impious

The Killer
$10.98
UK pressing of the Swedish melodic death/thrash metal act's third album includes one bonus track 'Extreme Pestilence'. Karmageddon Media. 2004.

Hellucinate
$12.98
It's really unfortunate that only one person has reviewed this album. At least it got five stars, because it deserves each and every one of them. At one point in time Impious shared members with The Crown, and when One Man Army and The Undead Quartet were forming it was with the help of one of Impious's guitarists. But Impious, in my opinion, puts both The Crown and One Man Army completely to shame. Like The Crown, Impious is blazingly fast, but on "Hellucinate" the band pulls out all the stops with a stellar production that is gritty but clear as day, subtle technicality in the guitars and percussion, and a pleasant variety of vocal approaches. Impious has an edge unlike most other death/thrash bands I've heard. Sure, they take some inspiration from the likes of At The Gates and The Haunted, but the likeness is only audible in the guitar work, and only minimally so. Impious is faster and harder than At The Gates, and the rampant blast beats and screaming guitar solos set the band in its own category.

The first four tracks on the album are blisteringly fast and consistently good. Things slow down a bit on "Show Me Your God," a catchy melodic piece of work that groves along and is reminiscent of The Haunted at their peak (somewhere between "The Haunted Made Me Do It" and "One Kill Wonder"). After that, things pick right back up again with more intensely fast death thrash, the way it was meant to play. I wasn't familiar with Impious's previous work, but after hearing "Hellucinate" I picked up "The Killer," their previous album, and while I hear the origins of their sound on "Hellucinate", "The Killer" just doesn't compare. What is certain is that if you like that album, you'll love this one. So, if you like The Crown, One Man Army, At The Gates, The Haunted--i.e. the entire catalogue of worthy Swedish death thrash--then do yourself a favor and pick this up.

Death Domination
$9.90

Holy Murder Masquerade
$13.98
I stumbled across this artist and album on the shelf at a cd store. I took a chance and loved it from the first song I heard. I loved the whole album the first time, but then after listening more closely the second time I realized it was a story of death. An addicting to listen to story of death on a metal soundtrack. I loved it even more after that. This album is unique in the way it flows and I highly recommend it. It will definitely hook anyone willing to really listen. I will be buying more albums from Impious in the future.