"I’M JUST ABOUT AN ABLE GUITAR PLAYER – I PEAKED A LONG TIME AGO!”
Over the last decade, no new band has taken the world by storm quite like Swedish occult rockers Ghost. The group – masterminded by core songwriter and founder Tobias Forge, who is backed by a revolving door of ‘Nameless Ghouls’ – have gone from performing at London’s 500-capacity Underworld to headlining at the O2 Arena.
Ghost’s debut album Opus Eponymous, released in 2010 on cult stoner label Rise Above, won them fans far and wide for its devilishly melodic doom, drawing comparisons to Blue Öyster Cult and The Doors alongside heavier influences like Black Sabbath. But it was their second album Infestissumam that saw them introduce bigger productions with more complex musical structures and arrangements, a tradition which continued through third and fourth records Meliora and Prequelle to further critical acclaim.
New album Impera was recorded at Stockholm’s Atlantis Studio with Meliora producer Klas Åhlund behind the desk and Opeth virtuoso Fredrik Åkesson hired to track acoustic, rhythm and lead guitars. It’s undoubtedly the sound of Ghost at their most technically ambitious, with some truly breathtaking fretwork at the forefront of some of their catchiest songs to date.
“I guess what makes my work different to
