IMPALED: "Death after Life"           impaled                        

Recorded by Billy Anderson, Trey Spruance, and Randall "One Dollar Bob" Dunn at Take Root Studios, S.F.
Voice-Overs recorded by Nate Perry at Take Root Studios and Jason Kocol at Kocol Studios
Produced by Trey Spruance at Forking Path Studos, S.C.
Mastered by Justin Weiss at Trakwerx, S.F.

release date 21.02.2005

preview - review by Haavard Holm____   

If you mention the band Carcass in any way possible you are bound to charm me to death, and Impaled has done it on both their previous full length albums, and are here back with their third - and strongest output so far.

And why do I have to mention Carcass when speaking of Impaled ? Well, yes, the similarities are too obvious to ignore between Impaled and the old British death/gore heroes.

Impaled is probably not a name that will be recognized by too many over here in Europe yet,

but their discography includes two full length-albums called "The Dead Shall Dead Remain" and

"Monde Medicale". Both are pretty rough albums, far from the over-polished Death Metal sound

that most bands seek today, and shows a band that has maintained more the Oldschool Death metal

sound to them, and maybe even a bit more. The band has kept it up since 1997 and have in these

recent years made themselves to a certain name in the States, a name that now has awarded them

also a contract with Century Media, a thing that surprised me a bit comparing the other bands on

the label with Impaled, where the latter surely step a bit outside the mainstream metal - in a good

way. That the band has qualities is without a doubt, so that they now receive a great label support

for their work is well earned, after developing musically over so many years.

"Death After Life" is the next step in all possible ways for the band, the sound has been a bit touched

upon, a bit more well produced, without getting too much from it. The production with Trey Spruance (that

also have productions from i.e. Mr Bungle on his repertoir) is fat and suitably dirty at the same time, as

well as that it pounds where it should. That the band has kept their tradition with the Carcass similarities

are maybe not as strong as on their earlier albums, but for example a track like "Preservation of Death"

is like a trip back to the "Symphonies of Sickness" era of our English necro-friends.

At the same time Impaled now variates more between the slower and heavier Death Metal parts to the

extremely well-paced punches like on one of the better tracks on the album, "Gutless". And also with some

really nice clinging samples from various horror-flicks it makes the album well variated and a disc that really

has no flaws or major drawbacks to it, it is just a cool meeting with these California-skulls. In my ears the

most comprehensive and well-done album they have done so far, and probably a great indication to the

potential the band also has for the future.

rating:   7.5/10

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