GHOST collaborates with DEF LEPPARD's JOE ELLIOTT on new version of 'Spillways'
26-01-2023
GHOST released a new version of their song “Spillways” featuring a guest appearance by DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott. “Spillways” is taken from GHOST‘s fifth album, “Impera”, which was released in March 2022. The band released lyric video to go with the release of the single.
Watch official lyric video for the song “Spillways ft Joe Elliot” below.
Watch the announcement of the collaboration between GHOST and JOE ELLIOTT below.
“Spillways” is taken from GHOST‘s fifth album, “Impera”, which was released in March 2022.
Last year, GHOST mainman Tobias Forge told Metal Hammer magazine that he thought DEF LEPPARD was “great” and added that “going into (‘Impera’), I thought I would see if I could do it a little more like DEF LEPPARD did it.”
For his part, Elliott told Metal Hammer in April 2022 that he was introduced to GHOST‘s music through DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen. “He said, ‘Here, have you heard about this band GHOST? It’s like this kind of Scando goth-metal but with brilliant melodies.’ I went, ‘Well, that’s an oxymoron, ’cause it’s usually (makes unintelligible singing noise like someone vomiting in a bucket).’ But he played me something — a couple of minutes each of a few songs. I was really intrigued, so I asked him to Dropbox me the new album. I listened to it all, and I thought it was absolutely stunning. It’s like a whole new genre of music — it’s way more TOTO than death metal or any of that stuff. It’s like the song ‘Spillways’. It starts off like ‘Hold The Line’ by TOTO or ‘Jane’ by JEFFERSON STARSHIP — one of those classic ’70s songs that begin on the piano before these big, chunky chords come in.”
At the time, Joe said that “Impera” had been his “go-to album” for at least a couple of weeks. I’ve got it downloaded on to my Apple Watch so I can march away and listen to it. I’ve only got a few albums on there, and GHOST are one of them.”
Asked if he had been approached by GHOST for a collaboration, Joe said: “Not yet. Maybe they will. We’ve got (country singer) Alison Krauss on our new album, we did stuff with Taylor Swift 10 years ago. We’re not scared of collaborating with anybody.”
GHOST‘s last album “Impera” 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. The 12-song effort was produced by Klas Åhlund and mixed by Andy Wallace.
Watch the previously released official lyric video for the song “Mary On A Cross”. below.
According to the RIAA, one equivalent song unit is equal to a single digital song sale, or 150 on-demand audio and/or video streams.
“Mary On A Cross” was the fourth GHOST single to achieve gold status this year. This past June, “Cirice” (from GHOST‘s third album, 2015’s “Meliora”),“Dance Macabre” (from 2018’s “Prequelle”) and “Square Hammer” (from 2016’s “Popestar” EP) were also certified gold. These marked GHOST‘s first RIAA certifications.
In September, GHOST scored its first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Mary On A Cross”. The song, which was originally released as a two-track single in 2019 via Loma Vista/Concord (alongside “Kiss The Go-Goat”),debuted at No. 90 on the chart with six million U.S. streams and 1,000 downloads sold, according to Billboard.
“Mary On A Cross” had been gaining traction after a TikTok user used a slowed down version of the song to soundtrack a short video about the Netflix show “Stranger Things”. Since then, the “Mary On The Cross” hashtag has amassed over one billion TikTok views and the song was used to soundtrack tens of thousands of videos on the platform. GHOST later released the official slowed down version of “Mary On A Cross” with added reverb.
Six of GHOST‘s albums have charted on the Billboard 200: “Infestissumam” (No. 28, 2013); “If You Have Ghost” EP (No. 87, 2013); “Meliora” (No. 8, 2015); “Popestar” EP (No. 16, 2016); “Prequelle” (No. 3, 2018); and “Impera” (No. 2, 2022). Nine GHOST songs have charted on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, with five reaching No. 1: “Square Hammer” in 2017; “Rats” in 2018; “Dance Macabre” in 2019; and “Hunter’s Moon” and “Call Me Little Sunshine” in 2022.
In September, GHOST scored its first-ever Top 40 single in the U.K. with “Mary On A Cross”.
GHOST‘s fifth album, “Impera” 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.
GHOST leader Tobias 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.”
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”.
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.”
“Impera” track listing:
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.
Also watch the previously released singles “Spillways”, “Twenties”, “Hunter’s Moon” and “Call Me Little Sunshine” below.
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