BIOGRAPHY:

* Imperio was born in August 1996, when the singer Christian Bertoncelli left Horcas (a famous argentinian band, formed by the recently deceased guitar player Osvaldo Civile, founding member of the first american thrash band: V8) , after two years of intensive shows and sharing songwriting credits of Horcas's third album. So Bertoncelli, joining forces with guitar players Gustavo Gorosito and Wan Lee, gave life to the first days if Imperio. The first gig was in December 1996, finding a warm welcome by the audience. After a series of shows in different heavy metal local venues, Imperio shows up as opening band of the germans Gamma Ray, standing proud as one of the revelation bands of 1997. In October of that year, Imperio performs its 2nd show as opening band of an international act; in this case the finnish Stratovarius, in front of 1500 people. The band finishes 1997 with two changes: Willy Varela Gonzalez joins as the new drummer, and his brother Juan Manuel Varela Gonzalez as the bass player.

* The band begins 1998 with a tour along the Atlantic Coast, sharing dates with Malón and Jerikó on January 23rd and 25th. On March the band went to San Rafael, Mendoza, to present its show for the first time outside the capital city. On May 3rd, the band plays again as opening act for the swedish guitar player Yngwie Malmsteen. At the end of the month Imperio also took part in a HM Festival with Sauron, Cúspide and the brasilians Hadamma. In this show Imperio introduced a new musician to the fans: the new keyboard player Alejandro Sierra Bas. On August 14th, Imperio showed up in the first night of the second edition of the Metal Rock Festival, a big argentinian event with the main bands of the local scene (like Horcas, Visceral, Lethal, Nepal, Alakran, etc.). There was recorded live the song "The immortal", included in the festival´s Cd, released by the label NEMS Enterprises/Malasaña 1. A week later, on August 22nd, the band opened for the germans Blind Guardian.

* Between September and November of 1998, Imperio rehearsed intensely to prepare for the recording of "Abysses in the sky", which took place the next month in La Nave De Oseberg Studios. The argentine band releases the debut album "Abismos en el Cielo" ("Abysses in the Sky"), through the independent label Blackstar 3, hitting the stores in January 1999. The artistic producer was Omar Piñeyro, a well known argentinian arranger and keyboardist. The Cd features 7 previously unreleased tracks that show why Imperio got the rewards of Best Revelation Band, 2nd. Best Band, Best Singer (Christian Bertoncelli), Best Keyboard Player (Alejandro Sierra Bas), and 2nd. Best Song ("El Inmortal") ("The Immortal") in Epopeya´s Magazine 1998 Annual Survey. Imperio´s music style is oriented to power metal and classic heavy metal, showing influences of the european bands such us Helloween, Deep Purple and Rainbow. As the own band says: "the lyrics are about personal experiences and visions of life in general, though they put away negative ideas or critics without proposals". Only one month after its release, in February 1999, the first pressing of 1000 copies was completely sold out. Meanwhile, the band appeared live in different venues of Buenos Aires, and in the East Coast city of Mar del Plata.

* On March there was a new change on the band, when Juan Manuel Varela Gonzalez switch to play guitar in place of Wan Lee (who left due to health problems). Gabriel (Yamiro) Gonzalez then, joined to play bass. Thus, the new Imperio line up makes its debut gig on March 14th , opening for the second time for the finnish band Stratovarius.

* More gigs and the following crowd increases to almost 400 fans per gig. On June 6th Imperio is the only local band invited to play with german legends Gamma Ray (for the 2nd time) and The Roland Grapow Band, in Buenos Aires. July 10th is the date when "Abysses in the sky" is officially presented live, with a new show and special guests. Meanwhile, the album is selling out its second pressing, as japanese distributors become interested to promote and sell the band's first Cd in Japan.

* Imperio finishes 1999 playing in many venues of Buenos Aires, and in the city of Gualeguay, Entre Ríos. On the summer of 2000 the band started to songwrite and work in the preproduction og the second album, "Paz en la tormenta" (Peace in the storm), meanwhile "Abismos en el cielo" is remastered and reissued with three bonus tracks: the Rata Blanca cover "El sueño de la gitana",  plus the english versions of "Para mi gloria o mi fracaso" and "El inmortal".

* "Paz en la tormenta", the second album,  was recorded between march and april 2000, in El Zoologico Studios, with Augusto Milharcic (Nepal, Alianza, A.N.I.M.A.L., Simbiosis, Nativo, La Renga) as the producer. The album features 14 songs, and has some guests musicians, the most important to mention is Roland Grapow from Helloween, who sings and plays guitar in one track. It was released in Argentina (May 29th, 2000) again through Blackstar 3, and soon will be out in Mexico (also "Abismos..."), some other countries of Latin America and Europe. "Abismos en el Cielo", will be finally released in Japan by august 2000.

* The idea for the new millenium is to do a national tour and release the two albums in the rest of America, Europe and Japan.