Impiety were one of the first of those brutal blackened
death bands, way back in the early 90s, but they hailed from far off Singapore.
Over the last twenty years the group has turned out an adequately prolific
discography, this being their eighth full length in addition to a number of
splits and EPs, but where have they gone with their sound? Debut was a fairly
raw yet brutal black metal album, but it was the sophomore release that set
their style and they have pushed on in almost exactly the same vein ever since,
riffs increasing in complexity as the band’s technical skills grew, but always
following the same formula: Super-fast, ripping war metal that never
lets down. Last year with their Worshippers of the Seventh Tyranny the
band detoured into progressive territory, a one song, nearly forty-minute
sprawling epic of barbarism. Although there was little attention paid to detail
and songwriting was as heavy-handed as it’s always been, this was the record
that piqued my interest the most over the course of their career, but on Ravage
& Conquer, the band returns to its tried and true (boring) ways.
Production is better than ever on this record; guitar tone
razor sharp and drums cut beautifully through the onslaught of savagery. This
is a double-edged sword because the guitar solos squeal far too clearly and
cleanly for such an aggressive musical attack. In fact, lead guitars only
succeed to fit in one time on Weaponized. Despite changing guitarists
many times, poor old Impiety have never managed to secure a decent soloist that
would complete their image of hateful blasphemy, although personally I’d be
wary using any guitar solos when trying to make truly demonic music. This is
the most technical offering of Impiety’s so far and I will give them credit for
achieving some mesmerizing tremolo death metal riffage, but in the end I have
to say I’m disappointed that Impiety haven’t continued to experiment with
structure and bring more black metal into their sound as on the previous album,
something they can do quite well. Instead, R&C suffers from Impiety’s
era-old vice of never actually going anywhere, starting at exactly the same
point it finishes on and remaining at that one point for all moments in
between, a meaningless stringing together of riffs that could have been taken
from any other influential death metal band.
In short: Impiety have taken a step back into their comfort
zone. If you can’t get enough of their style then you’ll like this, but I found
it challenged only my boredom, being a records that stands on its own two legs
but stands straight down the line without even considering other avenues, a
weary task for the listener who’s been hearing it for nearly twenty years (and
not just from this band).
Standout tracks: War Crowned, Weaponized
Score: 4.5
