In 1992 death metal was getting really big (at least in the scale of metal music), but sadly some releases were nothing special or simply just plain tries to duplicate others' standout material. Impaler's death metal sounds similar to a certain English band: Cancer (R.I.P.). I can't accuse Impaler for being copycats, of course, but I just wanted to point out how things were in general. 'Charnel Deity' is quite possibly the sole relic of Impaler of Leamington Spa, even though guys recorded a couple of demos under the name Carnage (the "unique" name Impaler comes from the name of Carnage's second demo, 'Impaler of Souls' [1991]).

Impaler sound very primitive. Downtuned horror riffage (and infamous slower "chugga-chugga" shredding), a lot of tempo changes from doomy to fast, good ol' English death metal all the way, with insane thrash riffage and solos thrown in every now and then. The album begins with a GREAT horror intro of the first song (these sounds from hell might have been taken from Phantasm movies, I bet), which by the way is the catchiest one on the album. Some solos are quite warped and add to that otherworldly atmosphere. Raw demo level production (pretty heavy with farty bass sound) and partly sloppy playing, especially by the drummer (also, he pretty much sticks to the basic things), just add more of that primitive edge and "let's fucking lay it down" attitude to it. One thing that bothers me is the fact, that at times it (CD version reviewed) all sounds like it was compressed into data form (mp3, real audio file, whatever)! Anyway, generally, this works in totally "mood over technicality" range of thought. Vocals are cool, something like Karl Willetts' (ex-Bolt Thrower) mid-rate growling and throat abuse. Booklet art is good, if that matters to you. The guys seemed to do it all from their rotten hearts.

A release, that offered nothing new or special back in the day, but death metal maniacs should still check this out, if morbid stuff is what you're searching for. Especially those who love old English stuff. This stands together with all early 1990s classic releases from Benediction, Cancer and such English conjurers of morbidity. This has so much more foul spirits than majority of nowaday's plastic shit packed into these 40 minutes, although I must add, that they say all they had to say in shorter time, so there's some recycling of self. I've found, that the best way to listen to this album is with shuffle on, so I can find the subtleties in the songs on the latter half, too. Corrupt your mind with this ugly music, you worms! You know, this, beer and the darts... Oh boy!

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
02/09/2003 21:01