The first thing to note about Goldstar, the new offering from NYC mentalists Imperial Triumphant, is that it’s a lot more self-contained than it’s predecessor Spirit of Ecstasy; There are precious few guest stars popping in here – and no Kenny G, tragically, or his son Max – but that in no way hampers the widescreen ambitions of Zachary Ezrin and company.

As deliciously ambitious in intent as ever, Goldstar is, in two words, simply stunning. The album’s greatest asset is, improbably, it’s sheer listenability; Few bands can make a piece of music as simultaneously dense and foreboding yet compelling enough to make you just immerse yourself in it’s opulent madness again and again as these guys do with the blackened neoclassicicsm of Hotel Sphinx, and fewer still can make a piece of seemingly unhinged grindcore the fifty-second centrepiece of a brainiac progressive metal outin

Not only can Imperial Triumphant do this, but they do it without a second of what’s on offer here sound arch, cynical or calculating. When they throw the kitchen sink on Rot Moderne you sense it’s just the most natural thing in the World of IT, and you also sense the competition looking blankly at it’s instruments, wondering where they go from here. And when they slip into a filthy, morbid groove on closer Industry of Misery, powered by frankly insane drumming from Kenny Grohowski… expect to see a few familiar faces down at Cash Converters next week…

Pleasuredome is the hulking highlight of the piece, featuring as it does some off the scale percussive assistance from Dave Lombardo (a big fan of the  band, natch); But it’s not just Dave’s planet sized talent that makes the song; It’s Imperial Triumphant’s effortless weaving of a sonic tapestry more than worthy of the great man’s musical payload. Steve Blanco‘s bass melts in and out of focus in woozy, mesmerising fashion, complementing the adamantine solidity of Ezrin’s cut throat riffage perfectly.

In my review notes for this album I ended with one word: frightening. But fright is surely the wrong response to an album like this. Adoration might be better, for this album is certainly worthy of that; Or maybe wonderment, I don’t know. Maybe I could say I just adore the frightening wonderment of it all and leave it at that…

Goldstar releases on March 21st