Does black metal have a place in the progression of jazz music? In the case of New York experimental metal trio Imperial Triumphant the answer to that question is, err, why not? With membership links associated with John Zorn and jazz fusion group Brand X, Imperial Triumphant have certainly got previous form in the art of improvisation, but here it is meted out through a punishing selection of snarled songs that focus on the ugliness of extravagance and urban decay that exists in their home city. “We only play the sounds of the New York City as we hear them,” they insist, and these are fulfilled with a dark passion that is totally convincing. Recorded live at Menegroth, The Thousand Caves in NYC, the onslaught of blast beats and rabid vocals is occasionally tempered by some exquisitely composed interludes of jazz inspired contemplation. After the full charge attack of ‘Chernobyl Blues’, for example, we are ushered into ‘Cosmopolis’ where guitarist Zachary Illya Ezrin plays an elegant guitar passage, replete with accompanying trumpet. As the song suddenly explodes like a nail bomb, elements of that fleeting jazz association reappear between the metal shards. As Vile Luxury progresses, the group’s jazz edge becomes more dominant, especially on the instrumental ‘Mother Machine’ where their musical attack mode is temporarily put on hold as they comfortably settle into an improvisational groove that belies their projected demonic intent. Equally unexpected is the operatic sequence that materialises during ‘The Filth’ and the singing electric guitar drone that opens ‘Luxury In Death’. As an exercise in taking supposedly mis-matched music to several different apocalyptic levels, Vile Luxury is a stunning achievement.