Ahead of their upcoming album Acts of Vulgar Piety, Imipolex’s core duo reflects on their evolution from trio to four-piece, their experimental vision, and the twisted faith fueling their sound.
1. Let’s
start at the beginning — Imipolex began as a duo in 2017. What initially
brought you and Nyssa together musically, and how did the band’s sound evolve
once John and Ryan joined?
We started
as a trio actually, but became a duo shortly before we recorded our demo. We
tried out some guitar players and landed on Ryan and John when things began
opening up after the pandemic subsided and we began to work on new material.
The difference is very apparent I think. As a four-piece we are able to create
a much more dense and layered sound.
2. Your
early demo The Order of the Epimethean Flame was already quite ambitious. In
what ways do you feel Acts of Vulgar Piety pushes your sound further?
On Acts of
Vulgar Piety, we embraced more of our death metal influences and pulled back
from the doom/sludge a bit. This album is much faster and more aggressive.That
is not to say that the doom is gone entirely; the track Machine Priests
conspicuously displays our love of YOB.The arrangements are much more
complicated and dissonant in a way that feels much more caustic than our
previous work. We really pushed the atmosphere into murky territory through the
harmonizing and layering that John and Ryan provide.
The thread
that runs through The Order of the Epimethean Flame and Acts of Vulgar Piety is
an eagerness to follow an idea wherever it leads. The four of us are eclectic
as musicians and listeners so we are pulling from very disparate sources. We
experiment with a bunch of ideas at the wall till we find what we like. Often
the inspiration comes from outside of the metal world entirely. A great example
of this is the end-section of Sol Fane (the single from Acts of Vulgar Piety)
where we are a death metal band playing a Fun House-era Stooges jam.
3. The
term “Avant Garde Black/Death Metal” can mean a lot of things. How would you
define Imipolex’s identity within that realm?
It is
always easier to say what we are not than to put a fine point on what we do.
Our music is strongly influenced by progressive music but if I were to say we
were progressive metal it would give you the wrong idea. Similarly, something
like atmospheric death metal is somewhat applicable but it doesn’t quite do the
trick. Something unwieldy like deathened-black metal?
We say avant garde sometimes. Other times we will say psychedelic. I think that
gets more at the heart of what we are doing than any other tag. We draw from
progressive music’s density and experimental song structures, but eschew the
ostentatious technicality.
We stir
pretty far away from traditional song structures. In most of our songs we do
not return to repeat sections, which gives it an amorphis atmosphere. What
glues it all together are the recurring leitmotifs.
I fear that
this answer has ended with us farther from defining us than when it
started.
4. The
new album explores mutated forms of faith. Can you talk about how that concept
took shape and how it influenced the lyrics and atmosphere of the record?
We didn’t
set out to write an album on a theme or anything. When we had the first few
songs done I noticed that for some reason (I attribute it to turbulent life and
times) I couldn’t help myself from writing songs with this same general
thematic structure. Someone places their faith in something. They take it as
granted, as a northstar they can chart their course by. Then the rug is pulled
out from underneath them like its a Twilight zone episode.
The song
depicted in the cover art is Martian Blood Mother. This elder god type being
travels to Mars and sheds her own blood on the stone. She makes this sacrifice
in order to create a species of worshippers. They come forth from the stone but
rather than worship her they devour her body and then each other. She expected
to birth a loving brood and brought forth unending conflict and suffering.
Each song
ended up being some iteration on this theme. This is part of why the album has
so many abrupt changes and subversions of what one might expect. We tried to
viscerally depict this sort of progression of belief-faith-subversion-Solipsism
in the music itself. When the time came to name the album we chose Acts of
Vulgar Piety because it speaks to this structure of belief.
There is a
phrase used to describe that tendency among christians to be generous as a form
of conspicuous consumption and a way of asserting their social dominance over
the other members of their community. It was performative. They called these
vulgar acts of piety. We reformulated it as Acts of Vulgar Piety, because our
theme is that the belief that makes piety possible is itself base, vulgar, and
corrupt.
5. With
bands like Gorguts, Krallice, and Ulcerate often mentioned as comparisons, what
artists outside of metal—if any—influence the more psychedelic or experimental
side of your sound?
