Tonight was planned to be the first of many things for me: a new venue, three new bands I had never seen before, and watching Mark Shelly work for a change. We were both invited to this tour, and I decided to take the opportunity to watch bands from a genre I normally wouldn’t listen to. So, both Mark and I jumped in the car straight after finishing our day jobs and headed into the capital, avoiding quite a significant amount of traffic, making our way to the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
After a bite to eat and naturally with a pint (or two in my case) to help wash it down, we both had a moment to get over the cost of a simple cheeseburger at London prices. I could not do too many nights out like that. It is just a shame that there was not a Wetherspoon’s nearby, or at least one we could find. Fortunately for us, the bar happened to be directly next door to the venue, and with the current time of year, that proved to be extremely helpful as the chill was setting in.
Shepherd’s Bush Empire stood tall as it was lit up by the external lights, and a queue was already forming around the corner. So, we collected our tickets from the box office by a very friendly member of staff and headed into the venue. Naturally, Mark Shelly took this opportunity to have a small moan as he had to head backstage with his cameras whilst I made my way up a flight of stairs to my very comfortable seat for the evening. From the balcony, this place looked extremely regal, with three floors looking down on quite a small stage. Or at least that appeared to be the case from my viewpoint, as I am not used to being on a level higher than the stage. But it did give me a great vantage point to oversee my colleague, ensuring he takes photographs for this review rather than just bossing people around.
The atmosphere was set before a single note was played, followed by three figures appearing in their signature shimmering golden masks and black robes, looking much like priests of a dystopian high society. The visual impact is immediate: they look like statues from a haunted Chrysler Building.
Witnessing Imperial Triumphant at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire is an exercise in sensory overload. Musically, the performance served as a masterclass in controlled dissonance. Zachary Ezrin utilised his skills to the fullest on guitar whilst behind him, the rhythm section, bassist Steve Blanco and drummer Kenny Grohowski, delivered a frantic, jazz-infused assault.
There was a lot of energy in the pit. People who were moshing and crowd-surfing were really into it, and it was clear they were having a great time on a Wednesday night. I could see from where I was sitting that even the people in the stands were headbanging and clapping along with each song. This group’s reaction showed that the band could appeal to a wide range of people and that live metal shows can bring people together. I thought about how live music makes people feel like they belong and are happy in a group, even for people like me who don’t usually like that kind of music. People clearly liked their performance at Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
By the time their set ended, the whole audience – including myself – was left momentarily stunned, fully immersed in the golden, magnetic atmosphere that defines modern experimental metal.
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Master Boot Record (MBR) took the stage and gave a performance that came across less like a concert and more like a high-octane system reset. Opening the set with the crushing “CONFIG.”, MBR immediately bridged the gap between ’90s chiptune nostalgia and modern technical metal. The visual aesthetic was striking; a massive screen behind the band flickered with MS-DOS installation routines, BIOS menus, and retro-gaming footage, perfectly mirroring their “computer-processed” sound.
The musicianship was top-notch. Guitarist Edoardo Taddei played breakneck, neoclassical shred parts at “Sonic-the-Hedgehog” speed, and drummer Giulio Galati gave the ornate theatre’s floorboards a thunderous, groove-heavy backbone. The project can turn cold, binary compositions into warm, mosh-pit-ready anthems, as shown by standout tracks like “INTERRUPT” and the famous DOOM theme.
After Master Boot Record concluded their set with a compelling display of digital metal, the transition to Gautier Serre’s avant-garde project Igorrr was immediately apparent. Igorrr’s entrance reinforced the evening’s theme of genre fluidity, demonstrating that traditional musical classifications hold little relevance to their performance.
The performance served as a masterclass in chaos. Opening with the ominous, bass-heavy vibration of “Daemoni,” the band immediately established a ritualistic atmosphere. The stage design was haunting, featuring risers that seemed clawed by emaciated hands and a looming, smoke-spewing monk in the background.
The track for me was by no means “ADHD”. Just listening to this in my car was not enough to prepare me for the sound that filled Shepherd’s Bush Empire. My head was a mess, heart pounding with anticipation for the onslaught still to come from the remainder of their set.
The vocal interplay was still the most important part of the show. Marthe Alexandre’s mezzo-soprano voice gave an angelic, operatic sound that cut through the violence, especially in the stunning performance of “Silence.” JB Le Bail’s guttural, blackened screams kept the set firmly in the realm of extreme metal.
Overall, the night was a hit for Mark and me, and despite the rough weather on the journey back to Oxfordshire and the fact that I had to attend to my usual day job mere hours after returning home, the evening will be a memory that lasts a lifetime.
