ALBUM REVIEW: Act Of Impalement – Perdition Cult

Today I review the new album of Act Of Impalement, a band who combine my 3 favourite Metal subgenera (Black, Death, Doom), out via Unspeakable Axe Records and Caligari Records.

1. Smouldering Out Of Existence comes in with filthy tones and feedback, setting a morbid doomy atmosphere beautifully. The chugging and tremolo picking characteristics of all 3 genres the bands encompass works well. This is hectic as hell, but with some sludgy parts and noisy Black-Death too, it feels like Archgoat but with a Candlemass influence in parts. Really awesome work on the riffs and drums with some killer vocals both high screams and low growls included. The rhythmic grooves and chaotic atmospheres tie together very nicely, a great opening piece, setting the bar very high.
2. Disembowelment Rituals Of Moloch has a more doomy intro, with the slower tempos, although full of nasty Death Metal tone. A grim bit of riffing goes a long way here, with a very Swedish sound to it. This song is more along the lines of Asphyx with its crushing sounds and guttural vocals. The song descends into anarchistic disarray without any warning, blinding us with Blackened Death madness once again. The songwriting is really strong and the raw but concise production packs a punch for sure. The solo bass section is hideously heavy and really adds a lot to the tracks menacing gloom.
3. Draugr much like the opening track comes in with blistering fury and not so much of the doom elements as the second. This is some damn great Blackened Death Metal though, and the slower sections certainly do come in very nicely. I am impressed how such polar opposites in sound with potential to infuse have been done so nicely. The groovy, upbeat section sounds really awesome with a dark march to them, perfect music for a good head banging session. Really nasty soundscapes really tie the knot on how killer this stuff is!
4. Ruins Of Sarnath floods us with noisy, demonic attacks yet again! The menacing yet atmospheric riffs sound glorious, the drums are super heavy sounding and the snarls from the vocalist just bring things into place very nicely. The mix is tight, the songwriting is aggressive yet precise and everything about it feels so natural, absolutely gorgeous piece of Black-Death-Doom goodness from the off. The vocals are positively hell bound and sound so gnarly, the guitar/bass sections are fierce and the drums really are well calculated. Great transition between tempos and sections too. Excellent stuff.
5. As Their Temples Burn is more subtle in entry with just bass and drums building into feedback and once more a groovy piece of Metal hits very hard. I liked the way the song was led in rather than just dropped on us to change things up quite a lot. Absolute maniacal mayhem on all members of the bands parts, the much more doomy parts of the song really keep the album from going too overkill and just work as stunning bridge sections too. The riffs are catchy and have such a foreboding feel to them, got to love that in Doom Metal!
6. Pax Romana forces itself right into fruition with that gnarly Swedish Death Metal, tremolo picked guitar assault, pounding drums and yet more throat burning vocal torment. The slamming pace of the song hits you like a sledgehammer, absolutely ridiculously heavy stuff. Incredible talent and sense of song structure is evident on all members of the bands parts. This song is probably my favourite so far, with the Candlemass like riffs nearer the ending. Amazing work!
7. S.L.R (Sadistic Lycanthropic Rage) fires right into noisy mayhem and blasting riffs just filled with flames of fury across the board. Going between doomy parts and these ridiculously fast, blasting assault somehow works really nicely, the contradiction is just so well executed. The more typical Black Metal vocals on this piece make their first appearance and sound absolutely phenomenal, while the more guttural parts are great, seeing them subside to try something new is really cool. Once more things slow into death-doom perfection. The ending is absolutely hideous, in the most awesome of ways.
8. Eternal Flame – Eternal Bliss first off is a really great title I must say. Kicks in the very thrashy speeds from the very beginning with the drum count, noisy riffs and demonic vocals. The chugging parts sound killer and break up the full speed assaults very nicely. This song has a much more primitive malice to it than the others, but still sounds really damn tight and heavy all the same. There is a tinge of Inquisition influence on the ending riffs, a band I think have some of the best riffs so a very welcome touch and some killer bass too!
9. Cthonic is the closing opus of this hectically brilliant release. It comes in using a completely new element for the album, really nice acoustic guitars, great to hear something new and the way they drop into brutal Death Metal riffing is so cool. The song is surprisingly fast for the last piece, which I was expecting to lead out on a more doomy note. It is one last mental and furious piece of Extreme Metal though, absolutely great riffs as we have seen throughout, a really gruesome blackened touch really wins me over on this last song. Killer closing piece for a really uniquely manic album.

My first concern was combining Black, Death and Doom Metal might be biting off more than one can chew for the artists, but they killed it! The band tie all these sounds and ideas together really well. -8/10