Imperia is a real multi-cultural band; guitarist John Stam is from the Netherlands, bass player Gerry Verstreken is from Belgium, guitarist Jan Yrlund is from Finland, drummer Steve Wolz is from Germany and keyboard player Audun Grønnestad and singer Helena Michaelsen are both from Norway.

Some of you might know Helena Michaelsen from her work with Trail of Tears. 'Queen of Light' is their second album, their first one 'The Ancient Dance of Qetesh' was released back in 2004 on the small Ebony Tears label.

So is Imperia just another female fronted symphonic metal band (?) that have been showing up left and right since bands like Nightwish, Evanescence and Within Temptation have had such big success over the last couple of years...

Yes, to some extend they are... but they do have a darker and harder edge to their music than the above mentioned bands. The style is unmistakable symphonic, bombastic and epic power metal and the oriental flair they let flow into some of their songs is very cool. Take a listen to "Fata Morgana" - a very cool song and my personal favorite on the album - this song really shows the potential that lies within this band. Sadly not all of the 13 songs have this high standard, and the album does lack some in the production department, especially rhythm section is not up to par with the rest.

Helena Michaelsen's operatic vocal deliverance is bound to draw parallels to Sharon del Adel and Tarja Turunen, and without ever reaching their high level she still does a good job on this album. Genre fans can buy this album blind-folded because this is solid craftsmanship and Imperia are surely going in the right direction with this album.

Recommended tracks; "Mirror", "Broken Wings", "Norway" & "Fata Morgana".