Imperia

/Imperia

Band

Imperia

Details

Genre
Metal
Year Formed
2004
Country
The Netherlands

About

IMPERIA is an atmospheric metal band whose sound is as artistic, distinguished and remarkable as the pure and passionate voice of it's vocalist Helena Iren Michaelsen who sings in a variety of operatic styles which portray deep emotional feelings to extreme and vivid operatic expressions.

The music is full of artistic expression, it is heavy, hard-hitting and orchestral, but it also contains elements of pure metal. The band is a true cross-border unit of musicians originating from different countries: Norway, Finland, Germany and Belgium. Through hard work and extensive touring the band has earned its reputation as a powerful live act. The first release of IMPERIA was a cover-song 'Lotus Eaters' for a Dead Can Dance tribute album which was released by Black Lotus Records in the spring of 2004.

The song was recorded at the RS29 studios by Oscar Holleman in Holland. The tribute-album and especially IMPERIA's title track received excellent reviews from around Europe and soon after IMPERIA signed a record deal with the Dutch Ebony Tears label. In the summer of 2004 IMPERIA played their first gigs and also recorded their debut album 'The Ancient Dance of Qetesh'. The album received rave reviews and it even made it to album of the month in Belgium and in Spain. In the following months the band played all over the main clubs in Holland and Belgium. They also played in some festivals and supported bigger names like for example Nightwish in the sold out Amsterdam HMH.

In 2005 the band recorded another project of Helena called Angel. The album 'A Woman's Diary – Chapter I' was released by Black Lotus Records in the spring of 2005. Though the style of the album was very varied and less metal the band succeeded to demonstrate their versality and musicianship. Also Helena had this time the change to show her skills in more mainstream music next to the opera style she is already known for.

Towards the end of 2005 IMPERIA had written enough new material for the second full length. So in February 2006 the band entered the Spacelab studio in Germany with the producer Oliver Philipps and Moschus Moos. The band teamed up with the German Massacre Records, which had proven to be a reliable label and which had helped a lot of artists in their style. The second IMPERIA album, containing a mixture of power-metal tracks, passionate prog-metal stories and some of the most beautiful and delicate ballads in metal was titled as 'Queen of Light'. The album was chosen for album of the month in Belgium.

To support the album IMPERIA toured European festivals like TUSKA in Finland, Battle Of Metal in Germany and Magic Circle Festival II in Germany. IMPERIA were also featured on the MCM festival DVD with two live-tracks.

During 2009 and 2010 new songs were written for the third full length. The album was titled as 'Secret Passion' and the recordings started in the autumn of 2010. This time band used different studios for the recordings. The drums were recorded in Germany, the bass in Belgium, guitars in Finland and the vocals in Norway. The orchestrations were produced by Oliver Philipps (Everon), who also performs on the album. As a guest musician IMPERIA introduces Tina Guo on the cello. The mix and the mastering were handled by Jacob Hansen (o.a. Volbeat, Destruction) in Denmark.