{"id":24925,"date":"2013-01-07T09:37:33","date_gmt":"2013-01-07T14:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=24925"},"modified":"2014-02-16T09:12:31","modified_gmt":"2014-02-16T14:12:31","slug":"impera-legacy-of-life-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/impera-legacy-of-life-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Impera | Legacy of Life<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Ron Higgins<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Legacy of Life is the debut album from drummer J.K. Impera\u2019s self-titled band. Impera is a no-nonsense, no-keyboard, rock band with an impressive pedigree of musicians who have played with a veritable Who\u2019s Who of rock. As would be expected from a group of talented musicians like this, they have cranked out an impressive debut that leaves listeners looking forward to what they come up with next. <\/p>\n

In addition to the aforementioned Impera, the band consists of bassist Mats Vassfjord, Swedish vocalist Matti Alfonzetti, and guitarist extraordinaire Tommy Denander. Interestingly, John Corabi was supposed to be the original vocalist but couldn\u2019t due to schedule conflicts. Collectively, they\u2019ve played with members of KISS, Thin Lizzy, Europe, Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen, TOTO and many others. Denander alone has played on over 2000 albums and even has his own signature VGS guitar.<\/p>\n

Several of the band members have played with KISS alum, Vinnie Vincent and Bruce Kulick. In fact, J.K. states that they all started playing because of KISS and that they\u2019re all KISS fans and collectors as well as friends with KISS themselves. As you would expect, they guarantee that their stage shows will be amazing, featuring fireworks, smoke, and fire, like their heroes. Taking the KISS idolatry one step further (and maybe too far), drummer J.K. Impera wears makeup on stage. Fortunately, it\u2019s not a demon space cat with a star but his own design. It\u2019s not clear exactly what the design is. He\u2019s bald and has lines all over his face much like he\u2019s trying to be a tree or something. It\u2019s definitely unique and a bit bizarre. Why he feels the need to wear it is somewhat of a mystery. At least he\u2019s not dressed as a big bird like Sebastian Bach\u2019s former guitarist.<\/p>\n

The album starts off with the rockin\u2019 \u201cTurn My Heart To Stone.\u201d It begins with some hard drumming, letting the world know that the drummer and namesake is the leader of this outfit. The rhythm slows down as the song really gets going which is somewhat unfortunate but it\u2019s still a good song and a nice way to kick off the album. The vocals are top notch as is the chorus and the whole song has a nice Loverboy feel to it. <\/p>\n

The second track \u201cKiss of Death\u201d is one of the highlights. It has a thunderous drum intro followed by cool riffing and then some excellent lead playing highlighting Tommy Denander\u2019s impressive fret skills. There\u2019s a nice tempo change about two-thirds of the way through the song that keeps things interesting. It\u2019s not as good as Dokken\u2019s tune by the same name but it\u2019s pretty impressive. <\/p>\n

Other highlights include the album\u2019s best track \u201cShoot Me Down\u201d as well as \u201cSunset Rider,\u201d \u201cMore Than Meets the Eye,\u201d and \u201cIs This Love.\u201d \u201cShoot Me Down\u201d is a hard-hitting, up-tempo, double-bass-pounding standout. It\u2019s the one song that you will catch yourself humming long after you finish listening to it. \u201cSunset Rider\u201d has a hard-driving riff throughout and an excellent lead solo from Tommy. The backing vocals on the chorus are good but they need to be up higher in the mix. You can hardly hear them. Regardless, this is a really cool up-tempo song. \u201cMore Than Meets The Eye\u201d is another fast-tempo track that starts with a guitar wail and furious drumming. \u201cIs This Love\u201d has a slower start but some great guitar riffing. It\u2019s a mid-tempo rocker with a nice groovy vibe. The vocals are outstanding and this song showcases Matti\u2019s impressive voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cBreak the Law\u201d and \u201cShow Me the Money\u201d are decent tracks but not spectacular. \u201cBreak the Law\u201d has a very familiar guitar intro followed by very heavy keyboards ala Richard Marx. Then the guitar kicks in and the chorus is decent. \u201cShow Me the Money\u201d is a funky song with a good chorus but the rest of it is just average.<\/p>\n

The two weakest tracks on offer are \u201cTell Me\u201d and the final track \u201cDeadend Street.\u201d \u201cTell Me\u201d is decent but simple. Nothing real memorable. It\u2019s a mid-tempo track that just kind of plods along. \u201cDeadend Street\u201d starts well enough with some pounding drums and a cool guitar riff but then it slows way down with lots of guitar finger plucking. The chorus is weak and it\u2019s a poor way to wrap up this nice debut.<\/p>\n

Overall, this is a very good release, especially for a debut album. Even the weaker tracks are still pretty good. As a whole, the album flows very well and the production is top-notch. All of the musicians are highlighted throughout the album and given their musical r\u00e9sum\u00e9, that\u2019 a great thing. The vocals, drumming and guitar work are all impressive. The whole album has a great Mr. Big sound too it, right down to Matti\u2019s Eric Martin sounding singing. If you\u2019re looking for some high quality new melodic hard rock, look no further than this excellent new release from Impera. Applying makeup beforehand is optional. <\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nMatti Alfonzetti: Vocals
\nTommy Denander: Guitars
\nJ.K. Impera: Drums
\nMats Vassfjord: Bass<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\nTurn My Heart To Stone
\nKiss Of Death
\nBreak The Law
\nShoot Me Down
\nSunset Rider
\nTell Me
\nMore Than Meets The Eye
\nIs This Love
\nShow Me The Money
\nDeadend Street <\/p>\n

Label: Escape Music<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/www.impera.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ron Higgins – Columnist — Legacy of Life is the debut album from drummer J.K. Impera\u2019s self-titled band. Impera is a no-nonsense, no-keyboard, rock band with an impressive pedigree of musicians who have played […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[336,1016,1103,334,3594],"class_list":{"0":"post-24925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2013","7":"tag-cd","8":"tag-escape-music","9":"tag-hard-rock","10":"tag-review","11":"tag-tommy-denander"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}