LIVE REVIEW: Imperial Triumphant @ The Dome, London

IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT are among a number of black and blackened metal bands who have, over the past decade or so, set out to radically challenge the orthodoxy of a style which had been approaching the point of stagnation. In 2018, the band released Vile Luxury – an album which draws upon the duality of the modern metropolis, in which decadence rests upon a foundation of decay. Through their music, artwork and stage attire the band seek to reflect this duality without passing comment: their objective is ultimately artistic, not political. Throughout 2018 and 2019 the band toured extensively in support of Vile Luxury, including a prestigious slot at Roadburn Festival, where the band played the closing performance for the iconic venue Het Patronaat. The Greater Good tour marks their inaugural visit to the UK, so Distorted Sound went down to their performance in the capital to greet them.

The opening rites are led by London’s own FIVE THE HIEROPHANT, whose shamanic robes and hoods belie a sound which owes more to HAWKWIND‘s Space Ritual than to CANDLEMASS‘ Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. The group draw upon a range of Eastern brass instruments, including temple bells and a rag-dung, in order to deliver loose, meandering compositions centred around a more conventional fuzzy doom metal groove. Vocals are swapped out for samples and a saxophone to complete the instrumental ensemble, whose lack of a focal centre produces a meditative soundscape in the vein of BONG and DARK BUDDHA RISING. Their second full-length – the enigmatic Magnetic Sleep Tapes Vol. II, which was released earlier this year – sees them drift still further from their doom metal base, and it’s a pleasure to witness this departure in motion.

Rating: 7/10

Next to take to the stage are fellow Londoners BAST, who have made themselves known this year by sharing a stage with doom metal royalty CONAN and WITCHSORROW, as well as black metal acts such as UADA, VOICES, and ZURIAAKE. BAST exhibit rhythmic excellence throughout, as they alternate between experimental takes on the speed and sloth of both black and doom metal styles. The trio muster a powerful and polished display of long-form compositions, fore-fronted by the ferocious enthusiasm of their vocalist. BAST are at their best as they explore rhythmic passages together, propelling themselves towards effects-laden plateaus with a tidal force. The synergy between members is plain to see, won from over a decade of playing together in a tight formation. Such effective spontaneous musical communication is uncommon, and even rarer to see in an extreme metal context. As their latest full-length Nanoångström approaches it’s one-year anniversary, we’ll be waiting with bated breath for whatever BAST have in store for us next.

Rating: 7/10

A fanfare heralds IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT‘s appearance, who don their black hooded robes and distinctive golden masks with characteristic aplomb. Fresh from their appearance at Damnation Festival, and a pair of dates in Bristol and Nottingham, The Greater Good Tour is clearly off to an auspicious start as they commence proceedings. Tonight being their London debut, plenty of devotees have braved the November chill on a week-night to come out and greet them. Downstage right is guitarist, vocalist and founding member Zach Ezrin, wielding a gilded Jackson complete with golden pickups and inlays, whose mask is reminiscent of Lady Liberty’s tiara. Upstage is drummer Kenny Grohowski, live drummer for New York technical death metal institution PYRRHON, who joined IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT‘s ranks for the first full-length Abominamentvm in 2012 and is sporting a spiked crown atop his mask. Completing the ensemble downstage left is Steve Blanco on bass – who joined IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT just after the release of 2015’s Abyssal Gods full-length – wearing a mask evocative of Wall Street’s Charging Bull. The dehumanising effect of the groups masked and cloaked garb is very deliberate, serving to enhance their exalted stage presence. The visual references to New York in their design, meanwhile, are not incidental but instrumental; in their current incarnation, IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT seek to represent the duality of their home city, New York – it’s wealth and poverty, opulence and filth, decadence and degeneracy.

The trio present an unusual set, given the runaway success of Vile Luxury, which is comprised of tracks taken from the first full-length Abominamentvm and the transitional Inceste EP, as well as a selection from the aforementioned and an as-yet untitled new song. For many here in London, this will be their first opportunity to hear the older material performed live, and it’s met with an appreciative reception. Musically, their style incorporates black and death metal techniques as well as the brass textures and complex dissonance typical of jazz, but any further pigeon-holing here would be reductive. As with much jazz-infused music, a lot of the intrigue in IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT‘s sound comes between the notes, where silence is deployed as a dynamic in itself in order to embellish hastier passages. The group’s classical and jazz training is especially apparent in a live context, as they deftly perform odd time-signatures and atonal chords with the uncanny mechanical precision of golden automata; difficult to headbang to, but fun to try. The jazz elements in IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT‘s music are not superficial, however; not just an authentic affectation to complete their New York aesthetic. They do not simply import brass textures and complex dissonance within a well-worn extreme metal formula, but have created a real synthesis of the two – intermingling the disparate styles to create something which exceeds the sum of it’s parts.

There is a distinctive potency to IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT‘s live delivery. The band’s latest opus was recorded live in an attempt to capture this but there is, of course, no substitute for the real thing. At points a disembodied female voice can be heard handling inter-track announcements, inviting us to experience the music in a particular way: halfway between a guided meditation tape and a corrupt therapist. The effect is to add a further degree of separation between the performers and their audience, whose exaltation will not allow them to cheapen themselves with the bandying of words. The pairing of the rapturous Swarming Opulence and Lower World is supremely effective live. These songs are, of course, very different – but they sit beside one another as crowning jewels in the set. At one point, Blanco employs what looks like a champagne bottle as a glass slide for his bass; the exquisite image of corrupt decadence. The disorientating Kaleidoscopic Orgies is another highlight, and their encore performance includes some new material which sounds utterly debased, as though the thin veneer of civility on Vile Luxury has finally been worn away. Someone has spiked the punchbowl at a Gatsby soirée, and it sounds as though IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT were there to capture the whole sordid affair on scored paper. As the gilded cacophony ends and the masked musicians take their leave, their triumphant return cannot come soon enough.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Karolina Janikunaite here: