Zach Ezrin & Steve Blanco (Imperial Triumphant)

Welcome to this weeks episode of Heavy Metal History. My guests this week were 2 out of 3 members of New York based Avant-garde Black Metal Band Imperial Triumphant, guitarist Zach Ezrin aka "Ilya" and bass Steve Blanco. Born in the metropolis: Imperial Triumphant embodies the sounds of New York. The chaos, the menagerie, the perils and majesty of the greatest city on earth. We portray this great juxtaposition between high society luxury coexisting with absolute filth and urban decay. Our city is like the corpse of a giant. What was once so bright, grand and spectacular, is now filled with greedy maggots writhing towards their share of 'success'. We don't support it nor are we against. We only play the sounds of the New York City as we hear them. Ilya and Steve spoke at length about their non metal influences with jazz and classical compositions, as well as their roots in heavy metal. The conversation circled around what influences the two members and how they push the boundaries of modern metal with the classically infused and inspired compositions, which Ilya went to music school for. We start with the bands early beginnings inspired by and emulating Norwegian Black Metal Bands and the transformation over the years into a sound only current style. The band is breaking new ground and pushing the genre forward into a new era which I am excited for, this is thinking music, dense with layers and ambience. The bands imminent release "Vile Luxury" will be out July 13th through Gilead Media Records. Follow Imperial Triumphant on FACEBOOK / TWITTER / INSTAGRAMFollow the Podcast!⁠Facebook ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠YouTube⁠