IMPALED - USA

The Dead Shall Dead Remain - 2000 - Necropolis
Mondo Medicale - 2002 - Necropolis
Death After Life - 2005 - Century Media
The Last Gasp - 2007 - Willowtip
The Dead Shall Dead Remain - 2013 - Willowtip

Impaled image
  
 
Members
Vocals
Dekapitator, Infanticide, Exhumed, Cup O' Grind>>Leon Del Muerte>>Exhumed, Murder Construct, Nails, Cup O' Grind, Terrorizer L.A., Solo, Lightbreaker - Morbosidad, Ghoul>>SEAN MCGRATH>>Ghoul - Dekapitator, Infanticide, Exhumed, Cup O' Grind, Nails, Terrorizer L.A., , Solo, Lightbreaker>>LEON DEL MUERTE [LEON MICHAEL SANDOW]>>Nails, Terrorizer L.A., , Solo, Lightbreaker

Guitar
Dekapitator, Infanticide, Exhumed>>Leon Del Muerte [Leon Michael Sandow]>>Exhumed, Murder Construct, Terrorizer LA, Solo, Lightbreaker - Inhumation, Ghoul, Necrosic, Engorged>>SEAN MCGRATH>>Ghoul, Necrosic, Engorged - Altar The Sky, Prevail, Hoarfrost>>Andrew Labarre>>Altar The Sky - Century Quartet>>JASON KOCOL


Bass
Ludicra, Exhumed, Black Ops, Phobia, Ghoul, Wolves In The Throne Room>>ROSS SEWAGE [ROSS VICTOR SUBLETT]>>Ludicra, Exhumed, Black Ops, Phobia, Ghoul, Wolves In The Throne Room

Drum
Morbosidad, Ghoul, Landmine Marathon>>RAUL VALERA>>Morbosidad, Ghoul, Landmine Marathon





History & Biography
Bay Area's answer to Carcass was formed in 1997 with vocalist vocalist Jeremy Frye and quickly set out to issue a number of recordings, including the Septic Vomit demo, Brutally Dismembered Symphonic Gore demo in 1998, an Impaled/Cephalic Carnage split for Headfucker records of Italy in 1999, the From Here To Colostomy demo in 1999 and the Impaled/Engorged split, before signing to the Deathvomit imprint of Necropolis Records. The band also played the November To Dismember festival. The band was releasing a split 7' with Engorged in 2000 and had two tours coming up. The band had an autumn US trek which would be preceded by a string of European dates with Macabre, Incantation, Nile and Houwitser. The planned Incantation/Nile/ Hate Eternal tour of Europe was canceled. This followed the cancellation of Incantation's USA tour in 2000.

Following the The Dead Shall Dead Remain the band issued the Choice Cuts covers CD in 2001. Needless to say, Carcass was one of the covered bands. Another tour soon followed this time with the likes of Vader, Origin, Skinless, Withered Earth and Enter Self. The band also appeared on Razorback Records' Impetigo covers album. Leon Del Muerte would leave in November of 2001. A tour with Decapitated and Incantation followed. The band gained further notoriety when the cover art for Mondo Medicale was banned in certain territories. At the same time, Impaled and a vanishing Necropolis Records would part ways after some acrimony. The group would recruit Jason Kocol for the departed Labarre. The band signed with Century Media and issued Death After life in early 2005. A year later the record industry had belched the band out and left it without a deal. The band signed to Willowtip Records in 2007, which would issue the band's The Last Gasp CD. Candlelight Records issued the European release. MP3.com was streaming the album.

On the thirteen-year anniversary of Impaled’s The Dead Shall Dead Remain debut, the group and Willowtip would be releasing a re-recording/self-cover version entitled The Dead Still Dead Remain. Long entangled in legal limbo, the music from The Dead Shall Dead Remain had been unavailable on CD for over a decade. It was originally issued by Necropolis. The re-recording dodged those legal hurdles.

The band and its alter ego Ghoul announced a concert in Mexico for late 2023. The band was booked for NW Massacre Vol 1 of March 2025 alongside the likes of Cartilage, Mazaroth, Coffin Rot, Hateshitter (featuring members of Lord Gore) and Petrification. The band was also booked to appear at Disemboweled God Fest 2025 alongside Deteriorot, Vastum and others.


Reviews

IMPALED - THE DEAD SHALL DEAD REMAIN - DEATHVOMIT/ NECROPOLIS
It's not that this album isn't simply great. It is most certainly. But I probably couldn't criticize Necropolis right now even if I wanted. Not only is this label releasing the best metal available anywhere, but also their current ads drawing attention to the 'sports gear' posers just simply rule. Necropolis not only provide promotion for their bands via these ads, but also do metal a great service. Slipknot fans must die - send me your addresses for special postal delivery! Impaled have a past history, etc etc. Who cares? This is the best Carcass-worship gore metal since Necrony and even though there is true grindcore chaos at work here, close attention to the screams and guitar work (esp. the leads) conclusively proves that there are good musicians at work behind the facade of a goregrind band and titles like Immaculate Defecation (genius title I), Faecal Rites (genius title II) and Gorenography (genius title III). The true genius, however, lies in encoding so much brutality onto one disc. This is the definitive anti-trend album of 2000. - Ali "The Metallian"

IMPALED - CHOICE CUTS - NECROPOLIS
Some might argue that the cover alone justifies buying this album. Others might argue the cover justifies banning the album. These folks probably give metal fans more justification for buying the album! I don't see why this album -magenta blood and all - can get released when Repulse had to dim the Disgorge album, but this is yet another monument to the sickness that is prerequisite for goregrind. Thank someone or something Impaled isn't about to compromise. Musically, as things stand and as much as this is pedal to scalpel great, Impaled itself is a cover band; so I can't be sure whether it makes sense to buy an Impaled album featuring a couple of Impetigo and Carcass covers and some demo versions of older songs. What I do know is that it's always reassuring that bands like these exist to push the envelope of extremism. - Ali "The Metallian"

