The Leaves Eyes vibe may come to mind while listening to the album, as Imperia is paying homage to their homeland predecessors in epic "To Valhalla I Ride". The opening "Dream Away" is a captivating, strong track, with impressive rhythmic intro, building and holding its tension from beginning to the end, and it flows right into another very danceable tune, "Starlight", a song with genuinely nice folk undertones, which are scattered, yet nicely equilibrated within the soundscapes throughout the album. The metal and the symphonic parts are perfectly counterpoised and what Imperia displays on The Last Horizon is a result of its assurance of their compositional and instrumental skills, alongside strong production, mixing and mastering. That being put alongside multiple layered and extremely luscious sound, with a steady rhythm section, straightforward guitar melodies and royal orchestrations, which all fall into their place are what makes the essence of this album. With her versatility and her astounding control over her powers, she can sound like a lovelorn siren, a wretched witch or a fierce Valkyrie and she transits from one persona to another in seconds, with no flaws, no falling-downs, but the opposite of that – this is what makes the atmosphere of the album so strong. Like on previous Imperia releases, Helena Iren’s impeccable and tremendous vocal work is the stellar feature of the album her voice is so multi-dimensional and expressive. But the common thread through both discs is powerful storytelling, which does not slow down from the beginning to the end. While the line between the discs is thin, it is still very notable, as the first half is focused more on epic, bombastic sounds, whilst the second disc is a bit more experimental and atmospheric. With their latest release, Imperia decided not to play the safe card, and they delivered an enthralling voyage, which lasts for over 72 minutes divided into two discs. And while many have fallen into the clichés over the fondness in using (female) operatic vocals alongside a rich orchestration work, Imperia’s sixth full-length album falls far from that – simply not because it would bring something extremely original or new to the sound, but because what they deliver is a strong sound, with cohesive layers and a lot of dynamics within it. Over the course of the last two decades, when symphonic metal became one of the most prominent genres in the melodic metal department, we have witnessed an explosion of bands trying to reinvent the formula, but there is only so much space to do so. The Last Horizon is a perfect example that sometimes originality is overrated. Imperia - The Last Horizon (2021) - Review
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