Tech-metal enigmas Imperial Triumphant have released a new single and announced their sixth studio album.
The song, Hotel Sphinx, dropped today (November 13) and offers a sneak peek of Goldstar, which is set for release at an as-yet-unspecified date next year. Listen to the mind-warping track below.
The New York power trio offer a typically cryptic explanation of their new song, implying it deals with the relationship between politics and celebrity… or something. “The ‘entertainer extraordinaire’ leads a gullible audience through the sinister halls of the Hotel Sphinx,” they say.
“Behind the lights, cameras, and endless action lies a disturbing undercurrent, where power is fed by the innocence of youth. The lines between entertainment, initiation and exploitation blur as a conspiracy of silence reigns in the ‘Illuminated Valley of the Kings’, where political celebrity celebrates death. Rites of passage too dark to speak, promising false salvation in a world where the show never ends.”
Hotel Sphinx follows the release of the similarly discombobulating single Eye Of Mars, which came out in September. The track listing of Goldstar is yet to be unveiled, but there’s a strong chance both songs will show up.
Imperial Triumphant formed in 2005 and have been bashing brain cells together ever since. Singer/guitarist Zachary Ezrin explained their esoteric influences in a 2020 Metal Hammer interview.
“In my college days I had a professor who pushed me into listening to more avant-garde stuff,” he said, “whether that was diving into classical stuff or showing me bands like Portal or Einsturzende Neubauten. Just really out-there stuff that I wasn’t exposed to.”
He also revealed the band’s disorienting sound has “cleared a few rooms” here and there. “There’s a few people who had their minds blown, and there were a few people who thought we were just pure shit.”
Nonetheless, Imperial Triumphant have some star supporters. Their 2020 album Alphaville was co-produced by Mr Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance. Meshuggah drummer Tomas Haake has appeared on some of their songs, as well.
The band’s latest album, Spirit Of Ecstasy, came out in 2022 and was described by Hammer as “an exhilarating journey across a jazz-blasted landscape of noise”. Its release was followed by a series of avant-garde covers, such as Rush’s Jacobs Ladder and Radiohead’s Paranoid Android.
