CD Review: For The Imperium - For The Imperium

Written by Colin McNamara Friday, 30 March 2012 12:34

Artist: For The Imperium
Title: For The Imperium
Genre: Rock
Release Date: 6th April 2012
Label: LifeForce Records

Album Review

FOR THE IMPERIUM is chaos incarnate. Raw, mixed genres of Metal there hasn’t been anything this nuts since MUSHROOMHEAD debuted with ‘XX’. Overall the feeling from the music is Modern Metal, such as from the opening ‘Ignition’ full of Math Metal riffs and bellowing Hardcore vocals mixed with the somewhat more annoying clean singing that echoes the cleaner bits of Screamo. Then there are the Industrial bits of the tongue in cheek ‘California Girl’ which includes some sex samples at the end which is mitigated by the more Rock oriented chugs, making it quite a popular track in the vein of bands like AVENGE SEVENFOLF, especially for the way the vocals sound. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg as FOR THE IMPERIUM try to go for random moments as well. ‘Die Dead’ starts out like a skipping record before adding in some rapid fire vocals that feel like they’re being chopped up in the process- again leaning towards some industrial influence- along with a bit of Electronica included and even some Symphonic Metal backdrops to really mess with people’s heads.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the piano led ‘Osterbotten’ which completely turns things on their heads, moving as far away from Metal and Rock as possible and opting for some backing vocals to carry a dramatic, choral fashion that turns this into a Rock Opera if anything. Most fans expecting heavy, linear music will probably be outraged by this little stunt, but at the same time it was clear from the beginning that FOR THE IMPERIUM was not meant to be orthodox or linear. Everything here is as random as it gets as they dip into every little bit of sub genre that they can get their hands on to compose an innovative, but rather haphazard album. While it is difficult to follow any particular theme or section of where the music derives a purpose, everything here still will get most Metal fans something to enjoy at least when considering a track like ‘Until The End’ for its heavier nature. Whether or not FOR THE IMPERIUM can make this a running a trend is questionable, but the music here is solid, just not holding together in the average music fans’ eyes. Only meant for eclectic listener.


Tracklist

01. Ignition
02. Creator
03. California Girl (Born N' Raised)
04. Hero
05. Until the End
06. DieDead
07. Working Class Heroine
08. Pike River
09. Osterbotten
10. Elisa
11. Seek for Help


Line-up

Hakim Hietikko – vocals
Ville Suorsa – guitars
Jyri Helko – bass
Tuomas Rauhala – drums


Website

www.fortheimperium.com


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 6
Sound: 7
Total: 6.5 / 10


Buy the album here!