; a little bit more, I don't wanna say political. So it wasn't really hard to be inspired by the last couple of years."

The book Forge referenced is apparently "The Rule Of Empires: Those Who Built Them, Those Who Endured Them, And Why They Always Fall", in which author Timothy Parsons gives a sweeping account of the evolution of empire from its origins in ancient Rome to its most recent twentieth-century embodiment. He explains what constitutes an empire and offers suggestions about what empires of the past can tell us about our own historical moment.

In March 2020, at final show of GHOST's "Prequelle" tour in Mexico City, Mexico, the band officially introduced Papa Emeritus IV, the new character who will front the act for its next LP phase.

Forge performed as a "new" Papa Emeritus on each of the band's first three LPs, with each version of Papa replacing the one that came before it. Papa Emeritus III was retired in favor of Cardinal Copia before the release of 2018's "Prequelle".

As previously reported, GHOST will be the featured musical guest on the Thursday, January 20 episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", airing at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.

Four months ago, GHOST announced a 26-date co-headlining U.S. arena tour with VOLBEAT and special guests TWIN TEMPLE, coming to cities including Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix. The trek will kick off on January 25 in Reno, Nevada and conclude on March 3 in Anaheim, California.