Year: 2021
Total Time: 35:41 + 37:00
Label: Massacre Records

IMPERIA is a multinational Symphonic Metal band, with members from Germany, Sweden, Norway and Belgium. Former band drummer Steve Wolz as well as current singer Helena Michaelsen, two of the founding members of IMPERIA, were to join SAHARA DUST, the band that was later renamed EPICA and was to become one of the leading names in the genre.

Their new, sixth album, “The Last Horizon”, comes seventeen years after their debut and two after its predecessor, “Flames Of Eternity”. As in their previous works, in the positives of their new work is definitely the amazing voice of Helena, as well as the fact, also as in the past, that their albums sound pleasant. But what is it that they are missing?

IMPERIA, despite having the background, seems to be doing something that instead of adding them, eventually takes them away. They try very hard to look like the top names of the genre, such as EPICA and WITHIN TEMPTATION, having as a result the fact that they get lost along the way and at the same time they lose their identity. The element that will make them stand out, differentiate and finally establish themselves amongst the great ones.

Even their really good vocals, with their indistinguishable balances between the normal and the most operetta parts, seem to be lost in a lack of plan, about what the band wants to present to us. Their music is not bad. On the contrary, they have several points of interest and some of their songs such as “Starlight” and “I Still Remember” are catchy and beautiful. But they will not make you stick as much as you would if there was this personal element in them.

All in all, this is a job that will not annoy anyone, nor will anyone dismiss it as bad. But until the ghosts of others shake off, they will not make the difference that will bring them forward.

Rating: 6/10
Editor: Fanouris Exintavelonis
Related Link: IMPERIA – Official Page