Impakt! - Imperia

With a name like Impakt!, you may think this has old school EBM written all over it. It is anything but that. Impakt! hail from Finland. The band consists of former members of the cult act Advanced Art that were active from 1985-1995.

'Imperia' is the impressive debut for Impakt! You get 12 songs, of which 3 are remixes. The sound can really be summed up in one word, "addictive". The more you listen the more you like. There is a steady dose of 90's inspired electro beats paralleled by crisp vocal production. Musically it is an amped up synthpop sound bordering on the futurepop realm.

Most of the tracks are very up-tempo and dance floor friendly. A few songs slow down a bit and have a stronger emphasis on the vocals. "Coil Around Your Soul" starts off slow and continues to build and suck you in. "Coming Down With Fire" will captivate you with its hooks and memorable chorus. "Tie Your Wings Downs" is another strong track that takes some inspiration from Depeche Mode in the vocal style. "October Rust" reminds me slightly of Ravenous circa 1998. "No Refuge For A Memory" and "Your Cleansing Love" take it down a notch or two during the midway point of the disc. "Shameless", "We Own The Night" and "For Our Lost Empires" pick it back up again to complete the album before the remixes start.

I usually don't care much for remixes, but the Autodafeh remix of "October Rust" is very cool. Retrogramme and Grandchaos also contribute their reinterpretation services to 'Imperia'.

"Imperia" isn't the second coming of Advanced Art. 'Imperia' is however a very well crafted electro synthpop album with plenty of punch. When you have the EKP stamp on the album you know time was taken to deliver the goods. Your logical next step is to purchase 'Imperia' at your local store or favorite mailorder and dive into some sonic bliss! Oct 26 2012