I’ve never been to a listening party before so really didn’t know what to expect. Any way there I was part of a group of about 70 people who gathered in a Northampton cinema on a Saturday afternoon to be treated to a meet and greet with the lads from Empyre and a sonic and visually stimulating voyage through their new album, Relentless, which drops on 31 March 2023.
Henrik Steenholdt, Did Coles, Grant Hockley and Elliot Bale introduced the album track by track and then took questions about each track and at the end of the afternoon general questions about all things Empyre. It was a great experience. The boys were very excited about both their audio and visual work and there was a true atmosphere of friendship between them and those of us present.
And what an album. Scaling new heights with the addition of orchestration and sampling this is an album that will draw huge attention to the band, and propel them on their way to bigger venues.
Following the listening party we all moved to The Black Prince pub in Northampton to be treated to a live rendition of the album and some tracks from the ever popular Self Aware album.
The room was full of Empyre devotees and it’s fair to say that the night was a roaring success. Even vocalist Henrik seemed surprised and touched when the audience started singing song lyrics back at him. From start to finish this was a band on top form and their joy at being able to bring their music to their fans was clear.
All the tracks from the new album were there kicking off with the newest pre-album release, Waking Light and working through all other 9 tracks, together with a cover of Titanium and My Bad, Stone, Homegrown, Only Way Out and New Republic from the Self Aware album.
These guys are tremendous musicians and each of them gave their all on the night. Empyre always say that they are not a party band and, tongue in cheek, that they are “Killing The Vibe” well from my point of view I don’t think that vibe will do anything but keep being resurrected.
Support for this gig came from a tremendous South Devon band by the name of Ethyrfield who laid down a very fine opening set.