The winds of change has been blowing inside the Impera camp for a good few years now. The whole band/project started out back in 2012 by drummer J.K. Impera aka Johan Kihlberg who brought along guitarist Tommy Denander, vocalist Matti Alfonzetti and bassist Mats Vassfjord for the ride. The band released three brilliant records – Legacy Of Life (2012), Pieces Of Eden (2013) and Empire Of Sin (2015) – before the band dissolved. With the very high quality within the songs – the musical class speaks for itself when it comes to the musicians – Impera should have been way bigger than they ended up being. With a whole bunch of new, great songs but no band, J.K. decided that album # 4 would be a solo album, hence the Johan Kihlberg’s Impera banner. Only Vassfjord from the original line-up stayed on.
Age Of Discovery (2018) turned out another great effort and introduced a whole bunch of great singers such as Nils Patrik Johansson, Göran Edman, Michael Sadler, Mick Devine and Nigel Bailey, leaving long-time friend and co-producer Lars Chriss (Lion’s Share) taking on guitar duties. When Impera’s fifth album now is due, it’s with yet another line-up – and a new musical direction. With J.K. now switching to rhythm guitar and keyboards and Chriss as the lead guitarist, Europe bassist John Levén and drummer Snowy Shaw are the rhythm section with Nocturnal Rites’ Jonny Lindqvist as the singer and Kay Backlund on keyboards, the new record is a full-on Heavy Metal affair. Vassfjord and Pontus Egberg guest on bass on one track each.
Opening up with the latest single/video “Nothing Will Last”, Impera sends a classic 80’s Metal stomper our way, full of heavy rhythms, razor-sharp riffage and a balls-to-the-wall outlook in a kick-ass mode. It’s still a melodic tune with a striking chorus that might not hold any hit-potential but still sticks. There’s also a dramatic, highly orchestrated and cinematic passage for dynamic purposes. You might not recognize this as the Impera you knew but damn this is good. “Read It And Weep” is a fat rhythmic and ballsy rocker with some Accept influenced riffing that will raise some devil-horns when this goes live. The verses are heavy yet slightly held-back and comes in a mid-pace but when the chorus arrives the effective hooks combined with an in-your-face and headbang-friendly outlook takes the tune for a home-run. Awesome!
Classic early 80’s Metal with both punch and grit and big melodies comes when the single “All About You” shows up. An obscure band like Racer X, albeit with more hooks and catchiness, comes to mind while the tune does its best to blow your head off – and succeeds. It’s heavy, aggressive and muscular but the chorus is magnificent with a direct hook that sends a quick nod back to their Melodic Rock days. Very good. “When Souls Collide” kicks off with some down-beat verses, a bit darkening but it heavies up and shows up on the threshold of thrashy Metallica meets Megadeth twists. It’s a punchy beast with crunchy and edgy guitars and a thunderous rhythm section and the refrain really grabs a hold by first listen. Great stuff.
“In Heaven” comes with a more sparse verse, quite laid-back and atmospheric based on bass and drums with a clean guitar. The tune goes more into classic Hard Rock than actual Metal even though the chorus heavies things up some. Said chorus brings on a Melodic Rock strike and is the only song reminiscent of Impera’s earlier efforts and it comes with an intense hook and a whole bunch of catchiness. A future single maybe? It should be. Great stuff. “What Will Be Will Be” takes a slower route into the a mid-pace albeit with a slammin’ rhythm-section. The template here seems to be early NWOBHM with a nod thrown towards Jake E Lee/Randy Rhoads riffage with clear and direct guitar melodies. It’s an edgy piece of work that smoothens out some with slicker vocal-melodies and a chorus that grabs a hold by first listen. Good one indeed.
Knowing Kihlberg’s obsession with Kiss, I’m not surprised that the single “Lost Your Life To Rock ‘n’ Roll” has a riff that borrows some from said band’s classic “Makin’ Love”. It’s an uptempo and in-your-face rocker that’s equal Classic Rock and Metal in one, very punchy and going for the throat with an effective, bang-on-target refrain. It’s a good song but not as strong as the rest. “No” is a straight-out hard-rocker with a crunchy riff and a poundy beat but when the chorus comes the song slows down into a meaty and thick structure but with a striking melody that catches on directly without looking for air-play. I dig it. Closing track, the instrumental “Battles” is the album’s real curve-ball. With only orchestrated keyboards, the song comes across as a mix of Yes’ and Asia’s symphonic vibes with a Rush-like keyboard-sound and a huge portion of Sci-fi movie soundtrack vibes – very cinematic.
If you buy this album and is hoping for a continuation of the previous albums’ style and sound, there’s a chance you might be disappointed so here’s the deal: This is a full-blown Metal album – so different both musically and when it comes to the line-up that one might argue for a name-change. That being said, it’s also a very good record. A damn good record, to be correct. And rest assured, this is no modern radio-friendly Metal album either, no the influences here comes straight from classic Heavy Metal from the 80’s. It’s heavy, fat, no bull, straight-forward and powerful yet melodic and hook-laden – and most importantly, the songs are of high quality. Add a great singer and brilliant musicians to that and it’s not hard to realize that it wouldn’t be the smartest thing to let this album pass unnoticed!
8/10
More Impera reviews:
Legacy Of Life
Pieces Of Eden
Empire Of SIn
Age Of Discovery
Tracklist:
1. Nothing Will Last
2. Read It And Weep
3. All About You
4. When Souls Collide
5. In Heaven
6. What Will Be Will Be
7. Lost Your Life To Rock ‘n’ Roll
8. No
9. Battle
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