IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT’s ZACHARY EZRIN Answers Burning Questions About New York City

Metropolis. The Big Apple. New Amsterdam. Empire City. Call it what you want, but New York City, with some 8 million inhabitants, is a world unto itself.

Drawing inspiration from all facets of life, ground-busting avant-garde black metal outfit Imperial Triumphant continues to syphon inspiration from the concrete jungle they call home, from the ancient monoliths looming overhead to the seas of humanity scurrying through the maze of streets and intersections.

Born and bred in Upper East Side Manhattan, guitarist and vocalist Zachary Ezrin is a New Yorker through and through. From the decibel-pushing noise to the lights and hustle and bustle that beats like a smoker’s heart – dream to some nightmare to others – Ezrin can attest to mixed reactions of those who take in the city for the first time.

“I have a friend who’s from the forests of France, like in the Alps, and he’s like ‘this place is way too much for me man. It’s just too intense.’ And then you’ll meet some college kid or whatever and they’d be like ‘I’m dying to move to New York and live there for a while,'” Ezrin shares of the NYC experience.

“I think everyone has their fantasy of what New York could provide for them and a lot of people move here and they live here for a few years and they maybe get chewed up a little bit and they get the fuck out and I think that’s totally cool. You know, it’s part of life I guess. It’s a bit different for me. I’ve never had the urge to move to New York because it’s all I’ve known.“

Ezrin is unapologetic in his love for his hometown while remaining deeply unserious towards a city that has evolved from gilded to sleazy to a bustling hub of culture. The American Dream to some, an overpopulated tourist trap where the real hidden gems lie far removed from the beaten path to others, Ezrin fields some burning questions and hot takes on the city that never sleeps ahead of the release of Imperial Triumphant‘s bold and brutal new album, Goldstar.

Is NYC really as dirty as everyone imagines?

It’s not as dirty as you think it is. It’s dirtier, like it’s way dirtier and I think what’s interesting and very sort of imperial about New York City is how close it is, like the dirtiness. It’s not like it’s only disgusting in the bad part of town. You go to like Chambers Street Station, which is the subway station right beneath City Hall where they have like all the courts and all the main buildings and the FBI headquarters and all this stuff. And it’s the most disgusting rundown subway station on the whole island. Like it’s insane how much there is. It’s really a dirty city, it’s really embarrassing when you start taking the train in other countries or other cities.

Is NY style pizza really the best?

It’s the best. Let’s be honest. I mean look, okay, you want to start cutting hairs splitting hairs and be like, “oh New Jersey’s better, New Haven’s better,” sure, but like let’s be honest, New York City pizza as a concept is better.

New York City pizza is for sure the best and I think I was asked this when I first started singing about New York, people asked me “what’s the best pizza?” And everybody is going to give you different answers, “gonna be Luigi’s, gonna be Lucali’s, it’s gonna be Linda Street, the hot new one.” I’ll tell you this. The best slice of pizza you’re ever gonna have in New York is the one you have at 2 a.m. outside the bar shit-faced and you just need some pizza. That’s the one that hits the best.

Times Square: love it or hate it?

This is some real jaded New Yorker shit: Times Square is in my opinion, fantastic. I love it and I’ll tell you why. It’s sort of like a giant little Disney World corral for all the tourists. It’s just like here’s a little block of land we put all your favourite restaurants there, we put all your favourite characters dressed up in costume, we put nothing you haven’t seen already in this place, tons of shows and bright lights and you can just stay there and stay out of the way. So in my opinion, it’s great. I never go to Times Square, so I never really deal with it. Yeah, it’s awesome. It’s a perfect place to experience a super artificial version of New York.

I remember speaking to my grandmother about this because she was from Dobbs Ferry, which is a town about 30 minutes outside of New York City. So she was saying that in the 50s, when she was in her 20s, she was coming into the city to go party and everyone would go to Times Square. In the 50s Times Square was like the coolest place. Like everywhere in the world, you know certain neighborhoods become developed and then become cool and then become overpopulated and then become lame and then they become a shell of their former self or whatever. It’s kind of interesting like that.

Imperial Triumphant‘s (our Artist Of The Month for March 2025) new record Goldstar is out on March 21. Pre-orders are available here. Get it here.