Impaled Nazarene
Rapture

THE REVIEW

The Impaled Nazarene are among those (very few) black metal bands with a certain following (so I exclude all those groups, very commendable indeed, that perhaps 4-5 people barely know) that have kept high the original spirit of the genre, the spirit of Venom in short. Badassery, fun, cheap Satanism, making fun of everyone and everything.

This is true both lyrically and, above all, musically, because Impaled Nazarene is not the ordinary black metal band all about atmospheres and northern woods, quite the opposite, they are a mixture of different toxins: black certainly, but also Motorhead, death metal, thrash, hardcore, punk, everything that over the years has managed to break the mold (precisely from punk onwards) they put it into practice.

"Rapture", released in 1998, is one of my favorite albums of the group because (somewhat similar to their latest productions which, however, have a few more sparse melodies) it has a distinctly extremist sound, all the tracks are crazy shards of extreme metal in the wild, from the minimal riffs of "Iron Fist With An Iron Will" (which not only in the text reminds of Lemmy and co.) to the generational anthem "We Are Satan's Generation" (by the way, inevitable classics at every devastating Finnish concert) through the filthy and rough thrash of songs like "Healers of the Red Plague" (and its killer and relentless chorus), "The Return of the Nuclear Gods" or the opening "Penis et Circes", the Motorhead and hardcore-punk prevail in compositions (bold word!) like "Virtutation", closer to the earlier productions (distinctly black), the concluding "Phallus Maleficarum" less fast and more cadenced.

It's hard to stand still and unmoved in front of pieces like these.

Among grinding screams, simple and direct guitars, and a relentless rhythm section, Impaled Nazarene delivers one of the best albums of their fairly substantial discography, which can convince anyone who appreciates this arrogant yet fun way of making extreme metal and especially black metal.