Originally a feature in Crunch Magazine Episode 1 – HERE , I caught up with my old mate, Ben Porter from Imperium!

It’s been a busy few years for London’s Imperium, as they have risen through the ranks of relative unknowns, from becoming firm favourites with the Metal Album Of The Fortnight Club, winning Metal To The Masses slots and playing Bloodstock, and becoming firm favourites in the UK Scene and now sat on the verge of their 2^ndEP release, we asked vocalist Ben about the bands rise from somewhat obscurity….

We’ve been playing as a band for 7 or 8 years, and we prioritised building music and a fan base as we wanted to explode onto the scene, with what we did with the EP launch. We basically made fans and friends like yourselves, letting blogs and facebook groups have music early to create a bit of a buzz and allow us to come out with a bang. So, by the time we won M2TM people already had started to know who we were.

Ben

Obviously a win in London for M2TM and the subsequent spot at Bloodstock was a big deal for you, was it a ‘Fuck Yeah..we have arrived’ moment?

In a way.. NO, we’d already done M2TM twice, over the previous three years, so we knew that it was a slog, and it was just a thumbs up, you’ve got things right this time, but the Bloodstock performance itself was a massive Fuck Yeah… it gave us the confidence and confirmation that we had not only done it right, and we could make an impact!

Ben

And is that performance the key to the future or does the slog just continue and that high soon become forgotten?

We came of the back of it on a massive high but realised pretty quickly that although we had made some new fans and given a great performance, the next day we were back to the grind of small venues, and hustling to get people to a show just like before.

Ben

Following on from Bloodstock, we saw you a few months ago at Coalville Metal Invasion, where you smashed out one of the sets of the weekend, do you go into shows like that with much more confidence these days?

No we still get a little anxious every now and then, In hopes all our plans on stage come together, of course we are more confident that the early shows, but we aren’t going into shows thinking we are the pro’s and can’t coast!!

Ben

Right, bringing us bang up to date, we are only a few days away from your new EP ‘When Kings Meet’ how does the new EP differ from the first?

The new EP has more power behind it, this feels like these four songs are where, at least for me, I feel vocally satisfied with what I delivered and brought to the EP and the Music.

Ben

And what about the tracks, obviously we have heard many of them out on the road, are you guys catching up with tracks that you have been playing live for a while?

We wrote some of these tracks around the time the first EP came out, with our latest track being Iron Thunder, they are of a similar time, and could all of sat on one album, but we have grown and refined a bit over the 14 months since the debut EP came out

Ben

And what about new songs? What else have you got in the melting pot?

Well as of the 23^rd, everything we play in our set will be available to buy or stream, but we have loads of riffs and stuff written ready to start building the next new track… we like to go with quality not quantity, so although we could do a few more EP’s that focus on the bangers, we would like to do an album, with absolutely no filler, but we’d like to do that with a record label, As to be honest we would like the extra push a label can bring and grow much bigger from this point, so we may have to sell our souls a little.

Ben

So selling your souls a little, but not selling out right?

Of course, we don’t plan on changing our sound, our influences are our influences, and we wear some of them on our sleeve, but some are more subtle, we are not trying to be corporate or manufactured, we have that range of songs and style that we can play with everyone from blackened thrash through to groove, or traditional metal, and that’s just what we do, and I’ve spent a lot of time finding my voice and where it feels right to me.. from growls to cleans, to now being me.

Ben

Studio wise, how does it all work?

James our drummer does our pre-recordings, which are a good example of what we are trying to achieve and then we head to Hidden Tracks in Kent, and James tracks the drums, then we do guitars, the bass and then vocals, Oz Craggs then tweaks and adds his bits of production genius that makes us go ‘Oh Wow’ we then have a band listen and as long as we are all jumping around excited and then it’s a go.. and we get the masters back a week or so later and send it out to people like yourself to review!

Ben

The same day as album launch you are having a bit of a party, tell us about the other bands on the bill?

So we have Dead Before Mourning who have been friends with us since the beginning, and even whilst they were on hiatus, so stoked to be able for them to join us, we wanted to make it a full on thrash party so our pals in the Tri-fecta joined us… that’s Hellfekted, Thrasherwolf and Blacklist so expect them all to be bringing the riffs, and then our new local mates War Grave opening the night, they give us that Pain Killer era Judas Priest vibe and will get the party started!

This is all at the Fighting Cocks In Kingston, it’s like our second home, even if there’s not a band on it’s a place we feel comfortable to relax and have a drink, and we maybe could of got a bigger famous venue in the city, but we wanted to play in a place that’s supported us and trusted us since the start.. where we know we can have a good party.

Ben

Where do you go from here?

We have a couple more festivals this year, Derby Alt fest playing with Gama Bomb and Hellripper plus a ton more! And Rabid Fest playing on the same show as Blaze Bailey and a few other shows before the year ends. Then we are planning a tour in the new year, March, April time across the UK…. The ‘When Kings Meet Tour’ so we will be hopefully popping up in a city near all of you then!

Ben

The new Imperium EP – When Kings Meet, is released independently on the 23^rd September, available to stream in all the normal places or purchase CD/Digital Downloads from BandCamp