The new Ghost album, Impera, was released on March 11th and has been doing pretty well for the band. To assist the band on this new album, Ghost called in Opeth guitarist Fredrik Åkesson; according to Åkesson though, the Opeth guitarist says he had to turn things down a bit when working on music for the new Ghost album.
In an interview with Guitar.com, Åkesson said that his ideas for guitar solos were too over the top and had to be scaled back some to fit the band’s music.
Per Åkesson:
“It was very different [to recording with Opeth]. It was more of a session job. I thought I was going to be able to design a few solos but [Ghost frontman Tobias Forge and producer Klas Åhlund] thought they were over the top. I had to scale it down, with more melodic solos – more constructed. Tobias and Klas were very picky.
“I haven’t really done that kind of recording before, where I’m being so analyzed in everything I do. I didn’t have a problem with it; I thought it was pretty interesting.”
Though Åkesson had to turn things down, he says he had a good time recording the new Ghost album and would absolutely record with Ghost again. Per Åkesson:
“Yeah, definitely! In the end, I had a good time. I’m very picky also when I record stuff so I liked the focus on the details. I never put down so many layers of guitars in a recording before. Some tracks, there could be 16 channels of guitars. Some rhythm packs were, like, eight guitars. It was like craftsmanship, getting these massive walls of guitars done.”
What are your thoughts on the new Ghost album Impera? In other Ghost related news, the band recently played Jimmy Kimmel Live!. They performed one of the singles off of Impera, “Call Me Little Sunshine.” You can check out that performance for yourself by clicking the link below.
Watch: Ghost Perform “Call Me Little Sunshine” On Jimmy Kimmel Live!
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Words by: Michael Pementel
