Customer Reviews

Charnel Deity

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I don't recall ever hearing anything else from or about England's Impaler since 1992 when this album was released. That's a shame, but at least the band went out in top form, as "Charnel Deity" managed to distinguish them from the legions of other debuts being released during the early '90s death metal boom. Impaler took the road less traveled for death metal of this period and were better off for it. Similar to the work of fellow Brits Cancer, Impaler's brutality is more subtle, done with something of a British "class"; there are no gurgling vocals or million blast beats a minute and yet it all works, proving that sometimes less is definitely more.

That may be due in part to the band apparently coming from a healthy background context of punk as well -- something unusual for death metal -- in the liner notes, the band acknowledge the debt owed to earlier acts such as Antisect, Crucifix, and Discharge. You can hear this influence in Impaler's sound; the guitars have a striking "dead reverb" tone to them that I fell in love with when first hearing these guys on college radio at the time.

And I absolutely love the production. It is a raw, dirty, low-fi sound perhaps inspired by Carcass's "Reek Of Putrefaction," which no matter what anyone says is a classic in part BECAUSE of its bare bones audio quality -- this music was after all meant to sound threatening and ominous.

Impaler succeed quite nicely in this area. Each one of the songs on here is memorable and distinguishes itself from the next, something many lesser bands in the then-overcrowded death metal pack couldn't manage to pull off. After a suitably creepy intro "The Dead Know Dreams" (great title), Impaler bring you into a dark netherworld with their unique take on brutal death metal. Standout tracks include "Astral Corpse," which slowly builds to a crescendo of blasting chaos, and "Accursed Domain," a slower track with a memorably creepy driving riff that will keep you coming back for more. The all-time classic though, and what I consider to be the band's signature tune, is "Total Carnage," which annihilates and ends in the most ominously fading death tone guitar sound you are ever likely to hear.

Aside from the music itself, guitarist/bassist Chris Drew shows himself to be quite a talented fellow in other respects with his stunning cover art, which depicts a crypt being impaled on spikes (perhaps the visual documentation for track number six "Impaler Of Souls"). What was probably a very D.I.Y. effort on his part looks like it could have been created on a Hollywood budget for a Clive Barker movie.

Simply put, if you cherish early '90s brutal death metal done right, you will love Impaler and "Charnel Deity."

IMPALER(UK) is more long forgotten 90's DEATH METAL!!

They were on ''DEAF RECORD's'' which may explain why this album is unknown!!

This is very EPIC..and leave's a good feeling of DREAD in you!!

UNEARTH THIS FROM SOILED GROUND..AND DICOVER A LONG LOST PEICE OF DEATH METAL!!!

''ASTRAL CORPSE''