Imperial Triumphant - Alphaville

This was engaging to say the least. Primarily Paracletus and ION vibes both structurally and sonically speaking which says also how far the former record has become for timelining dissonant avantgarde black in the last decade. For Alphaville to have reason to retry already means this is Imperial at their unironic golden prime. Highest level art, highest level photography worth showing to apply with too so we'll see if this catches on upon retry spins.

A truly great album but I can't help but feel that the previous one took my breath away far more than this one. I really want to give it a 9 but Vile Luxury set a different mark for me.
This one feels a bit less disturbing and, well... vile than Vile Luxury. I will give it a lot of listenings for sure. Maybe it was dumb to listen to the album while doing something else. This type of music does take time and focus after all.

Edit: One thing I can say that sort of changes the theme of this album compared to the previous is of course the production. Although this is not a complaint but just an obsrvation. The production on Vile Luxury was more muddy and oppressive which makes sense to me since the album had a more desperate vibe and lyrical tone, as if it was from the perspective of the oppressed. Here it is almost the other way around. A shinier sound with more flashy and stravagant jams. It is less violent. As if it was a representation of the grand city trying to invite you in.

Edit #2 : Hearing Yoshiko Ohara's banshee screams gives me a little hope that one day I will hear a new Bloody Panda.

This sounds like the result of forcing a bunch of avantgarde jazz musicians to make a metal album. You know the kind, they have soul patches and wear turtlenecks. Their favorite kind of movies are French New Wave and Wes Anderson films.

Written by Aries Rising on 02.02.2021 at 08:19

This sounds like the result of forcing a bunch of avantgarde jazz musicians to make a metal album. You know the kind, they have soul patches and wear turtlenecks. Their favorite kind of movies are French New Wave and Wes Anderson films.

Precisely.

The album itself is named after a French New Wave film.

Written by RaduP on 02.02.2021 at 08:51

Written by Aries Rising on 02.02.2021 at 08:19

This sounds like the result of forcing a bunch of avantgarde jazz musicians to make a metal album. You know the kind, they have soul patches and wear turtlenecks. Their favorite kind of movies are French New Wave and Wes Anderson films.

Precisely.

The album itself is named after a French New Wave film.

I might check that film out then. This album received so much hype and just disappointed me.

Tried a few times but I couldn't connect with this album at all.

I'm spinning it again just now for the awards and now I really like it, weird. Maybe it's just frontloaded and the best stuff is at the start.

EDIT: It did not. This is some great stuff.

Amazing record, it's like squeezing a nice fresh black-death-jazz-juice and drinking it in a slight psychedelic haze. The the visual art is is top notch, a great fit for the sounds that come out of the album. Avantgarde for sure.

Saw these guys live last night with Immolation.
The sound in the tiny venue was shitty so following the songs was challenging, but these guys are damned good performers, and they really engaged the crowd.

Listened to this after Vile Luxury and found it to be tame compared to the previous album.