This stuff is killer. It's a good lengthed album with a huge Carcass influence, although it sounds more like Carcass on steroids. The songs are alot faster and more complex, with some really catchy riffs in there. Some of the songs have real feeling to them as well, which is quite rare in a grinding death band. Just listen to Spirits of the Dead. Such an eerie sound. The dual vocal attack is fucking brutal of course. Two of the band members are from Exhumed so this can almost be considered as a cross between Exhumed and Carcass. You really can't go wrong buying this album.

This review is credited to:
Julian Forbes

Comprised of ex-members of Bay-Area death metal acts Exhumed, Matricide, Inhumation and Infanticide, Impaled is, quite possibly, the most un-pretentious band ever. They play straightforward, old-school, no-frills-whatsoever, thrashy, head/fistbanging death metal. Not only that, but they also make no attempt to avert attention from their blatant Carcass worship.

However, even with their total lack of originality, this band is a huge breath of fresh air in today's American death metal scene. The reasons for this are twofold: (a) Impaled is not mosh/slam death, they are not Suffocation protegés and do not label themselves as "technical" or "br00tal". (b) Impaled are fantastic songwriters! Much like the bands they derive from, their compositions are catchy, memorable and do not sacrifice musical cohesiveness and direction for showy musicianship. The Dead Shall Dead Remain is a tribute to that.

Impaled's musicianship truly shines. The guitar work of Sean McGrath and Leon Del Muerte is right on par with that of Bill Steer and Michael Amott on Carcass' Necroticism album (which is quite obviously being emulated here). The rhythm work is sharp as a trocar (heh), but also quite raw sounding (the guitar tone is reminiscent of that of early Dismember). The leads/solos (which the band gives humorous titles, a-la Carcass) are absolute masterpieces; mellifluous, skillful and beautifully incorporated. Raul Valera, while not as flashy as some of his colleagues (see Peter Wildoer, Sean Reinert & Flo Mounier), is a very talented skinsman. His rolls and fills are more than adequate (far better than those of many of the drummers he emulates, in fact), and his blastbeats are among the tightest I've ever heard. The vocals are in the (surprise, surprise) Carcass mode, with McGrath doing the Jeff Walker-style raspy screams and Del Muerte emanating Steeresque vomitous growling. None of these factors are at all original, but they are effective throughout.

Lyrically, this album is like a natural continuation of Carcass' Symphonies of Sickness. Absolutely disgusting, but tongue-in-cheek, with most songs being about either morgue behavior or gastro-intestinal oddities. They'll either make you want to retch or cackle hysterically, depending on your level of intestinal fortitude. However, Impaled forgoes Carcass' (somewhat dubious) vegan ethic in exchange for full-on gross-out humor. Comparisons, both lyrical and musical, will be made between Impaled and sister band Exhumed. However, it is my opinion that Impaled is far and away the better band, having more roots in death metal than in grindcore.

All these factors only point to Impaled's debut LP The Dead Shall Dead Remain being a solid-as-a-rock album - and the writing on the wall definitely doesn't lie. This is one of the few death metal albums put out in recent years that's enjoyable all the way through. It's really nigh impossible to find a single weak spot on this disc. However, the lack of musical diversity will create some furrowing of brows among critics, but honestly, does one ever really pick up an album like this expecting there to be power ballads and acoustic breakdowns? I'm going to say about this album the same thing I said about Krisiun's Conquerors of Armageddon: If you deem yourself any sort of death metal fan at all, it is your duty as a proponent of the scene to purchase this album; but if you're someone who listens to music for a purpose other than entertainment, steer clear, because nobody wants to hear you bitch about something you're too "high-brow" to understand.

This review is credited to:
The Havoc Vulture