And what to expect when the Finnish IMPALED NAZARENE announce the release of a new album? Definitely something that will come trampling the attention of all those who already know the pulsating hatred that the band distills in their compositions. So, predictably, these insane presents us with the seminal “Eight Headed Serpent” which is already a strong candidate for the title of best album of 2021 in the humble opinion of your writer. Formed at the end of 1990 in Oulu, in northern Finland by brothers Mika and Kimmo Luttinen, the band has gone through various line up changes, tragedies and controversies over a thirty-one-year career and thirteen studio albums in all having the insane Mika “ Slutti666” Luttinen ahead on vocals and undeniably always maintaining the high quality of releases. Undoubtedly, IMPALED NAZARENE is one of those rare bands that you can categorically affirm that they don’t have an average album, they are all sensational and this rule is repeated once more in “Eight Headed Serpent” that dumps thirteen sound blasphemies in the world following the already known formula of the band, in other words, a violent Black Metal, harsh, totally “in the face” and soaked with that Crust\HC influence. The brief introduction that opens the album is hilarious and totally in the uncompromising spirit and “fuck off” attitude that the band has always displayed over the years culminating in the intense track “Goat Of Mendes” which incidentally was chosen to be the first single of the album. and that was released last April 9th in a limited 7″ep format along with a re-recording of the track “The Horny and The Horned” originally featured on the 1993 classic “Ugra Karma”. The next music is the title track “Eight Headed Serpent” and what we noticed was a certain rescue of the vocals that the band used in the beginning of their career, that is, a little less high pitched and stronger and more aggressive, this composition even has some more demonic backing vocals reminding slightly what they did on the EP “ Goat Perversion” from 1992 and in their first work “Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz” from 1993, they return to use this feature in a much more charged way in the great track “Unholy Necromancy”. We pass through the rough “Shock and Awe” and for “The Nonconformists” with a more Rock’nRoll sound in a Motorhead vibe, the short “The Octagon Order” featuring the bass work of Arc V 666 as a highlight, “Metastasizing And Changing Threat” candidate for the album’s most violent track with its smashing blast beats, “Debauchery and Decay” which is the best track on the album in my opinion and is a song that overflows that wonderful Crust violence that only IMPALED NAZARENE can blend with their Black Metal so masterfully creating the perfect chimera; we still follow in this Crust\HC atmosphere with “Human Cesspool”, the smallest song from “Eight Headed Serpent” and which shows in its measly fifty-nine seconds that even such a short track can make a very strong impression when performed by someone who understands well about the subject ; the double “Apocalypse Pervertor” and “Triumphant Return Of The Antichrist” that show the band’s more traditional Black Metal vein, raw, direct and with no frills as the sound calls for, the aforementioned “Unholy Necromancy” that sounds like a tribute to the band’s roots with the choleric and desperate vocals of a Mika Luttinen drowning in his own blood, the fast and perverted “Mutilation of The Nazarene Whore” which with its frantic and chaotic soundscape totally contrasts with the almost Doom “Foulcault Pendulum” that closes this exceptional work with its slower cadence, its most melancholy atmosphere and its excruciating aura in a perfect and impeccable way.
Mandatory item in the collection of all those who already follow the band , Mandatory, I repeat MANDATORY!!!
