GHOST Shares Majestic Music Video For 'Spillways'

Swedish occult rockers GHOST have released a phantasmagorical music video for "Spillways", rendering the irresistible earworm of the band's latest single in majestic visual form courtesy of director Amir Chamdin.

GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge told Metal Hammer magazine about "Spillways": "This is an elegy for the darkness that most people have inside. When you have a dam, spillways are the run-offs so the dam won't overflow. That darkness inside us needs to find its way out."

"Spillways" is taken from GHOST's fifth album, "Impera", which sold 70,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked the third top 10 album — and fifth top 40-charting set — for the Swedish act.

"Impera" landed at position No. 1 in Germany and Sweden, No. 2 in the U.K., Netherlands, Belgium and Norway, No. 3 in Australia, No. 5 in France and Ireland, and No. 20 in Italy.

"Impera" was released on March 11. The 12-song effort was produced by Klas Åhlund and mixed by Andy Wallace.

Forge worked on the follow-up to 2018's "Prequelle" with Åhlund and Swedish co-writers Salem Al Fakir and Vincent Pontare, whose credits include Madonna and Lady Gaga.

Regarding his collaboration with Åhlund, Al Fakir and Pontare, as well as OPETH's Fredrik Åkesson who was brought in to sharpen the album's guitar attack, Forge recently told St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "I found that I can work really well with someone I respect, who is always pushing for the best. They make me want to write better, to get my game up a little."

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 is fronting the act for its "Impera" album 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 "Prequelle".

GHOST will embark on the next North American leg of "Imperatour" next month. The trek will see the Grammy Award-winning Swedish theatrical rock band headlining 19 arenas across the U.S. and Canada (plus an appearance at Virginia's Blue Ridge Rock Fest),kicking off August 26 at San Diego's Pechanga Arena and running through September 23 at the Resch Center in Green Bay. Support on all dates (with the exception of Green Bay which will feature support from CARCASS, and the Blue Ridge Rock Fest) will come from Grammy Award-winning band MASTODON and SPIRITBOX.

Photo credit: Ryan Chang