Hard for me to rank Meliora, Prequelle and Impera. All three are fantastic.
I do remember when the debut came out. I, too, really enjoyed it. But I generally agree with Buddy on the improvements in the songwriting department that came with the later records. I’ve stated it more than once on these pages, but to me Ghost really went next level when they fully embraced the full gamut of their influences, including pop. In a way, some of that was there on the first album, but then all of these influences truly come together. And that resulted in something special, imo. Is it incredibly catchy? Yes. Not afraid to be POPular? Sure. But awesome. And it seems to me that Tobias has a genuine love for the classics of rock and metal too. Just listen to the guitar arrangements on Impera. There’s so much nifty stuff going on under the surface.
Anyway- if I were to pick one record that is a more obvious step down, that would be Infestissumam…not bad by any means, but not quite as effective as the debut, and not quite “there” for what Ghost was becoming…