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By the mid-'90s, death metal had stagnated in large part due to the overabundance of uninspired Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse clones and the rise in popularity of black metal in the underground.

Sadly, Oakland's Impaled apparently began as little more than one of these clones, as shown by the two earliest 1997 tracks on this compilation, recorded before the band had found their niche and true sound. This otherwise excellent CD gets docked a star for these two tracks, which I rarely if ever listen to.

With the traditional death metal scene ailing due to said clone bands, I feel that one band, San Jose's Exhumed, in 1998 largely regenerated the scene by taking the sound back to its roots by emulating one of its all-time best bands, Carcass, on Exhumed's debut full-length "Gore Metal."

Impaled duly took note and by their 1999 demo "From Here To Colostomy" (tracks 7 through 11 of this compilation -- I am reviewing the material chronologically rather than the order it appears on this CD), the band had also adopted a Carcass-inspired sound and succeed greatly at it. (In fact, Impaled can really be considered a sister band to Exhumed as at this time it featured two of its former members, co-guitarist/low vocalist Leon del Muerte and bassist Ross Sewage, who still remains in the band's present-day line-up.) Most of the songs on this demo made it onto their 2000 debut full-length "The Dead Shall Dead Remain," but I prefer the demo versions, as they are rawer and more true to their original vision.

One thing Impaled picks up on very well from Carcass's original source material is the band's understated sense of humor, and Impaled's music and cover art here are so over the top that they come off as more than a little tongue-in-cheek.

The band just kept getting better and better musically and two rough versions of two songs that, again, made their way onto the debut CD are included here, "All That Rots" and "Spirits Of The Dead," both of which got the band signed to their original label (Deathvomit/Necropolis). These versions too I consider way better than their more polished album counterparts.

Following the debut CD was the band's split 7" with Engorged (also from 2000), and the two tracks here "Nightsoil" and "Until Death" are essential to any Impaled fan's collection. Wrapping everything up are two cover songs, one of Carcass's "Carneous Cacoffiny" and the other Impetigo's "I Work For The Streetcleaner."

All in all, a collection of rare material that you aren't likely to find anywhere else from a band who bears all the right influences and are a great band in their own right.

This is a very decent compilation of unreleased, rare, and demo tracks from the thrash/goremetal band Impaled. It was released as a succeeder to the bands other full album "The Dead Shall Remain Dead". This isn't quite as solid as the bands full album, but I'd still definitely reccomend it to the Impaled fan! :) If you're new to the band, check out their other album that I mentioned first.