IMPERIA is an atmospheric metal band who’s sound is especially evident by the distinguished voice of Helena Iren Michaelsen who sings in a variety of styles from deep emotional feelings to extreme operatic expressions and grunts.

IMPERIA’s music is full of vivacity, it is heavy, bombastic and orchestral, but it also contains elements of pure metal. The band is a true cross-border unit of musicians originating from different countries: Norway, Finland, Germany and Belgium.

The first release of IMPERIA was a cover-song “Lotus Eaters” for a Dead Can Dance tribute album which was released in the spring of 2004. In the summer of 2004 IMPERIA played their first gigs and also recorded their debut album “The Ancient Dance of Qetesh”, which was released in autumn of 2004.

In 2005 the band recorded another project of Helena called Angel. The album “A Woman’s Diary – Chapter I” was released by Black Lotus Records in the spring of 2005. Though the style of the album was very varied and less metal the band succeeded to demonstrate their versatility and musicianship.

Towards the end of 2005 IMPERIA had written enough new material for the second full length. The band teamed up with the German Massacre Records. The second IMPERIA album was titled as “Queen of Light” and it was released in the early 2007.

To support the album IMPERIA toured European festivals like TUSKA in Finland, Battle Of Metal in Germany and Magic Circle Festival II in Germany. Imperia was also featured on the MCM festival DVD with two live-tracks

In the autumn of 2010 IMPERIA started recording their third album titled as “Secret Passion”. The recordings took place in different studios and countries this time. “Secret Passion” was released in 2011 and it received excellent reviews in the metal press. The band played gigs in several countries and festivals like Metal Female Voices XI in Belgium and Magic Circle Festival in Helsinki.

In 2014 preparations of the next album started to take place. In April 2015 IMPERIA entered the Spacelab studio in Germany once more and recorded 13 tracks for the new album. The title “Tears Of Silence” was chosen as a title for the new album, which was released the same year

In 2017 IMPERIA started writing material for the new album and by the early 2018 everything was ready to get busy again. The band aimed for more compact and straight album as before, which would still have the typical Imperia sound. Once again the band teamed up with Oliver Philipps for the orchestral and vocal recordings. This time band travelled to Finland to Fantom Studio for the drum recordings. A studio known for the metal drum sound and the expertise of Samu Oittinen – drummer himself too. For the Mix and The Mastering band got together with Jacob Hansen, who had mixed their Secret Passion album before. The symbolic title Flames Of Eternity was chosen for the new album.

In 2019 Imperia played at the release Athens Festival in Greece. Soon after the drummer Steve Wolz decided to leave the band in order to concentrate on his family life. A replacement was found in an old Dutch friend, Merijn Mol. Merijn and Jan have been playing together already in 1994 and have recortded several albums together with Danse Macabre and Satyrian. With this line up band played at the Female Voices fest in Holland and another show in Belgium. 

In the early 2020 the band started recording the next album and by April the recordings were finished. In the summer band met in Germany for a photo and video shoots. As always, Oliver Philipps took care of the orchestrations and Jacob Hansen mixed and mastered the album. The new album became the most epic and grand Imperia album ever and therefore it was decided to split it on 2 separate CDs. Almost 80 minutes of music varying from thrash metal riffs and guitar shred to epic cinematic athmospheres and intimate pianoballads are all included in this album

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Let IMPERIA take you on an epic journey, to The Last Horizon