There are people who may wonder as to the validity of any comment I may make with regards to Impaled and the release of their new CD, The Dead Shall Dead Remain. Not only have I known the guitarist, Leon del Muerte, since he was a member of Exhumed and has generously given me webspace to host the sound clips for my website, but bassist Ross Sewage has also contributed interviews, and Raul and Sean… well, they haven’t done anything for me, so fuck those guys. It doesn’t help that Leon further tried buttering me up by making an extremely early advance copy of the album available to me and adding me to the thanks list of the album, as well as the entire band thanking my mother, although I’m not sure why… The album contains three re-recorded tracks from their From Here To Colostomy demo, which received a great amount of praise from me in a prior review, plus the sampler track they recorded for Necropolis which is available on their website, along with seven new tracks. The album starts out with "Fæces Of Death", which completely blew me away with their fluidity and musical depth, mixing old school grind with Heartwork-era Carcass riffing, old swedish death metal rhythm (Dismember) and groove and some of the greatest high-low vocal trade offs I’ve heard in ages, with a few Last Days Of Humanity harmonized vocals tossed in for fun. This leads into the first re-recording, "Flesh & Blood". The CD version of this track is simply amazing, I wasn’t impressed with the demo version, but they greatly improved this track, making their self-proclaimed anthem a very thrash-worthy track. "Trocar" is a much slower track and shows off a bit more of the band’s old swedish death metal influence with a slow chugging rhythm, mixed with the thrashing grind they’re reknown for. "Spirits Of The Dead" is a bit lifeless compared to the original version, however is still a decent grinding track. The next two tracks, "Immaculate Defecation" and "Fæcal Rites" are my two favorite tracks from the demo, and their re-recordings were flawless, if not better than the originals, plenty of thrashy grind that almost changes you into a primitive beast, tossing your feces about. "Back To The Grave" shows off some of Impaled’s assposeurness, as the track opens up with the same clip used on some White Zombie track, who’s name escapes me at the moment. I probably shouldn’t be admitting I can point out a White Zombie song, shouldn’t I? Oh well… fuck you guys! Anyway… the song is straight ahead grind with a lot of Last Days Of Humanity vocal effects, which I happen to fucking love. Up next is "All That Rots", the one track of the newly recorded songs I have been unable to stop listening to since Leon made it available to me; melody and chaos mixed into one perfect package making it one of the most necrothrashable tracks on the entire CD. Up next is a track I was completely unfamiliar with prior to getting the CD, "Gorenography", which has an odd rhythm and pattern and is a bit difficult to get into, a bit like some of the songs on Carcass‘ legendary Necroticism. "Blood Bath" finishes up the album with a solid, up tempo thrash-grind, ending with an extra track of 25:30 of extended heart pumping noise with about 10 seconds of what sounds like Kermit the Frog either dying or having an orgasm, either way it’s total cheese. On the whole this album is much better than their demo, and Impaled have progressed musically far beyond anything that Exhumed have achieved. Anyone who sees this band as being anything like Exhumed, simply because Leon and Ross are former members of said band, are fucking idiots who have no comprehension of music. It’s rare I get any promo CDs actually worth buying, but this album is most definitely worth picking up. I mean, hell, if the Germans, who love crap like Stratovarius and Night In Gales, ban an album they consider distasteful, you know it’s got to rule! I must note, however, that should SOD, Terrorizer, PIT or Metal Maniacs give this album a great review and give them tons of coverage I will be forced to deny my association with the band and call them sell outs, just like all of the other "true" metallers out there. Until then, these guys fucking shred! THRASH!

Written By: Teufel