Impaled: Mondo Medicale
Deathvomit Records, 2002
The American death scene is very broad, with a great variety of bands, of which only a few achieve success. The reason so few succeed is that so many of these bands sound similar, but that doesn't mean that these albums and bands are useless. Stong, catchy records have been produced, their names known to the underground fanatics, but as years pass by they are forgotten. Impaled belongs to this class.
Their music is just fine - 43 minutes of pleasure for people who like death-gore, but after listening to this album several times now I don't feel any urge to pick them up again and again, day after day. The songs are well-structured, classical neck-wrecking riffs supported by killer drum blastings and with thrash melodies. The members are without doubt very good musicians. Being fast and technical at the same time isn’t a problem for them. The vocals are also great, every member takes part in making it more varied and Sean McGrath's deep growlings are like pleasant stroking on our ear-drums. The second thing that saves them from sinking into forgettable oblivion is that they use guitar solos in almost every song. It's not typical in this style and it gives them some uniqueness, although these slow the songs down a bit. The lyrics are also interesting; just think about the album (medical world) and the song titles.
Stand out tracks are: "Raise The Stakes", "We Belong Dead", "To Die For".
In short, it is a strong, well-composed album that is enjoyable to listen to, but that you can pass up on without losing anything.
Tracklist:
1. The Hippocritic Oath
2. Dead Inside
3. Raise The Stakes
4. Operating Theatre
5. Choke On It
6. We Belong Dead
7. The Worms Crawl In
8. To Die For
10. Carpe Mortem
Playing time: 42.20
Impaled Official Homepage
Necropolis Records
