It's good to see that Emin Guliyev and his Violet Cold released another album this year. Not only because his music has this quality assurance not many other projects do, but also because it's been very gloomy times in his country and around the world. So I couldn't leave out his Empire of Love that stands for everything I believe in as well.
Guliyev is based in Azerbaijan and earlier this year he was posting very alarming texts on his FB profile about the war and the situation within the "invading" (although it's obviously not so easy, the history of the Caucasus region is a mess) country. Even if he was not in danger directly, this kind of anarchic and pacifist approach to life is not appreciated during times like this. Not to mention the LGBTQ friendliness and feminism (I love the title of Shegnificant) he shows so explicitly on this album. It's especially good to listen to it.
Let's talk a bit about the music itself too. It's a continuation of what we know from his previous albums - the crazy combination of black metal's heaviness and extremely catchy pop's energy. It is best heard in the album's best track Pride with the electropop, computer-enhanced female vocals singing out the ridiculously catchy chorus and the metal screams balancing the darkness-fun ratio. As we also know it to be the case, the pace here is absolutely extreme, it is especially due to the black metal-like drums all over the place. But there's some new things (or at least not so ordinary for the project's music) as well, the intro in Cradle begins with some traditional folk music and Be Like Magic that includes some dark and dangerously sounding recitation (if not rapping).
Empire of Love costs whatever you want to pay.
Check: Pride
Country: Azerbaijan
Genre: electropop metal
