![]() Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. You can also send an e-mail to with pertinent details. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. "The Last Horizon" delivers the goods while setting this band apart from the overblown pack in lots of subtle and enticing ways.īLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. Six albums in, IMPERIA have more than earned the right to scuttle up the symphonic metal ladder a rung or three. Elsewhere, "I Send You My Love" delivers a genuine curveball, mutating from skittering electronics and a glowering, sub-bass pulse to reverb-drenched piano reverie. Even better, "I Still Remember" is a gleaming colossus of a power ballad: embellished with wistful, folk-tinged ephemera, blessed with a Herculean chorus and delivered with stately force, it's a jaw-dropping showcase for the singer in particular. ![]() On the heavier, crunchier likes of opener "Dream Away" and the dark and doomy "To Valhalla I Ride", IMPERIA bring an old-school succinctness to bear on otherwise rich and multi-layered material, with Michaelsen audibly reveling in the bluster. She's an absolute powerhouse throughout "The Last Horizon", bringing sweetness and disarming clarity to the melodic rock thud of "Where Are You Now" and a sense of overwhelming drama and dream-like wonder to "My Other Half". Michaelsen is the star of the show, as ever, and it's her death-defying versatility that sells these songs as she switches from pure and gently soulful to spiky and rough-hewn, before (nearly always) transforming into a powerhouse soprano for those all-important crescendos. Married here to some of the best songs IMPERIA have penned to date, it's a formula that loudly blurs the line between familiarity and originality, quite possibly bringing the ceiling down in the process, such is the floor-disturbing oomph ingrained in its crystal-clear production. Neither in thrall to the pop-metal detours of their high-profile Dutch peers, nor to the classic, textbook symphonic metal bombast, the band's signature sound incorporates everything from brooding, PARADISE LOST-style gothic chug, to flat-out musical theater euphoria, but with robust melodic sensibilities and the ludicrous vocal talents of Helena Iren Michaelsen holding everything together. But even though logic dictates that there is only so much room at the top, IMPERIA have become increasingly impressive over the years and, with "The Last Horizon", now sound very much like heavyweight contenders. With the likes of NIGHTWISH, WITHIN TEMPATION, EPICA and BEYOND THE BLACK doing big and even bigger things, symphonic metal hardly needs an injection of fresh blood at this point and is doing far better than anyone could have predicted 25 years ago.
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