Imperia
Tears of Silence

I think someone needs a course in murdering. That was my thought just now, an hour after I started my tenth playthrough of this album. It is the fourth album by Imperia and I really think that it would need to go on a diet getting rid of a few excess minutes, especially the digipak version with its two bonus tracks. But let us not get ahead of ourselves here and instead let me introduce this band instead; Imperia is a multinational band with members from Norway, Finland, Belgium and Germany and built around Norwegian vocalist Helena Iren Michaelsen. As stated just before, this is their fourth album and it has a lovely artwork made by accomplished artist Jan Yrlund who also happens to be the guitarist of this band. The fact that they are a band of four nationalities is an interesting observation and one might imagine that this is thanks to the modern communications possibilities that are available to us these days, and should be beneficial to a band from a creative point of view.

The label describes the album as a musical adventure and states that Helena goes beyond the norm in her vocal performance. Personally I think she sung better last time around as her vocal performance on this album feels quite ordinary, I also think that this album is way less of an adventure than their 2011 effort that we reviewed to high praise. I would describe it as fairly modern, quite simple and straightforward gothic metal – kind of like Within Temptation’s early works but with a singer that is not as good. The sound is quite modern, the soundscape overwhelmingly melodic, it feels straightforward and modern, I think it can be described as a very solid production. The variation on the other hand, it is quite small considering the playing time of the album – just short of the hour for the standard issue and a bit over the hour for the digipak version that has two bonus tracks. I think that the album can be considered to be on the longer side whether you have the standard or the digipak version but the standard version has the advantage that it ends with two songs where the album comes to life after a bit of a slumber.

Overall I would call this a well-made album, even a good album. But I do think that it was better last time around, maybe mostly thanks to a much more manageable playing time where the album didn’t feel like it never ends, the variation was better and the album was shorter then. I think this album feels a little bit tired, almost uninspired for most part. It comes alive in two great tracks that end the standard issue, the bonus tracks on the digitpak are quite boring but the original version’s ending is excellent. I think that considering everything I would have given this album a lower rating had it not been for these two amazing tracks that gives temporary life to a slumbering album. To me it would have been wise to do away with the first two or three tracks in order to make the album a bit more dynamic and interesting. It would feel better and more focused that way.

I like Imperia and their kind of music but this album feels liken I can do without. The ending two tracks, before the bonus tracks, are brilliant but the rest of the album is surprisingly bland. It is like most of the album is done on routine which is strange considering that they have only done four albums counting this one and it was four years since the predecessor – I think they ought to have more drive and inspiration than this. But still, it is quite good anyway, the reservations comes mostly from the fact that the previous album was a lot better than this one.

HHHHHHH