an evening with imperial triumphant

For Imperial Triumphant and extreme metal fans around the globe, Vile Luxury was a statement of avantgarde supremacy of the like none of us have ever seen and follow up Alphaville twisted that blade in even deeper. Their sound is the heartbeat of their home base New York City in the sense of its roots in jazz and the extremities found at every corner and perfectly encapsulates every aspect of day to day life in the city’s grasp. Melodies, or hooks, are sparse and generally non existent but this is just the genius of what they do; every second is a different experience and every second of every song is monumental which is captured to near perfection in their latest live album An Evening With Imperial Triumphant. With that said, jump in for an excellent chat with Steve Blanco via The Nine Circles Audio Thing.

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In Dante’s Inferno, the second circle begins the proper punishment of Hell, a place where “no thing gleams.” It is reserved for those overcome with Lust, where carnal appetites hold sway over reason. In Nine Circles, it’s where we do shorter reviews of new (ish) albums that share a common theme.

I miss live shows. I have been to exactly one in the last two calendar years, and that is far, far below the quota I normally like to hit. Granted, there are some very good reasons for not partaking in live shows even when they happen, but I’ve still got an itch that I need to scratch, and while I generally don’t gravitate towards live albums, this is the time when I find them hitting the nicest. Two bands that I have never had the pleasure of seeing live are Imperial Triumphant and The Ocean, and when I saw that both of them have live albums coming out today (An Evening with Imperial Triumphant: Live at Slipper Room and Phanerozoic Live, respectively), I knew I had to take the opportunity to talk about them both.

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