It’s not a universal opinion, but each Ghost album so far has generally been considered to be better than the one before it. The band’s doom metal debut was good but niche, and its follow-up, Infestissumam, diversified its sound with tracks like “Year Zero.” Then “Cirice” from Meliora won a Grammy and Prequelle, its most recent album, got Ghost as close to the mainstream as a rock band can get these days.

Impera does not continue that trend. It’s an excellent album on par with Prequelle, but when a band has a history of constantly improving on itself, merely maintaining a high standard is a little bit of a letdown.

This is also the first Ghost album since Opus Eponymous without a truly standout single. “Year Zero,” “Cirice” and “Dance Macabre” were legitimate earworms with broad appeal, and though the first couple singles get close, no one track on Impera reaches that level.

That’s not to say Ghost doesn’t explore new sounds and genres. After the requisite intro, “Kaisarion” kicks off sounding downright like ’80s hair metal before settling into a more conventional Ghost sound. It’s certainly an attention-grabbing introduction to the meat of the album. It’s followed by “Spillways,” which sounds like it could have been recorded alongside Prequelle—that’s not a bad thing at all.

The next few tracks come closest to that breakout single. “Call Me Little Sunshine” is the album’s standout. It’s a fairly mainstream-sounding rock song, except for the signature sinister Ghost hook and lyrics about the devil.

It’s followed by “Hunter’s Moon,” which debuted over the end credits of the most recent “Halloween” movie. The band has gotten very good at putting its spin on various subgenres of rock, and this definitely sounds like its spin on a soundtrack song. That’s a very meta way to contribute to a soundtrack without breaking character.

“Watcher in the Sky,” a hard rocker, completes the standout trio of songs. A driving beat and grinding guitars aren’t common features of the band’s work, but it’s something it should definitely do more—it’s excellent.

After a brief interlude comes third single “Twenties.” It starts off great with a symphonic intro and the same driving hard rock feel as “Watcher in the Sky,” but once the singing comes in, it goes downhill. Worst of all, the chorus borders on annoying. That’s a shame because the lyrics are disturbingly appropriate to world events the band could not have foreseen when the song was written and recorded. Still, a falsetto is not always the right move.

Most interesting is “Darkness at the Heart of My Love,” which sounds like Ghost’s take on a soaring Imagine-Dragons-style alt-rock song. It has all the hallmarks of the genre but, again, being Ghost, this is about the devil. Whether you like this style or not, it’s always impressive how the band can jump so easily between sounds without losing its aural signature; that essence of its sound.

“Grift Wood” is an excellent return to Ghost’s recent baseline sound, while “Respite on the Spital Fields,” concludes the album with somewhat of a return to Ghost’s prog metal roots. Both are good deep album tracks.

Impera is a very good album. If it had followed Meloria, it would have been revelatory. The only thing holding it back is Ghost’s track record of success breeding exceptionally high expectations. It’s not fair to expect a steep climb in quality to continue forever, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a bit of a letdown when the band just continues its prior excellence.

If you’ve liked any previous Ghost song or album, you’ll love Impera. If you like hard rock or metal, you’ll love Impera. But if you’re a diehard Ghost fan, you should shed your expectations—so that you’ll love Impera.

Follow editor Daniel J. Willis at Twitter.com/BayAreaData.