Imperial Triumphant - Vile Luxury

As often as metal gets compared to classical music, it’s never shied away from incorporating its rebellious counterpart: jazz. And while jazz has sneaked its way into metal in subtle forms like the use of dissonant jazz chords or even become a prominent feature of acts like Animals as Leaders or (fanboy time) Meshuggah (who I would love to just talk about forever on here), I have never heard the traditional form of the genre so frankly woven into metal quite like like how Imperial Triumphant has done so on Vile Luxury. Even though it took awhile to grow on me and me a while to appreciate what’s here, Vile Luxury made immediately apparent how unique of an album it is, and my appreciation for the way it combines traditional jazz and blackened death metal into something so nihilistically unique to both genres and more than just the the sum of the two. The two wildly different forms of music play off one another in such a one-of-a-kind way, its understandably hard to get a good grasp of at first, but once the semi-depressive, dystopian realism of the album becomes tangible, it’s a rewarding listen.

The album begins with the foreboding horn intro of “Swarming Opulence”, which is soon enhanced by a swell of properly harsh and murky black metal that ascends from a slower sort of incessant beating into a more blasting section intertwined with the jazzy, apocalyptic horns that culminate in a nice introductory song for the album.

The second track, “Lower World” is probably my favorite on the album, based on a cool mid-tempo staccato palm muted guitar rhythm and an ever-changing drum beat that occasionally unwinds into some odd jazzy guitar work and chaotic drumming reminiscent of Swans’ early work. The song also features some crazy piano parts and unnerving choir vocals near its middle, which, when all added together, ends up being one of the most ridiculous metal roller coaster rides I’ve ever been on. It’s a weird one from start to finish with not a dull moment along the way.

“Gotham Luxe” is a more gradually dynamic piece, but one certainly not short of surprises and oddity, spiraling up and down and up and down until finally finishing on a less than soothing piano section. It’s probably the one song on the album that drags a little bit, however.

The next song, “Chernobyl Blues” is a little more low key, but makes fantastic use of its tense and unsettling vibe and the harsh vocals that layer over it until its explosion of black metal blast beats and flurry of guitar wails. For the time it takes to build its tension, the burst is definitely satisfying and the band still manage to bring forth a cornucopia of weird musical ideas on the song.

The metallic explosion of “Cosmopolis” comes from a familiar but still menacing horn section which foreshadows the pure blackened death metal violence (with a bit of jazzy flair still of course) quite well. In fact, I quite enjoy the jazzy guitar riff that’s worked into the bulky death metal section of the track, as well as the faster and more expressive piano part that accents the death metal drumming unusually well all the way until the song’s fiery and dissonant exiting section.

The song, “Mother Machine”, is the album’s shortest, and provides an odd, jazz interlude of sorts, sans metal, and serves as a fitting break in the album that still holds its sinister jazz momentum together. 

The following track, “The Filth”, is the longest song on the album and one that kind of winds the way “Gotham Luxe” did, but it does introduce a well-utilized female opera singer’s talents and gives the bass guitar some well-used time in the spotlight, making it a much more interesting listen than that aforementioned track in my opinion. There is also a notably Leviathan-esque riff in the middle of the song that lends to the song’s and the album’s dystopian aesthetic.

The album closes with the song, “Luxury in Death”, another bass-heavy piece that focuses more on the metallic delivery of the jazz elements (though there is a lovely, wacky piano section again) and features the wails and raspy shouts of another female vocalist in a compelling finish to the album.

Vile Luxury is definitely one of the most interesting listens of the year, which is saying a lot considering it’s among the likes of Zeal & Ardor’s Stranger Fruit, Anna von Hausswolff’s Dead Magic, and Mamaleek’s Out of Time. And it’s an album that doesn’t simply bank on aesthetic or eccentricity. And at nearly an hour it’s a nicely portioned piece of some of the most unique metal to come out all year, and with more than simply crossover and fusion in its well-coordinated incorporation of jazz in a less tampered with format. I have come to really like this album, and being that it’s more than just a flashy style choice, and actually backs up its eccentric approach, I can see it finishing near the top of my chart, as, hopefully, Liverpool do as well on theirs. Surprise Premier League support here. For real though, fantastic and truly interesting record.