SPIRIT OF ALCHEMY
IN STORES WORLDWIDE APRIL 9:TH 2021
“Spirit of Alchemy”
The mighty Johan Kihlberg´s Impera is back with their heaviest album to date. Beside the exciting new approach, “Spirit of Alchemy” features some of the most prominent players from the Swedish rock scene.
Johan Kihlberg´s Impera is the brainchild of Stockholm born drummer Johan Kihlberg, who formed the band in 2011 after having worked in the music business for over 30 years, performing with members from legendary acts such as Kiss, Thin Lizzy, Europe, Rainbow and Mötley Crüe. After five Impera releases, including the original soundtrack for the short movie “The rage”, mastermind Kihlberg decided it was time to steer the music into a heavier direction.
Every album leading up to “Spirit of Alchemy” has been unique in the how Kihlberg has invited his noted friends from the international rock and metal community to add their magic to the songs. This time, the stellar musicianship comes courtesy of no less than bassist John Levén (who has been with Swedish hard rock titans Europe since its formation) and renowned drummer Snowy Shaw (who has a history with King Diamond, Mercyful Fate and Sabaton). The soaring vocals is brought to you by power house Jonny Lindkvist of Nocturnal Rites, while the stellar guitar wizardry once again is handled by Lars Chriss from Lion’s Share.
“Spirit of Alchemy” is an album full of focus and determination. The metal riffing in songs like the uptempo rocker “All about you” and the guitar picking that starts off the haunting “When souls collide” manage to sound both classic and futuristic at the same time. Even though Johan Kihlberg´s Impera’s new effort is rooted in the harder realms of rock, Kihlberg’s lifelong passion for atmospheric movie soundtracks once again shines through in the epic finale that is “Battle”.
Simply put; “Spirit of Alchemy” is sure to please both older and newer fans and push Johan Kihlberg´s Impera’s career to the next level.
Carl Linnaeus
Line-Up
Johan Kihlberg
John Leven
Snowy Shaw
Jonny Lindkvist
Lars Chriss
Kay Backlund
Mats Vassfjord
Pontus Egberg
ALBUMS
The Rage
Main Title
Dreaming
At the Gym
Fight Challenge
In The Cell
Fields
Breakout
Confrontation
Tank Assault
End Title
Age Of Discovery
Prelude
That´s The Way That Life Goes
Fear
Falling
The End Of The Road
Just A Conversation
The Right Stuff
Why Does She Care
I Am I
It’s A Revolution
Empire Of Sin
The Beast Is Dead
Evil (become A Believer)
Don’t Stop
Hole In The Sky
End Of The World
Thunder In Your Heart
Lights In The Sky
Darling
Lost Boy
Fly Away
Pieces of Eden
Beast Within
These Chains
All Alone
Smalltown Blues
Since You’ve Been Gone
Goodbye
Easy Come
You And I
This Is War
Fire And The Flame
Legacy Of Life
Turn My Heart To Stone
Kiss Of Death
Break The Law
Shoot Me Down
Sunset Rider
Tell Me
More Than Meets The Eye
Is This Love
Show Me The Money
Dead-end Street
VIDEOS
The Family
History
2018
After three albums with his band IMPERA, founding drummer Johan Kihlberg decided it was time to spread his wings, and the Swede came up with the idea to record his first solo effort, Johan Kihlberg’s Impera “Age Of Discovery”. “I felt this would give me the opportunity to spread my wings a bit and work with some other people,” Johan said. “I grew up with bands like KISS, QUEEN, ABBA and THE BEATLES, who were not afraid to have a wide range of styles on their albums. I’m obviously a hard rock fan at heart, but I’m also influenced by bands like SIMPLE MINDS, KRAFTWERK, MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND, HUMAN LEAGUE and many others. I’m also a huge fan of movies and movie soundtracks.”
