In a new interview with Viktor Wilt of Idaho’s KCVI radio station, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge was asked if he has already picked out a song from the band’s latest album, “Impera”, that is going to be marketed as the LP’s next single. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Short answer: yes. I just don’t know exactly… Sometimes there’s a difference between — obviously, you in radio know that — the songs that we release as singles and the ones that are singles that we push with a video and all that stuff. Right now I know what we’re hoping to do a little bit later in the year. Long story short, we’re making sort of a trilogy of videos for ‘Call Me Little Sunshine’, ‘Twenties’ [and] ‘Watcher In The Sky’. And that is sort of in the making. So it might be that that is sort of a different piece; that might be a different thing that comes out sort of separate to a radio campaign, whereas obviously we have our eye on what we’re gonna do towards the fall in terms of what song we’re making a video for right now and so forth.”

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 marks the third top 10 album — and fifth top 40-charting set — for the Swedish occult rock act.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

Of “Impera”‘s 70,000 units earned for the week, album sales comprise 62,500, SEA units comprise 7,000 (equaling 9.11 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 500.

“Impera”‘s first-week album sales surpass that of any other album in the 2022 tracking year so far. It also has the largest sales week for a rock or hard rock album since the debut of FOO FIGHTERS’ “Medicine At Midnight” in February 2021 (64,000).

“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.”

GHOST’s co-headlining tour with VOLBEAT kicked off on January 25 at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada and concluded on March 3 in Anaheim, California.

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”.

Photo credit: Mikael Eriksson

This week Demo:listen unearths the radioactive decomposition of Phoenix-based brutal death quartet Nuclear Remains.
The post Demo:listen: Nuclear Remains appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

NONPOINT will embark on a U.S. tour this spring. The “Taken Apart And Put Back Together” trek will kick off on May 20 in Flint, Michigan and will make stops in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, among others, before concluding on June 25 in Cumberland, Maryland.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, April 1 at Nonpoint.com.

Tour dates:

May 20 – Flint, MI – The Machine Shop *Nonpoint Only
May 21 – Inwood, WV – Shiley Acres *Supporting Black Label Society
May 27 – Green Bay, WI – Epic Event Center
May 28 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave II
May 29 – Minneapolis, MN – Caboose
May 31 – Fargo, ND – The Hall @ Fargo Brewing Company
June 01 – Minot, ND – The ‘O’ Riginal Bar & Nightclub
June 03 – Billings, MT – Pub Station
June 04 – Spokane, WA – The Big Dipper
June 05 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theater
June 07 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
June 09 – Reno, NV – Peavine Taphouse
June 10 – Roseville, CA – Goldfield Trading Post
June 11 – Fresno, CA – Strummers
June 12 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst – Atrium
June 14 – Mesa, AZ – Nile Theater
June 15 – West Hollywood, CA – Whisky A-Go-Go
June 16 – Las Vegas, NV – Backstage Bar
June 18 – Denver, CO – Oriental Theater
June 19 – Wichita, KS – Temple Live
June 21 – Springfield, MO – Outland Ballroom
June 22 – Bloomington, IL – Castle Theater
June 24 – Lexington, KY – Manchester Music Hall
June 25 – Cumberland, MD – Rock The Mountains *Nonpoint Only

NONPOINT launched its independent record label 361 Degrees Records LLC in January 2021. They filmed the process of starting the label and making new music in a docu-series titled “A Path To Independence” that can be seen on the band’s YouTube and official web site.

In a recent interview with “HRH Metal With Dan Chan”, NONPOINT singer Elias Soriano said that the group’s decision to go it alone has resulted in “less anxiety and more anxiety,” adding that he has “a team” of “people that are professionals in place” to run the business for him and his bandmates.

“I’m not a neophyte when it comes to the overall scope and understanding of the music industry, but I know when to get the hell out of the way and let someone else steer the ship,” he said.

Asked what he misses about having a bigger label behind his band, Soriano said: “The relationships and the friendships. It’s fun working with a team that you know everyone around the corner is a professional. That definitely gives less anxiety. But you see, even the staff, they feel the same kind of restriction. They wanna go harder; they wanna spend more money — you know they want to — but they have people to answer to.”

As for how he balances the business and the creative side of being in a band, Elias said: “It’s not easy but we’re doing it, and that’s what matters. And the product that’s coming out is better than ever. It’s a lot of fun. It really is. I’m having fun doing this.”

In December, NONPOINT released the official music video for its new song “Back In The Game”. The track is taken from the band’s latest EP, “Ruthless”, which was also made available the same day.

In 2021 alone, NONPOINT’s song “Ruthless” reached #16 on Billboard’s Rock chart and was featured on the New Metal Tracks and Kickass Metal Playlist on Spotify with over 1.6 million combined subscribers, SiriusXM Octane’s Big Uns Countdown, LA Lloyd Top 30 and Loudwire Nights. “Ruthless” was also the featured track on AEW’s nationally televised event “Blood And Guts” on TNT in May 2021. “Ruthless” has reached over 3.5 million streams. Now NONPOINT’s fan-voted cover of Prince’s “When Doves Cry”, at over 1 million streams, has quickly become a fan favorite, from the crowd applause at shows to their support and momentum online.

NONPOINT’s songs “Bullet With A Name”, “Alive And Kicking”, “In The Air Tonight”, “Circles”, “Your Signs”, “Everybody Down” and many others have been featured in trailers, hit movies, television, iconic video games, as well as broadcasts from NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WWF.

NONPOINT has toured with major acts like DISTURBED, PAPA ROACH, MUDVAYNE and SEVENDUST, to name a few. They have also been featured on the main stages and support stages of iconic festivals like Soundwave, Rock Am Park, Rock Am Ring, Ozzfest, Rock On The Range, Welcome To Rockville and many more.

Photo credit: Francesca Ludikar