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IMPERA
Empire Of Sin

Escape Music (2015)
Rating: 9/10

I have to admit to having been left just a touch unfulfilled by Impera’s 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 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.

Empire Of Sin 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’s third full-length release, is quick to state that Empire Of Sin is “no nonsense, no fuzz… just rock ’n’ roll”, but for me it’s 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.

From the opening monster that is ‘The Beast Is Dead’ right through to the sizzling, swaggering strut of ‘Fly Away’ this is one honest hard rock album riddled with fantastic hooks, hard hitting drum nods and Alfonzetti’s 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’s drums. Indeed, it’s quite a feat in the current climate for a band to carve out an album where every track is worth its weight in gold.

The monolithic trudge of ‘Evil (Become A Believer)’ features some truly staggering guitar work and percussion so weighty to suggest menace. “You can’t stop evil” warns Alfonzetti over a Led Zeppelin-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’t get much more bruising than this fizzing fiasco, but the album just keeps on delivering the goods with the rollicking blitz of ‘Don’t Stop’, the playful stomp of ‘Lost Boy’, the ever-changing moods of ‘Lights In The Sky’ with its initial labouring traipse, and my favourite brace; ‘Thunder In Your Heart’ with its Gothic orchestration, and the simmering, Whitesnake-styled sizzle of ‘Darling’ with its semi-balladic nuances.

If you’re lucky enough to get hold of the Japanese version of Empire Of Sin, then you’ll also be treated to an exclusive bonus track; the glammy pomp of ‘Never Enough’ with its playful opening groove of flirtatious guitar and nifty drum.

Impera has come on leaps and bounds since the last outing and I’m thrilled to have been given the chance to review it. Believe me, this is one album that isn’t going to leave the ears for a long, long time.

Neil Arnold

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