{"id":50766,"date":"2015-12-19T08:10:48","date_gmt":"2015-12-19T13:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=50766"},"modified":"2015-12-19T08:10:48","modified_gmt":"2015-12-19T13:10:48","slug":"imperia-tears-of-silence-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/imperia-tears-of-silence-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Imperia | Tears Of Silence<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Joe Mis<\/span>
\n– Sr. Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Imperia_TearsOfSilence_cover_500\"Tears Of Silence<\/em> is the fourth release from the multinational European quartet know as Imperia. Crossing genre boudaries, Imperia’s latest should prove a popular choice for fans of the Gothic, Operatic, and Orchestral Metal as well as mainstream metal. Fronted by popular Norwegian vocalist Helena Iren Michaelsen (Angel, ex-Trail Of Tears) and backed by a veteran team of musicians, Tears Of Silence<\/em> is easily a contender for a top-10 spot on almost anyone’s best Rock album of the year list.<\/p>\n

For those not familiar with Imperia, they have a long history extending back to 2004 when they released their debut album entitled The Ancient Dance Of Qetesh<\/em>. They followed up with Queen Of Light<\/em> in 2007, and Secret Passion<\/em> in 2011. They also released a side project as Angel called A Woman’s Diary – Chapter I<\/em> in 2006.<\/p>\n

Warm keys and flowing acoustic guitars open \u201cSilence Is My Friend,, but the band quickly rolls in many elements of Orchestral Metal while turning it up to 11. Helena displays a solid vocal range in both lead and backing modes, and the band handles the varied tempos and timing changes flawlessly. This opener is quintessential Imperia, fully demonstrating the band’s talent, musical ambitions, and almost cinematic style. Acoustic instruments (bouzoukis in this case) are rolled into \u201cCrossroads\u201d giving the track a bit of a folk metal feel, while Helena flirts with the operatic side of her voice while hitting some impressive grunts and growls. \u201cBroken\u201d is an energetic, heavy Symphonic track with multi-layered vocals (including some death metal growls) and a rather manic drum line. Things slow down a bit on the epic \u201cAway,\u201d a track with a wonderful musical flow generated by keys, bass, and drums \u2013 and a great guitar break leading to a long orchestral interlude.<\/p>\n

\u201cFriheten Vil Seire\u201d is sung in Helena’s native Norwegian. The title translates to \u201cFreedom Will Conquer,\u201d but listening without focusing on the lyrics (especially if you don’t understand Norwegian) allows one to fully appreciate the flow of the music and the integration of vocals and instruments. \u201cMy Screaming Heart\u201d is an Orchestral Metal tune with an upbeat and complex rhythm line and a theatrical feel, while \u201cMotherlove\u201d is almost pure progressive metal packed with gritty vocals and squealing guitars. \u201cThe Vikingsong\u201d opens with a definite touch of medieval times and then becomes more of an Operatic\/Folk Metal piece complete with growled vocals, flutes and pipes, a hot guitar break, and viking battle sounds in the background. If there is one track that approaches \u201cover-the-top,\u201d this is it. An epic, almost triumphant sound returns on \u201cSpirit Chase (Keep Fighting)\u201d – a vocal driven track that pushed the entire band to the limit.<\/p>\n

Beautiful acoustic guitars and well done keys highlight the haunting power ballad \u201cInnocent Child,\u201d while rich synths and keys make \u201cWings Of Hope\u201d a smooth and uplifting Modern Metal piece with a pleasant orchestral outro. \u201cWe’ll Be Free\u201d starts as a radio-friendly commercial rocker with superb vocals and a toe-tap inducing rhythm, which then morphs into a rollicking operatic tune with strong guitars. \u201cBroken Hearts\u201d is a sad, tearjerker ballad built around piano and voice \u2013 quite different than anything else on the album.<\/p>\n

Overall, Imperia’s Tears Of Silence<\/em> is an excellent album. Mixing elements of the Symphonic, Orchestral, and Progressive Metal into straight up Metal keeps the music accessible to fans of any of these genres, and fans of strong female voices will fall in love with Helena Iren Michaelsen’s powerful delivery. Yrlund, Verstreken, and Wolz deliver technical perfection and play with enough passion to match. The engineering is solid and strong with a natural warmth that highlights Helena’s vocals without diminishing the impact of the rest of the band. At times the music is simple, and bombastic at others \u2013 so there is music here that will please just about everyone.<\/p>\n

Tears of Silence is highly recommended!<\/p>\n

Genre: Gothic, Atmospheric Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nHelena Iren Michaelsen (vocals)
\nJan \u00d6rkki Yrlund (guitars)
\nGerry Verstreken (bass)
\nSteve Wolz (drums)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tSilence Is My Friend
\n2.\tCrossroads
\n3.\tBroken (When The Silence Cries)
\n4.\tAway
\n5.\tFriheten Vil Seire
\n6.\tMy Screaming Heart
\n7.\tMotherlove
\n8.\tThe Vikingsong
\n9.\tSpirit Chase (Keep Fighting)
\n10.\tInnocent Child
\n11.\tWings Of Hope
\n12.\tWe’ll Be Free (Bonus Track)
\n13.\tBroken Hearts (Bonus Track)<\/p>\n

Label: Massacre Records<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/imperiaband.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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

by Joe Mis – Sr. Columnist — Tears Of Silence is the fourth release from the multinational European quartet know as Imperia. Crossing genre boudaries, Imperia’s latest should prove a popular choice for fans of […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":50767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[11898,2317,4907,11899,11896,780,11897],"class_list":{"0":"post-50766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-atmospheric-metal","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-gothic","11":"tag-helena-iren-michaelsen","12":"tag-imperia","13":"tag-massacre-records","14":"tag-tears-of-silence"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50766","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=50766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}