It feels illegal to witness Steve Blanco without his unsettling golden mask. For those unaware, Blanco is the bassist of the most popular avant-garde metal band of today, Imperial Triumphant. Their 2025 LP "Goldstar" holds the title of my AOTY plus a print on an all-black shirt, and today I've learned that their bassist does much more than twang and chug -- he's a classically trained pianist. Under his name, he's released a handful of romanticism and modern classical albums, one of which predates his time with Imperial. His newest endeavor is the "Shadow Arc Suite," a three-part composition blending ambient, jazz, classical, and, of course, sadly to a lesser extent, avant-garde metal.

"Shadow Arc Suite" may have been one of the best or one of the worst albums I've heard this year. During this review, I may not be able to form a strong, concrete opinion because at any moment it could drastically change. I'll be paying attention most to the bigger elements of the album, with mere mentions of the numerous oddities sprinkled throughout. There's no doubt that Steve Blanco is a skilled pianist. His improvisational skills shine in this suite, or so I think. There's no way this piece, with its downright absurdity and chaos, was composed. He goes from delicate (lemme show off some classical music terms) mezzo-piano sections to col pugno, or slammin' the keys with your fist. Each part is practically the same material-wise; Blanco's manic piano and the second most important element, the drums. While Blanco is off improvising and doing god-knows-what to that poor piano, blast beats are constantly firing off. They sound 150% generated (just like the album cover, boom), but their presence, compared to the piano, is an interesting contrast. Occasionally, they break into a jazzy, swinging feel, but they'll eventually end up reverting to blast beats. These two main instruments create a dense, hectic, and complete wall of sound.

To earn the privilege of adding the "ambient" tag to the album's Bandcamp page, part 2 starts with thunder and rain. In the first two parts, some strings are added to further the classical feel, but I can't get too into them due to the constant rampage happening in the background. "Electronic" is also a tag, probably referring to the drums.

...You know what? I don't know what the hell is going on in the "Shadow Arc Suite," and I'm not sure I ever will. I can give it some credit: I do hear some Imperial Triumphant influence. Is this record a progressive masterpiece? Or is this just Blanco's subterfuge to do whatever bullshit he wants and pass it off as avant-garde?.