I already
mentioned The Stooges as an influence. In general, I am inspired by the late
60’s psych rock. There is a collection of singles from that era called Nuggets
that is extremely influential on me. It isn’t anyone trying to be trippy or
anything like that. It is just people pushing their instruments till they get
really gritty and distorted, but ultimately creating very interesting
soundscapes. This is more reflected in our ethos and approach than any single
aspect of our music.
As far as
prog goes, Rush and Yes both creep into our sound from time to time.
Gentle Giant’s album Three Friends specifically influences what we are trying
to accomplish with Imipolex. That album does a very effective job of conveying
its narrative with mood and a few sparse lyrics. The interplay of the guitar
and keyboard in contrast to the rhythm section in the song Prologue is an
example of what I consider perfect song writing. It is somehow both catchy and
anxiety inducing.
Some stuff
that is a bit more contemporary that we draw from would be Porcupine Tree or
The Mars Volta.
6. The
new single “Sol Fane” is a punishing yet intricate listen. Why did you choose
this particular track as the first glimpse into Acts of Vulgar Piety?
I kinda
wish we had something more concise and typical of a “single” that we could have
released. In some ways Sol Fane is our most conventional song, in other ways it
isn’t. There was never going to be a catchy little tear worm coming off this
album. Maybe that is a goal for our next one. Ultimately I think Sol Fane gives
a fine overview of what it is we are doing.
7. You
recorded and mixed the album at BlackHeart Sound in New Hampshire. What was
that studio experience like, and how did it shape the final product?
We went to
Blackheart Sound for recording sessions throughout 2024. Eric Sauter recorded
and mixed the album. It was a fantastic experience working with Eric. As an
engineer he captured the best sounds possible and he got great performances out
of everybody. He got what it was we were going for immediately and therefore
did a great job with the mix 10/10 experience.
8. Given
your involvement in other projects—Nyssa with Lepra, Jus with SKVM—how do you
balance those creative outlets with Imipolex, and do the projects influence
each other?
It helps
that all three bands rent a practice studio together. Imipolex, SKVM, and Lepra
are all busy bands. This can be difficult sometimes as there are only so many
hours in the day. It is more than made up for in how it is invigorating to
stretch out creatively. The bands are all extreme metal but got about it in
very different ways.I think the biggest influence from Nyssa and I being in
different projects is that we are regularly playing with more musicians. It
naturally makes you more rounded when you have to keep up with players with
different strengths.
9. The
band name “Imipolex” is a deep literary reference (Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s
Rainbow). Does literature play a larger role in your songwriting or conceptual
thinking?
Gravity’s
Rainbow is a book that means a great deal to me. I don’t think there is any
novel that is as conceptually rich as that. Having said that, there are no
specific songs in our catalog that are specifically inspired by the book. I
have toyed around with some lyrics inspired directly by that text but I am
hesitant to do so. I don’t know that song lyrics are up to the challenge,
certainly not mine.
If Acts of Vulgar Piety is inspired by any work of prose, it would be Robert
Anton Wilson’s Illuminatus trilogy. It has pretty much the same theme as the
album; systems of belief or “realities” are both the substance of our being and
prisons which render us unable to act.
Be it
Wilson or Pynchon, they both try to draw you into the subjective experience of
the protagonist. They don’t just tell you the character is confused or show you
them being confused. They overwhelm you with excessive amounts of clear and
definite data until you are confused like the protagonist is. The book House of
Leaves takes this to its most abstract conclusion. This is the biggest
influence on Imipolex from literature.
10. Extreme
metal is constantly evolving. How do you see Imipolex fitting into the current
underground scene, both in Maine and beyond?
I like to
think that we have a place in the evolution of extreme metal. It is difficult
these days to feel confident in any predictions for the future.
11. Finally,
what can fans expect next—will there be live shows to support Acts of Vulgar
Piety, and are there any plans beyond the album release?
Our plans
for the promotion of the album are somewhat laid back. We are excited to be
bringing our friends Nixil up from Baltimore for a show in Portland ME on June
21st.
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