Impaler - One Nation Under Ground (2000)

With all the rage over nasty speed metal acts like Midnight over the last decade, it's a little surprising that Minnesota's Impaler wallows in such relative obscurity. Not that they're entirely unknown or unapproachable, they've got a pretty decent internet presence and continue to record and play gigs even after decades; but their love of horror flicks, wrestling, their mesh of speed, heavy metal, and punk, and the cinematic gore and camp of their stage shows seems like it's a concoction that should have appealed to a far wider audience, especially as they've just been doing it for so long and never really turned from their path. Maybe they don't write the most impressive licks, but they've got the heart and sincerity in spades, a speed metal institution forever destined to sit below the radar.

One Nation Under Ground was their fifth full-length album released through the now-defunct Root of All Evil Records, and while the production had come a ways from their earlier efforts like If We Had Brains ...We'd Be Dangerous or Rise of the Mutants, the style is roughly the same. Simplistic rock & roll riffs played with metallic energy and slathered in Bill Lindsey's signature splatter-punk vocals, which can range from a more meaty bark to something more petulant and punky, with lots of gang shouts thrown in there for good measure. The way he exaggerates his style with that grimy, constipated edge almost reminds me of Alice Cooper, one of his biggest influences, as enforced by the presence of a "Teenage Frankenstein" cover which is second-to-last on the album. The drums have a great tone to them, the bass and rhythm guitar are fairly clean in the mix, but manage to catch a little bit of that infectious punk vibe you'll recall from a lot of your faves in the 80s. There are plenty of lead guitars, too, usually with more of a bluesy, reckless hard rock feel to them, fitting to the rhythm riffs but not too memorable on their own.

There are 15 tracks here, almost all weighing in at around 2-3 minutes, with just a couple that go longer, like the darker, doomier sounding "Under the Dirt". Occasionally they'll incorporate a spoken sample, or some special effects like the bell and howl you hear in the depths of "Dead as a Doornail", to keep you on the page with their horror influences. Once in awhile the riffs can get a little bit more thrashy as in "Call of the Wild", but the majority of them are more rooted in punk and straight hard rock; almost all of them do feel as if you've heard them elsewhere, even by the standards of 20 years ago. Thankfully, the production makes up for this a little, the instruments and vocals sound brash and bright and energized. I guess my other complaint would be one that I'd apply to a lot of horror-punk, psychobilly or horror-influenced metal in that the musical choices themselves rarely evoke the more evil and dark side of the genre. There's nothing creepy ever happening outside of those aforementioned samples, effects or Lindey's gruesome vocals, the tunes could use a little more dissonance, atmosphere or 'evil' note selections to make them stand out...

...but again, I've had this issue since the Misfits. It doesn't make the music bad at all, but it's more like attending a Halloween party with your family, bobbing for apples, carving a pumpkin and having a good cheer rather than getting chased through an abandoned, dilapidated asylum by a serial killer or supernatural entity. The lyrics are fun enough for what you get, tributes to old or campy horror flicks and they even have a nod to Bill's love of wrestling entertainment with "Cage Match Tragedy". The Alice Cooper cover is pretty decent, and the material is consistent over the 41 minutes, but it just doesn't stick with me for long after I'm finished. It seems mostly built to go along easily with their live shows with all the blood, guts and debauchery that ensues, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/impalershockrock

Impaler - Rise of the Mutants EP (1985)

With a career spanning 27 years, it's a wonder that Minnesotans Impaler have not built a bigger name for themselves. They're brightest and boldest opportunity was probably their initial pair of releases through the esteemed Combat records in the mid 80s, when the band's blend of shock rock and filthy street/speed metal was somewhat novel, yet they seem as if they've been all but forgotten, relegated to the dark, misty alleys and mad scientist laboratories of nostalgia. I can attest that this is a band better represented in the live setting than the studio, as their performances are full of corny slasher horror charm that seems the natural, extreme metal extension of Alice Cooper or KISS, but the music rarely delivers much beyond a mere accompaniment to the maddened antics.

Rise of the Mutants was the band's first 'official' release after several demos, through Combat, and a fairly accurate representation of such musical shortcomings. There is nothing inherently wrong or negative about the band's style: think dirty, blazing raw guitars performing average speed/punk metal riffs ala Exciter with the occasional lapse into NWOBHM-flavored leads. The lyrics delve into S&M ("Crack That Whip") and bloody stage horror ("Shock Rock"), and serial killers with the band's namesake "Impaler". Two of the four tracks on the EP are notably superior to the others: "Shock Rock" and "Heaven's Force", with bolder chords battering along to Bill Lindsey's snarling, spitting vocals. The former has some decent, breakneck speed metal riffing though it's under 2 minutes in length, and "Heaven's Force" reams along with a whacked out guitar intro and a sufficient boogie to the verse beat, Lindsey getting fairly nasal and vicious like some sort of cartoon weasel or rat. "Crack That Whip" and "Impaler" are both dirty and competent, but the choruses offer little escalation and the riffs are quickly forgotten.

Compared to other Combat acts of their day like Megadeth or Possessed, Impaler were simply not strong enough in the compositional skill to stand out in the crowd. The bloodied album cover begs some attention from a demographic titillated by the increasing extremity of the 80s, but even as far as shock metal, you had better alternatives like Lizzy Borden who musically run leaps and bounds around this material. Granted, the intention here is not to become some Mozart of metal, but to craft barbaric hymnals to accompany the band's stage presence, and I think their material is generally more fun when you can see them rampaging around with blood, guts and straight jackets hanging out. The nearly 10 minutes of Rise of the Mutants serve as an effective teaser to the full-length debut If We Had Brains...We'd Be Dangerous, which is in my opinion the band's best album (with better songs than found here), but in the long term there is no reason to revisit this with so many better alternatives available, unless you just want to shut off your own brain and listen to some superfluous punk-driven speed metal.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10] (cut the ropes we're free at last)

http://www.myspace.com/impalerhorrorrock