Imperial Triumphant Head North of the Border with Cover of Rush’s “Jacob’s Ladder”
The great Canadian prog powerhouse Rush may have hung it up for good, but there’s no shortage of bands looking to honor their work by interpreting their work in unique and exciting ways. Take this latest offering by avant garde metal three-piece, Imperial Triumphant. Just yesterday they dropped their version of “Jacob’s Ladder” off Rush’s 1980 album Permanent Waves and boy, does it take liberties.
Where the original song was your typical prog rock fare by Rush, Imperial Triumphant turned up the aggression with their version. It’s the third cover track they’ve released in recent memory, with the band previously tackling Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” and Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia.”
Bassist Steve Blanco said the band’s version of “Jacob’s Ladder” was a representation of their love and admiration of Rush, calling them a major influence of their work.
“Ascension towards a higher place through twelve ancient steps of Jacob’s Ladder. Rush’s influence is undoubtedly far and wide in so much heavy music, and although we consider our music quite different from theirs, a strong thread holds it all together. As big fans of their giant body of work, we wanted to include a song in our cover series to pay tribute to this great unique band. We also wanted the cover image to reflect the legendary Permanent Waves artwork.”
The track’s definitely worth checking out below. The band’s most recent album Spirit of Ecstasy came out last year and they’ve since been releasing singles here and there.
Remember that Imperial Triumphant have a tour coming up in the next few days with Behemoth before eventually going on tour for two dates with Baroness this November. Dates for both runs will be available below the video.
Imperial Triumphant tour dates
w/ Behemoth
Sept. 10, 2023 – Reading, PA – Reverb
Sept. 15, 2023 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
Sept. 19, 2023 – St. Louis, MO – The Hawthorne
Sept. 20, 2023 – Denver, CO @ Globe Hall *
Sept. 21, 2023 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister *
Sept. 24, 2023 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory
Sept. 26, 2023 – Reno, NV @ Virginia Street Brewhouse
Sept. 27, 2023 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
Sept. 28, 2023 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
Sept. 30, 2023 – Anaheim, CA @ The Parish *
Oct. 1, 2023 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
*=Imperial Triumphant only
Imperial Triumphant tour dates
w/ Baroness
Nov. 28, 2023 – Boston, MA – Royale
Nov. 29, 2023 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
