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Terror Succeeds Impious |
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Not that this is news to anyone but man, you got some seriously morbid people living out there in Sweden! They stormed the gates of Hell with a Death Metal calling the likes of which we'd never seen before, and maybe since At The Gates first tore open the cadaver of what to that point was a fledgling scene to create a new dynamic of Speed Metal, Thrash, Death and make it fashionable to dance with the Devil, theirs still remains the earmark for the rest. Impious not surprisingly sounds at times a dead ringer for At The Gates right from the opening notes of "Soul Excursion," to the "Terror God," taking us away, furthering their demonstration or "evil devastation" as it were, "Retaliation…" but here's where I begin to lose focus. There's not much decipherability between tracks here-of course when you're going at an all out extreme from one to the next, you're expecting little else but an all out war of rhythmic propulsion… I'm not hinting for what might be an oh so welcome break in the arrangement-and alas, two minutes in they give it to us… But the vocals are plainly buried all throughout and not that you'd understand 'em anyway. I like "Nuclear Storm Demise" which opens with some traditionally Thrash guitar harmonics before letting loose with a Destruction-like barrage and quickly moves up the ladder and off into the dark oblivion. Like many bore of the dark side, Impious exists mainly within the blackened mind corrupted by the everyday, yet rooted in lyrical escapism to torment the soul to the point where "Black Death" seems almost a welcome friend… anything but the hardships of life… "Terror Succeeds" does so on all levels and increases the polarity from beginning to end, extending the range of dynamics as they go, making a spot visit or two into the Amon Amarth realm from about where "The Punishment" is first inflicted halfway through, and never far off from the brutal extremes-not bad overall and gets better with a few listens as seemingly hidden nuances begin to creep to the surface. This CD is released
by Century Media Records. Review by Vinnie Apicella
[va85@columbia.edu] |