Welcome back metal heads to another episode of the great metal debate podcast. I'm Xander and today we are going to be talking about a local blackened death metal band from Nashville Tennessee called Act of Impalement. This is the band's sophomore album titled Infernal Ordinance.
I was first introduced to this band a couple months ago when they played a live show when my friends in the band Storm Ritual opened up for them. I was blown away by their live performance and impressed with their overall sound. While I was there I purchased one of their t-shirts from their merch stand and little did I know, the artwork for the t-shirt design was the soon-to-be album cover.
Even though I follow this band on Facebook nothing in my feed had popped up about an upcoming new album. I wasn't informed about it at all. In fact, the only reason I know that they put this new album out a few days ago is because Angry Metal Guy posted a review for it. As soon as I saw that, I nearly spit out my drink! Even though I was actually going to be recording another album review for a different underground band today, I had to once again postpone that so I could immediately work on this one.
A few nights after I watched Act of Impalement play live, I listened to their debut album Perdition Cult. If you are a fan of bands such as Archgoat or Blasphemy you will love these guys. They take the best parts of their aesthetic and dial it up to 11. Their debut was incredible but this new album has truly kicked things up a notch especially since the line-up change. Ethan Rock is still the vocalist and guitarist but they introduce new bassist Jerry Garner and new drummer Aaron Hortman.
The beginning of "Summoning the Final Conflagration" leads in with a doom sounding riff before the switch to a groovy blackened death metal riff. It's one that is sure to get your head nodding.
The musical style definitely has similarities to the traditional OSDM sound but with some black metal riffs thrown into the mix like with "Specters of Unlight". On a positive note the entire album is like this.
As for the vocals, they are oftentimes slow but also speed up in different areas. This vocal style aside from the aforementioned bands is also very reminiscent of early Incantation. The songs "Creeping Barrage" and "Atomic Hecatomb" are a perfect example of this and are definitely highlights on this record. If you don't bang your head to those, you are not a Metalhead.
Despite its length, my favorite song is without a doubt "Blasphemies Rebirth". After the first 2 seconds of drum symbol tapping, you can anticipate a guitar riff that will cause involuntary headbanging.
"Death Hex" was the song that got me growling the song title after a couple listens and the final track "Erased" is an epic finale.
Because we are still very early in the year and I will be listening to at least 200 new albums in 2023 it's hard to give this album a score. It's subject to change during the month of December when I make my albums of the year list. But for now, I believe this is definitely good enough to earn a 7 out of 10 score.
Be sure to show your support for Act of Impalement. You can listen to their music on bandcamp, Spotify and Amazon Music.