Time Signature Legacy of savagery...

Genre: blackened death-grind

Singaporean blackened death metallers Impiety continue their onslaught of destruction in the form of their 8th album, aptly titled Ravage & Conquer, on which the band delivers an endless Satanic barrage of blackened death-grind chaos.

True to their style, Impiety based their songs on this album on hyper fast blastbeats, and aggressive riffage, drawing mainly on the aesthetics of death metal and grindcore as well as early Teutonic thrash. While most of the riffage is not super technical, the song structures themselves are actually quite complex, consisting of numerous riffs. Reminding us that they definitely know their way around their instruments, Impiety insert little bursts of technical guitar playing into their tracks every now and then, which definitely adds some texture to the tracks on the album.

The overall impression of the album is one of chaos and evil, and this is obviously something the band deliberately aimed at. One factor in the generation of chaos is the structural quality of the compositions themselves. Coming across as a frenzy of riffs and blastbeats, every tune is extremely intense and, I bet, the result of an underlying control that follows from advanced musicianship. The guitar solos likewise are very chaotic and might seem messy, but they actually include shredding, sweeping and other advanced techniques. The solos also have a certain old school death metal feel to them, which I think that many older fans of the death metal genre will appreciate.

Operating with considerably long song lengths for such an extreme album (the average song length is about five minutes), Impiety allow themselves to cram a lot of impressions into their songs, which does result in some quite interesting elements amidst the blastbeating chaos – just check a track like "War Crowned" with its slightly oriental feel. I generally think that albums with a lot of blastbeating tend to become boring, but drummer Dizazter actually manages to generate variation by using more different types of blastbeating than I ever knew existed.

Production-wise, the album might come across as sounding a bit thin to some listeners who are more used to the lavish and polished productions of modern extreme metal. However, the production of Ravage & Conquer does not detract from the music, and I bet that a lot of listeners will actually like the slightly raw sound.

Fans of death-grind should definitely check this release out. I think that the many blastbeats and the onslaught of riffs in each song might be testing to a lot of listeners, but fans of old school death-grind and brutal black metal are bound to love the chaos and evil that Ravage & Conquer expresses.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)

Vehemency Now that Impiety’s deal with Agonia Records is over - I suppose - after the release of last month’s Worshippers of the Seventh Tyranny, this Singaporean war machine has signed to Pulverised Records, and already offers a three-song extended play entitled Advent of... that shows the band’s return to the more common bestial black/death war metal after the experimental one-song album from the beginning of this year.

So if you are even vaguely familiar with Impiety’s back catalogue and in spite of the recent lineup changes, you know what to expect from this EP: pure murder executed with unbridled battering by the drummer Atum and a lot of violent power chord riffage by Guh Lu and Eskathon, all three being new members since last year, and only Shyaithan remaining as an original member of the group.

Tempo is kept at high which is fitting for an EP release where it’s not ultimately necessary to slow down at all. Despite the rapidity, the songs span from 6 to 8 minutes, so there’s a lot of riffs to digest. ”Blood Ritual Defamation” does nod a little towards the recent full-length with its occasional midpaced ritualistic stance with a flanger effect on the guitars. Another similarity to the full-length is the production that is very dry and perhaps lacking a little punch of bass, but it’s very enjoyable in its own way.

If a mixture of the style of Terroreign and the production of Worshippers... sounds good to you, then do yourself a favor and get hold of this EP. It’s really nothing out of the ordinary but I find it enough ass kicking to deserve multiple listens now and in the future. A whole full-length in this style could be too much of the same, but in EP format things work very well.

Vehemency Worshippers of the Seventh Tyranny is a surprising album considering Impiety’s back catalogue of not-so-innovative war metal bursts. What we have here is one 38-minute song with recurring slow and rather melodic parts, and one of the key melodies of the song - a choral synth melody - sounds almost happy and hopeful (though the lyrics proclaiming nuclear holocaust imply otherwise...)! I bet this album will cause varying opinions among the band’s fans.

How successful is this daring experimentation, then? I would lean on a positive opinion though the song has it flaws too, e.g. the production could do better as the triggered drums are too much upfront so that guitars lack some punch. Also, some sections are repeated even too often, but other than that I find myself enjoying the fresh approach, and don’t you old schoolers be totally desponded: there’s those more familiar fast blast beat sections here as well! But more prominently, the album relies on epic - yet evil - riffage in slower tempos.

I’m not sure how much I would’ve liked another album like Terroreign, so Worshippers of the Seventh Tyranny came as a welcome surprise. It’s not the most groundbreaking record of 2011 I’m sure, but an interesting journey to experience amidst all the generic Ross Bay clone bands, nonetheless.