Symphonic metal band Imperial Age were founded in Moscow, Russia in 2012 and are currently based in Antalya, Turkey. They head out on a five date trek around the UK in support of their latest album` New World` which was released last August. This is the fifth time the band have tried to make it to these shores so an emotional night was in store.
First up tonight are Bristol based melodic rock outfit Control The Storm who I read won the chance to perform the opening slot in a competition and I have to say although they must have thought it’d never happen they certainly made the best use of the opportunity the fought hard to achieve. We enjoy a delightfully intense forty five minutes of melodic and at times pretty powerful metal. The band have two albums out with `Forevermore` and `Beast Inside` and the stand out tracks for me tonight were their last single `Desire`, `No Chance At All` and `Curse of the Voiceless` where keyboard player Gordon Macrar (aka Raedon Mac). supplied some growled vocals as a foil to Firouzeh Razavi`s searing vocals while the rest of the crew Rich, Paul, Iliyan and Matt ably supported the musical intensity. The show closed out with a pretty good cover of the Jim Steinman written and Bonnie Tyler sung classic `Holding Out for a Hero ` before another cut from their last album with the soaring `Follow Me`. I really enjoyed Control The Storm and have to say that singer Firouzeh has a compelling stage presence as she prowls the stage and jumps around as if this is an aerobic workout. A band I definitely want to see again.
I`ve been waiting like many others here tonight for some time to see Imperial Age whose name has nothing to do with modern states but refers to Atlantis and Hyperborea, from which the musicians derive their inspiration. Their lyrics deal with magic and the occult, mainly Hermeticism, Hermetic Qabalah, Runic magic, paganism, bon and the legacy of Ancient civilisations such as Ancient Egypt, Sumer and Mesoamerican civilisation but that aside what follows is a superb two hours of symphonic tinged rock.
This short tour of the UK goes under the banner of the New World tour from their latest release and they share all the tracks from this album during tonight`s set and open with `Windborn` a rousing anthem and a kind of call to arms. They dip back in time with a track off the `Turn the Sun Off!` album in `Death Guard` before `The Monastery` a wonderfully reflective number from `The Legacy of Atlantis` album allows all three singers tenor Alexander “Aor” Osipov, mezzo soprano Jane “Corn” Odintsova and soprano Anna “Kiara” Moiseeva to stand in the spotlight and interchange vocal duties. The thing that really comes across tonight is how genuinely pleased the band are to be here performing for us and especially in the city that gave birth to heavy metal.
As the set progresses tracks like `To the Edge of the Known` become wonderfully edgy while `The Wheel` races along. The contemplative `Life Eternal` is dedicated to all the innocent victims of war while `Shackles of Gold` has band and audience jumping up and down.
`Legend of the Free` had a nigh on folk metal vibe as `And I Shall Find My Home` seemed to roll into the blistering `The Wheel` and `The Way is the Aim had all and sundry bouncing up and down once again. The home stretch included tracks old and new with the dynamic Turn the Sun Off!`, `Anthem of Valour` which at times verged on speed metal and a favourite of mine `The Legacy of Atlantis`.
The band left us with the epic `Call of the Towers` which at just under twenty minutes in length didn`t feel overly long.
After an obligatory selfie with the faithful the band left us all to head home and absorb what we had just witnessed. It was one of those gigs that you need time to reflect back on what you`d observed and some thoughts came to mind. The latest album `New World` was written about the struggle for freedom and liberty and the horrors of war which became kind of visionary with what was to follow in Eastern Europe. Indeed, the band had to hurriedly leave their country after they published an anti-war manifesto. Alexander shared that himself and Jane had been accepted to live in the UK on a musician visa and read out a statement from what may have been the home office to that effect. So, with that in mind we can all hopefully look forward to many more Imperial Age experiences in the not so distant future and I for one relish that.
