Impaled Nazarene
Latex Cult

THE REVIEW

"Latex Cult" is the filthiest and most bastard of albums with the Impaled Nazarene brand.

Released in 1996 by the usual Osmose after the lackluster "Suomi Finland Perkele" which alternated classic crushing tracks in their usual style (steelvagina!!!!!) with rather promiscuous and bland others, this album reinvents the sordid individuals' fortunes in a paroxysmal way, meaning that at the time I literally wore out the CD.

14 tracks of total black/thrash/crust/grind madness filtered through a Motörhead-like, alcohol-soaked lens that doesn't relent for a moment and closes with the terrifying "XXX delirium tremens" where Mika Luttinen rants incoherently and howls wildly. The album's production is not like the latest works, that is, clean and with triggers, but rather dusty, rough, and dirty, and in some ways brings the Impaled of this record closer to the earliest, more brutal thrash bands (Sodom, Kreator, very early Voivod), and to Finnish hardcore bands of the '80s like Riistetyt and Terveet Kädet.

I've always thought that the black metal label was very limiting for them since their racket blends more genres, and their attitude is (or was) rather ironic and even sardonic. In my opinion, this "Latex Cult" together with the insane "Ugra Karma" from 1993 and "Rapture" from 1998 (I believe) is the best of the best of the Finnish maniacs.

I followed them up until "All That You Fear," but honestly, after "Rapture," I found the albums repetitive, lacking bite, overproduced - and in this sense "Absence of War Does Not Mean Peace" is disgraceful, the drums are like a toy - and unnecessarily vicious. I'm not saying they necessarily declined, maybe I just got tired of following them. However, take some good advice that this "Latex Cult" blows away at least half of all the extreme stuff you've got on your shelf in one go.