Impaled

Impaled are one of the Bay Area's finest death metal acts. Though the band went through their share of alcohol-fueled hijinks in their early days, they are now one of the tightest live death metal bands around. Their limited studio output is of a uniformly high quality, and the personalities behind the band are pretty great too. The lyrics and artwork that they conceived all take a hugely tongue in cheek view towards gore and violence, and the band members themselves are known for their hilarity, both onstage and off. They've gone through the 2000s as the Bay Area's dumb death metal little brother, but they stand today with their original members, bassist and vocalist Ross Sewage, guitarist and vocalist Sean McGrath, vocalist and one-time guitarist Leon del Muerte and drummer Raul Varela (plus one Jason Kocol) together, and manage to still be on goofy and brotherly terms.

The Dead Shall Dead Remain - 2000

 The first album by the Bay Area’s resident gore freaks is a mixed bag to say the least. On one hand, you’ve got ten of Impaled’s finest songs on The Dead Shall Dead Remain. On the other, you’ve got an album that sounds really awful and performances that are haphazard at best. Sewage’s vocals, one of the most interesting features of Impaled, are reduced to a distorted gurgle when he does get to pipe up. McGrath and del Muerte make a formidable growling tag-team for the most part, though both of their voices are pretty buried in the mix. ‘Faeces of Death’ sounds like a total mess when it opens the album, but one can hear a rather strong death metal track buried under washes of cymbals and murky riffing. ‘Spirits of the Dead’ suffers a similar fate, with the ear-splitting compression making McGrath and del Muerte’s trade-off guitar solo incredibly tough to listen to. del Muerte’s ‘Trocar’ ends up being the big winner on The Dead Shall Dead Remain, with the riff at the two-minute mark leveling all that opposes it. That riff would be Leon del Muerte’s greatest achievement for many years. Overall, The Dead Shall Dead Remain proved to be a rather inauspicious debut for Impaled- the band would soon reach greater heights. They probably never topped this album cover however, which features some poor fool crapping his guts out and bleeding out. Hilarious!

Mondo Medicale - 2002 

Now we’re talking. Leon del Muerte left with Andrew LaBarre taking his place, and Impaled knocked out the best album of their career, Mondo Medicale. The massively beefed up production and the infinitely superior performances show off Impaled at the height of its powers- the entire band just rips on ‘Dead Inside,’ with Varela offering an endless barrage of monstrous fills and McGrath and LaBarre firing off their wild vocals left and right. A newly discernable Sewage punctuates the track with his brand of guttural bellows, and he manages to become a significant force on Mondo Medicale. ‘Raise the Stakes’ became an instant Impaled classic, with McGrath and LaBarre’s trade-off chorus being a huge amount of fun and their tight riffing impressing at every turn. Varela shines on this track, and really delivers an overall phenomenal performance on Mondo Medicale. Sewage’s epic ‘Rest in Faeces’ was another towering highlight, with fiery soloing from McGrath and LaBarre leading the track to its hilarious closing skit. Really though, (besides the intro and outro of course) there isn’t a less than killer track on Mondo Medicale. There’s a thrashy intensity to these songs, and there’s an intangible drive and energy fueling the performances. Mondo is a great first death metal album for those looking to explore the genre: the songs do not let up in quality, the hooks are undeniable, the production is massive without the modern sheen and the band was firing on all cylinders. It’s quite easily one of the all-time great death metal records.

