IMPERIAL AGE – The Dome, London

Do you ever get that feeling when things do not seem to work out, whatever good you try to do? This is what Imperial Age must have felt while organising their last, almost four years in the making, tour, after Covid (twice), the Russia-Ukraine war (more below) and (ongoing) visa problems that kept the band from touring.

Nevertheless, they finally managed to land in the UK to deliver their final show at The Dome in London, with some great news announced mid-set. I still remember seeing them for the first time at the O2 Islington Academy, years ago, supporting Therion with the Inner-Mongolian band Ego Fall. Being a fan of Within Temptation, Epica and Nightwish, I did enjoy their set back then, so I was pleased to hear that they were finally coming back.

A bit of a background note, Imperial Age are a symphonic-power metal band from Russia that publicly protested against the invasion of Ukraine last year, and gathered financial aid to help Ukrainians, which led them to flee to Turkey, from where they also had to leave for … and here comes the good news, the UK. The band announced that they had received a letter from the Government confirming it granted them indefinite leave to remain, hopefully, we will enjoy more of them.

The show started with the British supporting band Control The Storm. They are a female-fronted power (with a hint of pirate) metal band, one I have not heard of before, so I was curious about them. They warmed up the audience well, especially with the cover of Bonnie’s ‘Hero’, which had the audience well engaged singing along.

Overall, the band worked well on stage, with plenty of interactions between the members, and the sensual moves by lead singer Firouzeh Razavi, which were appreciated by some in the audience at the front. Their sound was good and well harmonised, and the songs were catchy and not heavy, almost bordering the rock genre (almost always a crowd-pleaser).

After a short break, it was time for Imperial Age. First entering the stage was drummer Manuele Di Ascenzo, followed by Tim Schaling on the bass and guitarist Ryan Thomson, and the heart of the band, Alexander Osipo, Jane Odintsova and Anna Moiseeva. The crowd gathered very close to the stage, leaving no space to move, and as there was no pit, I got stuck with a limited angle for my pictures.

The band kicked off with a cavalcade song, a perfect intro to such a gig, ‘Windborn’, with the three singers’ voices mixing and overlapping smoothly and softly – a very good example of vocal harmony. This was followed by ‘Death Guard’ (from their first album) and ‘The Monastery’, the first ballad of the night.

While the singers have been playing as Imperial Age for some years now, the drummer and the guitar player only joined in the last few months but fit very well with the style and image of the band. However, the bass player (Tim) was a last-minute replacement, as their member got stuck in Germany due to visa issues (I believe this tour was, somehow, jinxed). Nevertheless, the band was well prepared and Tim made it like as if he’d been with the band for a long time (maybe he was a fan?).

Being a symphonic-power metal band, Imperial Age music is often majestic and very empowering, with orchestral elements aplenty, which, live, had to be replaced by backing tracks. I know most people do not like it, thinking this can undermine the performance, however, the band still delivered an amazing show, capturing the audience with great smiles and warm hearts. You could tell that Imperial Age were eager to perform, and their show felt like a dream finally coming true.

The band went on with ‘The Awakening’ and ‘To the Edge of the Known’ before leading into, what Alexander called a ‘prophetic song’, ‘Distant Shoes’, which gave me shivers as the lyrics went like ”Far away we have to go with no choice of returning…Far, far ahead over spaces unknown” – it also felt that the chorus of this piece had some musical influence from their motherland.

The band kept performing a mix of new and old material, cutting across all their catalogue. Throughout the evening, they often interacted with the audience, had small talks, and drinks were poured for the band members. There were plenty of hair windmills and little choreography. At one point a goth-looking pirate started swinging his balloon sword, singing out loud to most songs, which Alexander took on stage for a bit before giving it back – that was a cute moment.

The show ended with my favourite tune, ‘The Legacy of Atlantis’ and ‘Call of the Towers’, which had a great organ played middle point that would have been amazing to hear as a live option, but one cannot have it all.

I was pleased to hear all the different influences in the songs played, it seemed a bit like a journey into their evolution as a band, with the latest album definitely having a more mature and clean style, drifting away from the influence of eastern musical references.

After the gig, the majority of the crowd moved to the merch. Both bands were lovely to talk to and took the time to meet with their fans (and myself), despite the usual pressure from the venue to wrap up and go as soon as possible.