For The Imperium - Hail The Monsters
Having never heard of For The Imperium before, I wasn't sure what to expect when Hail The Monsters landed on my doorstep. My initial thought was they would just be another Finnish death metal band, but I was wrong and pleasantly surprised.
The album kicks off with Take A Breath, Now You're Going To War and as techno like keyboard sounds came ringing out of my speakers, I was slightly confused, but the track quickly switched into a hard hitting sea of guitars and impressive drum rolls.
Their music seems to be total chaos, a multitude of sounds in each and every song, but somehow they avoid turning their work into a car crash and it all works extremely well together.
Hail The Monsters is a perfectly polished series of songs, which keeps you on your toes as you don't know what direction the Finnish rockers will take you in next. Just as you think they cannot do anything to surprise you any more, something comes along that catches you completely of guard.
Hail The Monsters is completely schizophrenic in sound but great. It is impossible to pigeonhole For The Imperium due to the sheer variety of sounds they produced, but whatever they do, they do it well. They are clearly four extremely talented guys but I do think that this album might be too chaotic for some listeners, for me though, this is one of the best albums I've heard in 2013.