The first person Johan approached was LION’S SHARE guitarist Lars Chriss, who is also a renowned producer and mixer. “Johan and I got together and started writing songs,” Chriss said. “He usually had an idea of the direction and we took it from there. We also had a couple of friends coming up with basic ideas for about half of the album. We had the luxury to cherry-pick the songs we thought would add to what we already had going. For lyrics and melodies we worked closely with singer Mick Devine of the band SEVEN, whom I’ve done a couple albums with the last couple of years. My old friend and LION’S SHARE keyboardist Kay Backlund stepped up to the plate and worked with us on a couple of tracks as well.”
Kihlberg and Chriss decided to work with several different singers on the project, while enlisting Kihlberg’s longtime friend and IMPERA bandmate Mats Vassfjord to lay down the bass tracks. “As soon as we had the songs written, we started thinking about what voice and singer that would fit each individual track the best,” Kihlberg said. “Fortunately, they all agreed and did an amazing job on the album. I even managed to get one of my all-time favorite singers, Michael Sadler from SAGA, to sing a song.”
Johan Kihlberg’s Impera “Age Of Discovery” features a wide range of musical influences while remaining a very strong, melodic and powerful album. It boasts great production work by Chriss and a stunning artwork by Carl-André Beckston.
Line-up: Johan Kihlberg – Drums/Keyboards; Lars Chriss (Lion’s Share)- Guitars; Mats Vassfjord (220 Volt) – Bass; Michael Sadler (Saga) – Lead & Backing Vocals on 8; Göran Edman (Yngwie Malmsteen, John Norum) – Lead & Backing Vocals on 6; Mick Devine (Seven) – Lead Vocals on 3, 5, 9 – Backing Vocals on 3, 7, 9, bonus track; Nigel Bailey (Bailey) – Lead Vocals on 7, 10, bonus track – Backing Vocals on 5, 10 ; Nils Patrik Johansson (Lion’s Share, Astral Doors) – Lead & Backing Vocals on 2, 3; Michael J. Scott – Lead & Backing Vocals on 4; Mattias IA Eklundh (Freak Kitchen) – solo on 9; Kay Backlund (Lion’s Share) – Keyboards on 1, 3, 6; Anders Rybank (Coastland Ride) – Keyboards on 8
Produced by: Johan Kihlberg & Lars Chriss
Mixed by: Lars Chriss for www.noterious.eu
Mastered by: Mike Lind
Artwork by: Carl André Beckston
PRESS
“Spirit of Alchemy”
The mighty Johan Kihlberg´s Impera is back with their heaviest album to date. Beside the exciting new approach, “Spirit of Alchemy” features some of the most prominent players from the Swedish rock scene.
Johan Kihlberg´s Impera is the brainchild of Stockholm born drummer Johan Kihlberg, who formed the band in 2011 after having worked in the music business for over 30 years, performing with members from legendary acts such as Kiss, Thin Lizzy, Europe, Rainbow and Mötley Crüe. After five Impera releases, including the original soundtrack for the short movie “The rage”, mastermind Kihlberg decided it was time to steer the music into a heavier direction.
Every album leading up to “Spirit of Alchemy” has been unique in the how Kihlberg has invited his noted friends from the international rock and metal community to add their magic to the songs. This time, the stellar musicianship comes courtesy of no less than bassist John Levén (who has been with Swedish hard rock titans Europe since its formation) and renowned drummer Snowy Shaw (who has a history with King Diamond, Mercyful Fate and Sabaton). The soaring vocals is brought to you by power house Jonny Lindkvist of Nocturnal Rites, while the stellar guitar wizardry once again is handled by Lars Chriss from Lion’s Share.
“Spirit of Alchemy” is an album full of focus and determination. The metal riffing in songs like the uptempo rocker “All about you” and the guitar picking that starts off the haunting “When souls collide” manage to sound both classic and futuristic at the same time. Even though Johan Kihlberg´s Impera’s new effort is rooted in the harder realms of rock, Kihlberg’s lifelong passion for atmospheric movie soundtracks once again shines through in the epic finale that is “Battle”.
Simply put; “Spirit of Alchemy” is sure to please both older and newer fans and push Johan Kihlberg´s Impera’s career to the next level.
Carl Linnaeus
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