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October 12, 2008 |
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01. Goreverture
02. Mondo Medicale
03. Gutless
04. Theatre Of Operations
05. Preservation Of Death
06. Wrought In Hell
07. Resurrectionists
08. The Dead Shall Dead Remain
09. Critical Condition
10. Medical Waste
11. Dead Alive
12. Coda Morte
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Prepare yourselves for a gut-turning, jolly old good time straight from the comfort of the operating table (or should I say surgical experimentation table) at your friendly neighborhood hospital. Sounds fun, doesn't it?! More accurately though, this is St. Julian's Medical University (where that is, I don't know), where some intense research is going on. What research could this be? Well, I'll fill you in a little. Here is the synopsis: here we have four enthusiastic medical students hell-bent on fulfilling their mission of finding out if there truly is a cure for death after life. But these are not just your ordinary medical students. No. In fact, these four individuals are far too advanced in this area of expertise to be classed as just mere "students". They're general practitioners (experienced ones at that) of shall we say, "different" surgical procedures - the kinds that you would not expect to see being performed on a normal day-to-day basis.
Okay, so who are these four individuals? Why, they're Oakland, California's very own IMPALED of course! Oh, you haven't heard of IMPALED before? Of course you have! They're metal's top-ranking mad doctors of surgical gore, and anything else that has to do with anatomical butchery. Yes, one might say to him or herself, "That's pretty damn sick!", but when you stop and consider how the band blends their "sick" sense of humor in with their unique brand of death metal, you'll find that it really is more entertaining than you might think. IMPALED consist of the current lineup: founder/vocalist/guitarist Sean McGrath M.C.(Medical Deviant), drummer Raul Varela D.D.S. (Doctor of Dissolute Science), bassist Ross Sewage R.N. (Registered Nut), and guitarist Jason Kocol E.M.T. (Emergency Metal Technician). As humorous as their "aliases" are, their musical abilities must be taken seriously, because these guys are fully-capable of delivering some pretty damn good death metal - surgical experimentation and all.
IMPALED's Century Media debut, "Death After Life", is a concept album based upon the aforementioned mission of these four medical hopefuls. Can you imagine IMPALED being allowed in an operating room? It's quite probable that the American Medical Association wouldn't really sit well with that, but the governing body here is Century Media, and they've granted IMPALED all the sponsorship they need to carry out their "alternative" doctoral endeavors.
Before I go on, I must issue a warning of sorts: I strongly recommend that you refrain from consuming food such as a piece of pizza or twinkie (or even your favorite beer for that matter) when you listen to this album for the first time. You want to be able to enjoy the great death metal on offer here, not have to worry about your stomach reacting viciously to the gory nature of the material. So, with an empty mouth (and stomach) and focused attention on IMPALED, you'll now be ready to experience "Death After Life". The disc opens up with the intro "Gorverture" (quite the variation of "Overture"), an eerie speech warning listeners that "if you're lucky enough to die, pray that you stay dead", before diving right into an all-out assault on your physicality with "Mondo Medicale". Did I mention that IMPALED are good at wreaking havoc upon their "subjects"? This thrashing bludgeon of guitars/drums/bass and unearthly growls will knock you into a headbanging frenzy in no time flat.
Equally as devastating to the senses, "Gutless" will keep the momentum going before introducing you to the "Theatre Of Operations", a conversational piece describing the four "students" performing a 50-second mutilating experiment on their professor. I hope you have a strong stomach!! Slowing things down a bit, "Preservation Of Death" has an awesome crunching rhythm with some very impressive guitar soloing efforts by McGrath and Kocol, while tracks like "Wrought In Hell", "Resurrection", and "Critical Condition" get right back into the pummeling thrash-fest. "The Dead Shall Dead Remain" finds the "students" working on their medical experiment yet again, trying to revive their professor. "Medical Waste" and "Dead Alive" both have a killer combination of straight-forward chugging rhythm, blistering thrash, and more demonic growling before finishing off the "experiment" with "Coda Morte", where it is determined that the students' theory of "Death After Life" has been clearly defined.
Whether the concept of this album appeals to you or not, the fact of the matter is that IMPALED have done a good job of creating a promising death metal piece. It's quite obvious that the band themselves put their passion into play while adding their own sense of humor into the music. I like the overall approach to the sound and production, which is raw to the core and unmistakably characteristic of gory death metal. IMPALED should certainly acquire a nice chunk of death metal enthusiasts, especially those that like this certain style. "Death After Life" utilizes the band's fictitious imagination in support of their own musical capabilities, and if they can keep this as their focal point, they should be able to continue to build their own little spot on the metal map. And with Century Media watching their backs now, they'll build it that much faster.
So in closing, if you can stomach the grotesque sounds of eviscerating flesh by way of the scalpel, you'll have a blast listening to this album, coming to you straight from IMPALED's surgical experimentation table. Just don't break a limb or get an infection somewhere on your way to your local metal shop, because you can bet IMPALED might be there to fix you.
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