Death After Life - 2005

Hmm, this is an odd one. Andrew LaBarre is out, and Jason Kocol is in. Though Impaled lost LaBarre’s commanding growl, they gained one of the most talented guitarists around in Kocol. Death After Life, Impaled’s only release on the large metal label Century Media, was the band’s attempt at a concept record, with the guys taking on the role of medical students at a hospital. The skits and interludes that are peppered throughout the album are actually pretty entertaining, and don’t really detract from the songs themselves. Unfortunately, Impaled are plagued with an engineering job that can only be described as really, really weird. Varela’s drums are put front and center, showing off a strange and boxy sound that ends up distracting from the songs. The guitars are set dead center in the mix as well, making for an album that sounds rather confined and tiny. It’s too bad, because the tracks on Death After Life are actually quite strong. ‘Gutless,’ ‘Mondo Medicale’ and ‘The Dead Shall Dead Remain’ (confusing, right?) are total scorchers while ‘Dead Alive’ rolls along with a swinging stomp. McGrath goes for a full impersonation of Jeff Walker of Carcass on Death After Life, which does lend itself to a more ferocious, albeit less unique, set of vocals from him. Sewage also transitions from a less gurgly and more straightforward death growl in order to make up for LaBarre’s absence (Kocol’s vocals, while serviceable, were nowhere near as good as his guitar playing). Though the material was more than solid, Death After Life failed to make Impaled death metal stars, and Century Media dropped them hardly a year later.

The Last Gasp - 2007

Yet another oddball record from Impaled. The Last Gasp is a solid outing from Impaled, but there’s noticeably less ambition and energy on this album compared to the group’s other offerings. Opening track ‘G.O.R.E.’ is an immediately likable number, and it’s kicked off nearly every Impaled show since The Last Gasp was released. The other tracks, while often good and occasionally nearly great, just don’t measure up however. They are consistently on the slower side of things, with more of a thrash influence creeping in. The rather simple chorus of ‘Sickness is Health’ comes off as clunky, though the same strategy oddly works for the short and snappy ‘Up the Dose.’ The production falls into the same boat as the songs- good, but just not quite great. There’s nothing really wrong with it in the way that Death After Life and The Dead Shall Dead Remain suffered, but the production on The Last Gasp fails to really “pop” so to speak. Impaled never did write a bad song, but on The Last Gasp they couldn’t live up to their own lofty standards. This would be Impaled’s final album for six years- the band seemed to realize that they had grown stagnant and left their activity to live shows for the most part.

The Dead Still Dead Remain - 2013
From 2010 onward, Impaled would occasionally work on a re-recording of their first album, The Dead Shall Dead Remain. In 2013 the band finally released this re-recording, which was called The Dead Still Dead Remain. For the re-recording, they even dragged the long-departed Leon del Muerte along to reprise his vocals. There are rather significant changes on this re-recording however: the tempos are under control now, with Varela tracking the songs to a click, and the band is tuned up a full one and a half steps higher than they were on the original album. In some cases the changes are good, and in others they rob the tracks of some energy. ‘Faeces of Death’ unfortunately is a bad start, with the tempo sounding forced and the riffs sounded a bit too wonky in the new tuning. One can hear some immediate positives though- del Muerte’s vocals have a new level of personality and power, while McGrath’s voice has aged into a lower, yet more confident growl. Sewage is at the peak of his powers here, letting loose his perfected roar whenever he can.  ‘Flesh and Blood’ picks things up however, and the true potential of the re-recording is finally heard. The riffs are far clearer, and the production is Impaled’s best yet. Kocol, lending solo work in place of what del Muerte played on the original, graces every track he’s on with some absolutely outstanding playing. The one-two punch of ‘Trocar’ and ‘Spirits of the Dead’ impress the most however. The former simply sounds way cool with the new tuning, and del Muerte’s legendary mid-song break still packs a mighty wallop. ‘Spirits of the Dead’ is simply a revelation. The riffs show themselves to be surprisingly intricate and the song gains a fresh and nearly haunting feeling from the upward tuning. McGrath and Kocol let loose an outstanding solo duel, and del Muerte takes charge with ghostly and powerful shouts in the outro. With the re-recording, Impaled somehow managed to reveal ‘Spirits of the Dead’ as their finest song ever, though one would have never known it listening to the original. Overall The Dead Still Dead Remain is by and large a success, with ‘Faeces of Death’ being the only real clunker here. It’s a hell of a lot more of a pleasant listen than its original incarnation ever was anyway.