IMPERIOUS REX supported German Thrash godfathers DESTRUCTION on their recent gig in Athens, Greece and - even their time schedule was quite strict - raised the interest of the majority of metalheads present at the time. Grabbing their 'giveaway' CD it was a nice surprise to check out that their metallic frenzy is also obvious throughout the album's whole tracklist.
A total of 23 minutes for ten tracks? Hell yeah! IMPERIOUS REX will haunt you done if you are fond of quite early MEGADETH/METALLICA but also 80s RAGE or ANVIL. Meaning: Speed Metal to the bone with quite a boost in the instrumentation and some nonstop fury in the music making. The diabolic trio is hailing from America and its vibe is non-evil the most, flirting mainly with rockin' guitar riffs and fast drums while the vocals have this 'twisted' Hetfield/Mustaine/Peavey smell.
The production is quite exciting for a self-financed release, plus the sound shall apply mostly to 80s metalheads since it's quite raw, yet neat and honest. Lurking melodies in the guitars themes act as a helping hand in order to prevent the album from looking single-dimensional. Not to forget, I think Kaz joined the band after the recordings for Speed Demon; plus, I have not heard IMPERIOUS REX's debut album, The Beast (2007), so as to come up with any comparison.
The band has already uploaded a sample of two tracks from their forthcoming third album, while you can anyway have a glimpse (there or in the band's MySpace page) of this album's songlist, too. I think that metalheads wanting their Metal fast and raw with an on-the-edge Thrash approach will be glad owning this piece of American Speed Metal. Really hope one day IMPERIOUS REX will perform again in my country as the headlining act; really hope so.