{"id":23526,"date":"2015-01-23T00:00:39","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T00:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=23526"},"modified":"2015-02-03T20:10:38","modified_gmt":"2015-02-03T20:10:38","slug":"album-review-impera-empire-of-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-impera-empire-of-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"IMPERA – Empire Of Sin (2015) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

IMPERA
Empire Of Sin<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nEscape Music (2015)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

I have to admit to having been left just a touch unfulfilled by Impera\u2019s 2013 opus Pieces Of Eden<\/em><\/a>, but this new chunk of melodic metal has literally blown my socks off and reduced my feet to gory stumps.<\/p>\n

As far as supergroups and the coming together of talented musicians go, Impera is right up there with the best. With a line-up that features Matti Alfonzetti (vocals; Jagged Edge, Skintrade, Scott Gorham, Road To Ruin, Red White & Blues), Tommy Denander (guitar; Toto, Michael Jackson, Alice Cooper, Paul Stanley), Mats Vassfjord (John Corabi, Vinnie Vincent, Scaar, Grand Design) and band creator J.K. Impera (drums; John Corabi, Bruce Kulick and Vinnie Vincent), there was no way that Impera were going to leave be bereft a second time round.<\/p>\n

Empire Of Sin<\/em> brings to the table a solid rock album that is brim full of killer riffs, powerhouse vocals and feisty dynamics. The press release for this, the band\u2019s third full-length release, is quick to state that Empire Of Sin<\/em> is \u201cno nonsense, no fuzz… just rock \u2019n\u2019 roll\u201d<\/em>, but for me it\u2019s so much more. Impera is the sort of band that restores your faith in hard rock music. Having grown up on a diet of Lynch Mob, Blue Murder, Jagged Edge etc., it seemed that after the grunge invasion this good old-fashioned brand of weighty rock was destined for the delete bins, but what we soon came to realise is that bands like Impera are without trend and boundaries and will march on until the world has crumbled to dust.<\/p>\n

From the opening monster that is \u2018The Beast Is Dead\u2019 right through to the sizzling, swaggering strut of \u2018Fly Away\u2019 this is one honest hard rock album riddled with fantastic hooks, hard hitting drum nods and Alfonzetti\u2019s mercurial tones. These sorts of albums are so rewarding because of the amount of hard work put in, but when the finished product is revealed it just seems so effortless as the sublime guitars glide across the rumbling bass of Vassfjord, which in turn cavorts with J.K. Impera\u2019s drums. Indeed, it\u2019s quite a feat in the current climate for a band to carve out an album where every track is worth its weight in gold.<\/p>\n

The monolithic trudge of \u2018Evil (Become A Believer)\u2019 features some truly staggering guitar work and percussion so weighty to suggest menace. \u201cYou can\u2019t stop evil\u201d<\/em> warns Alfonzetti over a Led Zeppelin<\/a>-ish strut as the combo launches itself into an almost thrashy rattle before a sizzling solo takes over. Straight down the line heavy rock doesn\u2019t get much more bruising than this fizzing fiasco, but the album just keeps on delivering the goods with the rollicking blitz of \u2018Don\u2019t Stop\u2019, the playful stomp of \u2018Lost Boy\u2019, the ever-changing moods of \u2018Lights In The Sky\u2019 with its initial labouring traipse, and my favourite brace; \u2018Thunder In Your Heart\u2019 with its Gothic orchestration, and the simmering, Whitesnake-styled sizzle of \u2018Darling\u2019 with its semi-balladic nuances.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re lucky enough to get hold of the Japanese version of Empire Of Sin<\/em>, then you\u2019ll also be treated to an exclusive bonus track; the glammy pomp of \u2018Never Enough\u2019 with its playful opening groove of flirtatious guitar and nifty drum.<\/p>\n

Impera has come on leaps and bounds since the last outing and I\u2019m thrilled to have been given the chance to review it. Believe me, this is one album that isn\u2019t going to leave the ears for a long, long time.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IMPERAEmpire Of Sin Escape Music (2015)Rating: 9\/10 I have to admit to having been left just a touch unfulfilled by Impera\u2019s 2013 opus Pieces Of Eden, but this new chunk of melodic metal has literally blown my socks off and reduced my feet to gory stumps. As far as supergroups and the coming together of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,763],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-impera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23526"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23533,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23526\/revisions\/23533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}