Imperial Triumphant: Driven By Decadence
Over the course of five studio albums, IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT elevated themselves from black metal obscurity to become one of the more distinctive bands in the metal mainstream. This is all the more impressive for a band who play such an overtly experimental style of extreme metal, which attempts to embody the unfettered musical maelstrom of free-jazz. Hiding behind their golden masks is not just gimmickry for IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT. These are totemic symbols of New York: their home and their muse. The chaos, scale, decadence and filth of that sprawling metropolis is writ large in everything the band does, and the trio’s new album Spirit Of Ecstasy is no different. We caught up with vocalist and guitarist Zach Ezrin to hear about their latest, luxurious opus.
“I like this music so, it’s just a case of finding other people that do too,” explains Ezrin. We’re discussing the recent successes of the band, which has recently spilled over from the underground to the mainstream. On paper at least, their chaotic extreme metal oeuvre would have been a cult phenomenon at best. “To me, this isn’t the most chaotic music in the world,” he continues. “I actually really enjoy it.” [So what is the most chaotic music in the world?] “Probably something along the lines of musique concrète or deconstructed classical,” he suggests. “Once you get into using contact mics, and it being more about weird sounds and homemade modular synths, that’s where it starts to get really weird. People who listen to that would listen to us and think, ‘wow, what a cute rock band!’”
Their last album Alphaville saw IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT working with a cast of rock and metal royalty, and for Spirit Of Ecstasy, the band have doubled-down on their collaborative approach. You’ll hear VOIVOD’s Snake, TESTAMENT’s Alex Skolnick and Trey Spruance of MR BUNGLE fame playing alongside the band, but their most illustrious guest must surely be five-time platinum certified Saxophonist Kenny G. “His son [Max Gorelick] is a friend of the band,” explains Ezrin. “He’s an unbelievable guitar player, and he was actually in the band for about a year. I was having lunch with him one day and I asked him: ‘there’s a section in this song where I’m hearing dualling double-helix solos going on – would you and your father be interested in playing them?’ They were, and what they performed was something I would never have been able to do myself,” Ezrin concedes. “Such a big part of collaborating is having that faith in other artists to just let them get on with what they do best.”
Spirit Of Ecstasy takes its name from the iconic Rolls-Royce bonnet ornament – a winged goddess, who has become synonymous with the brand’s relentless commitment to luxury. “I started learning about luxury brands: brands that create high-end, expensive products but also high-quality products that are very well made, with a lot of attention given to small details,” enthuses Ezrin. “With Rolls-Royce, they’re not trying to make the fastest, safest or most energy-efficient car. They want to make the most luxurious, comfortable ride for the passenger. That’s where their focus is,” he explains. “So I thought, why not make an album like that? The most luxurious, decadent over-the-top extreme metal album possible, with every element focussed towards that. I’m pretty happy with the results.” [So do you own a Rolls-Royce?] “I don’t own one, no. Not a very useful car for New York City, you’d imagine.”
Just like the engineers at Rolls-Royce, IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT have taken pride in meticulously crafting their product. “Creating each song is different from beginning to end,” declares Ezrin. “Some songs we jam out in the studio together while sharing ideas and tinkering. Some are written by one person as sheet music. Sometimes the lyrics come first. We try to keep a very open mind as to how we want to write a song,” he continues. “There’s no right way to go about it so we put ourselves in these different and challenging situations, and see what happens. We spent hours just tinkering with Trey [Spruance] and Colin [Marston] in the studio together, and bringing in other guests. It was like we were fine tuning this big machine: making sure the V12 of this album’s engine is running super smooth.”
Of course, no IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT record would be complete without a splash of art-deco glamour. Spirit Of Ecstasy sees the band returning to a photographic style for artwork, which manages to project the band’s distinctive aesthetic while doing things a little differently. “The photography on the cover and for the sleeves was all done by Alex Krauss, who also did all of our previous promo photos,” Ezrin tells us. “This time we shot our promo photos in the Chrysler building itself,” the very epitome of art-deco architecture. “The cover itself is kind of inspired by Gustav Klimt, a 30s Vienna Secession painter, as well as this Josephine Baker flapper-girl vibe,” he observes. “What I like most is that it’s not a traditional metal cover. It’s not really aggressive or macabre: it’s very serene and sheek, and I like that this is the last thing you see before being plunged into chaos.”
Spirit Of Ecstasy is out now via Century Media Records.
Like IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT on Facebook.