Imperial Triumphant have always thrived on pushing the boundaries of what extreme music can be. With Goldstar, they take that formula and refine it into something that feels simultaneously more concise and also somehow more unhinged. The album captures the frantic, opulent, and decayed spirit of New York City, drenched in jazz, avant-garde metal, and cinematic chaos. While past releases leaned into sprawling compositions, Goldstar sharpens their vision into bite-sized, controlled bursts of absolutely beautiful madness.
From Eye Of Mars, it’s clear the band is embracing an even wider sonic palette. Warped piano melodies and haunting spoken word sections set an eerie tone before everything erupts into discordant riffing and unpredictable rhythmic shifts. Gomorrah Nouveaux follows, drenched in technical precision and off-kilter grooves. Lexington Delirium, featuring none other than Meshuggah’s Tomas Haake, is a definite highlight. It’s an ominous, hypnotic piece that mirrors the towering structures and ceaseless motion of the city.
Imperial Triumphant have never been a band that follows conventional rules by any means, but Goldstar takes that to another level by weaving in influences that on paper shouldn’t work together, yet somehow do (and well). Hotel Sphinx dips into filmic inspirations, channeling the eerie grandeur of Kubrick’s The Shining with a creeping, jazz-infused tension. Meanwhile, NEWYORKCITY delivers a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 47-second blast of grindcore, featuring Yoshiko Ohara’s ethereal yet nightmarish vocal presence. And then there’s the title track, Goldstar, an unsettling barbershop quartet interlude that somehow feels right at home among the album’s metallic chaos.
The latter half of the record doesn’t let up. Rot Moderne is a full-scale sonic assault, layering frenetic instrumentation over an unrelenting rhythmic foundation. Pleasuredome, which ropes in both Dave Lombardo and Tomas Haake, stands out for its surprising use of Brazilian Maracatu rhythms, again something you wouldn’t expect to hear on an extreme metal album but Imperial Triumphant somehow pulls it off seamlessly. The album closes with Industry Of Misery, a track that perfectly encapsulates the band’s ability to craft beauty from dissonance. With shimmering guitar lines, creeping piano notes, and a haunting sense of finality, it leaves you breathless, wondering how you even got there in the first place.
Goldstar is sure to stand out in Imperial Triumphant’s discography for its ability to balance accessibility with their signature brand of chaos. While it’s still an avant-garde fever dream, the shorter track lengths and clear thematic through-line make it feel more focused than some of their past works. If you’ve been intimidated by their previous releases, this might be the perfect entry point. It’s unpredictable but above all, it shows the limitless creativity that keeps Imperial Triumphant at the forefront of experimental metal.
So ‘GoldStar’ triumphs with a score of 8 out of 10
Reviewer – Alan Robinson @alan_robinson_photography