There have only been a few times in my years of listening to metal that I've had to pause the music and really try to contemplate what I just heard. The first time was Gorguts - Obscura, the second was Ulcerate's Everything is Fire, and the third was Imperial Triumphant's Alphaville.
Alphaville is an album that has to be heard to truly understand how different it is. I can say that it is jazz influenced, avant-garde black metal with a heavy emphasis of retro-futurism and that would act as a starting point. That description is exceedingly specific, but it still does not do anything to prepare the listener for what is on this album.
Are you ready for a barber shop quartet followed by an absolute cacophony of decaying riffs? Are you ready for a jazz trumpet soloing over god knows how many guitars and other random instruments and effects are laid underneath? Are you ready for an airport terminal? I know I wasn't.
This album really challenged me - something that doesn't happen often. I tend to focus on the stranger and more extreme side of metal, its where I feel most at home. So when an album comes out that is well within those confines and still manages to make me scratch my head its something I welcome and celebrate.
Imperial Triumphant really have something special here. A melting pot of countless influences and elements that should result in absolute disaster but somehow create a triumph of music (pun totally intended).
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