Time Signature The age of firelords...

Genre: blackened death metal

Hailing from the filthy extreme metal of Australia that also spawned Deströyer 666 and Vomitor, Impious Baptism (whose sole member, known as J., used to be in Deströyer 666) is ready to unleash its debut album "Wrath of the Apex Predator" upon the world.

Only for those who really get this type of extreme music, Impious Baptism's sound combines primitive death metal with black metal chaos. From beginning to end, the listener is bombarded with simple blastbeats and primitive death metal riffage, which is paired up with black metal intensity and darkness. Interestingly, while the distortion of the guitars has the brutality of death metal, the overall production is more akin to your typical black metal release with a lot of delay on the harsh vocals and the guitars.

While there is plenty of evil and brutality on the album to keep most black and death metal fans happy, what I enjoy the most is when J. stomps out heavy and doom-laden drumbeats and more defined riffs. There really are more than a handful of passages of this type which I must say are brilliantly conceived and nicely executed.

another feature, which might appeal to a completely different audience is J.'s use of atmospheric intermezzos of various types, which are not unlike what you might hear on a dark ambient album.

Dark and brutal, Impious Baptism's debut is pure blackend death filth which, while not for the uninitiated, has a broader appeal than what you might actually think. If you are into chaotic extreme metal, then "Wrath of the Apex Predator" is a good candidate for membership of your record collection.