IMPALED - MONDO MEDICALE - DEATHVOMIT/NECROPOLIS
Mondo Medicale is Impaled's second full length album and for those in unfamiliar territory one word might suffice: Carcass. Naturally the Carcass comparison does not quite tell the whole story and America's Impaled, especially with the current release, continues to impress beyond the limited capability of a mere clone band. So what are the fundamentals with Impaled? The quartet is firmly ensconced in the gore metal corner complete with the requisite dual-vocal approach, down-tuned savagery, blast beats and titles like Dead Inside and Choke On It. A couple of the riffs here are Carcass ones cloned. The beginning of Operating Theatre is Corporal Jigsore Quandary for instance. The album is partly a concept depicting a man's journey through surgery with the best moment coming at the tail end of the CD, entitled Carpe Mortem, where the thoughts of the inexpressive patient are barely audible beneath the surgeon's lecture - brilliant!
Having said that, and as hinted above, Impaled is a legitimate act. First and foremost this gang is comprised of serious musicians who can actually play. In fact, one can go as far as opining that the band's humour and general gory goofiness garners the band an undeserved image. One has to wonder whether Sean, Raul, Andrew and Ross realize this. Case in point being the impressive lead guitar work. They would do well to increase the number and length of the solos. The lead on Dead Inside lasts all of three seconds before disappearing. Likewise the solos on Rest In Faeces and We Belong Dead are proficient and deserving of more air time. In the same context, Impaled is allowing more melody into its work than ever before. There certainly are more melodious rhythms here than any of the band's previous works. It is not quite a gash yet; rather it is more like a trickle. Then there is the matter of the song The Worms Crawl In. The band has opted for a patented Emperor riff on the song (right before the mini-lead) and to hammer home the point the keyboards make a short appearance!
All in all, Carcass-isms abound, but Impaled is growing to become its own full-body cadaver. The band has had its cover art already banned in Europe and is shipping the album with two artworks. Necropolis Records should step up its promotional activities. With such talent as its roster it is a crime they are so underground... or is that exactly why they are such a small operation??

HAEMORRHAGE/IMPALED - DEMENTIA REX - RAZORBACK
Dementia Rex is the long-delayed split between the two grindcore bands Haemorrhage and Impaled. It is also the second split-CD on the label this summer.
Haemorrhage is well-known of course, and deviates little here from its standard fare. That is, the band slams friend and foe to the wall without remorse. Still, it is not clear why the band has agreed to a split now. It neither needs the publicity nor the experience. To make matters more ironic, one of the band's four songs here is a Grave cover. There is a cool Kreator rip off solo on Slaved To Dismember all the same.
Impaled is between labels right now. It has abandoned Necropolis and joined Century Media. The California Carcass concubines speed out of the gates with two vocals and a whole number of blasts. The Megadeth rip off solo on The Patients Are Revolting is interesting to hear, indicating the band's future tendency. They too have an awful drum sound too. Still, Impaled is always good for fun lyrics and brutal metal and this here split-CD is no exception. - Ali "The Metallian"

IMPALED - DEATH AFTER LIFE - CENTURY MEDIA
Long thought of as simply a Carcass clone, Impaled returns with a third full-length offering (amidst several EPs/splits) and proves the consistent big C comparisons wrong. Incorporating thrash a la Bay Area into its goregrind assemblage, this band hasn't necessarily reinvented itself but is definitely treading into more expansive territory. Not to worry though, as the inherent prowess found on previous (read: fantastic) records The Dead Shall Dead Remain and Mondo Medicale is still around: in fact, song-writing has been taken up a notch or two. When the assaulting breakdown at 3:01 of Gutless or the razor-sharp riffs and solos on Resurrectionist kick in, there's all kinds of warm 'n' fuzzy feelings in my thermocleidomastoid (Impaled-ish medical humour... sorry). Further, the groove of The Dead Shall Dead Remain (the track on Death After Life, not the old record) is fuckin' killer, ripping flesh, follicles and folly while absolute metal bliss ensues. A hearty nod to Impaled for moving outside the box somewhat; hopefully the band's newfound alliance with Century Media will bring it to entirely new audiences. - James Tape


Interviews
Known to the metal public as America's premier specialists in gore metal, California-based Impaled and its new opus Mondo Medicale are not about to shatter any fantasies. Be that as it may, the quartet is out to prove that the much maligned genre features bands with more talent than for which credit is given. On a bright and sunny Saturday morning, the good doctor Sean McGrath (vocals/guitars), who along with Andrew LaBarre (guitars/vocals), Ross Sewage (bass/vocals) and Raul Varela (drums) comprises the band, puts down the scalpel long enough to speak with Ali "The Metallian" about the band's medical and musical practice - 31.08.2002

'At that moment Ross Sewage is in Ludicra which is a black metal band, Raul is in Morbosidad, Andrew has a project called Alter The Sky which is just him and not a band. Ross used to be in Exhumed, but got kicked out shortly before our debut The Dead Shall Dead Remain was recorded. I am not in any side bands,' is McGrath's clarification of background information.

While side projects are interesting, the subject matter is Impaled. The Americans though have always been compared to Carcass. 'Well, they are a really big influence, but musically there is more of an influence from Megadeth actually,' reveals McGrath matter-of-factly. He continues, 'You are probably surprised to hear this, but Megadeth, Dissection and At The Gates are bigger musical influences than Carcass, who are a vocal influence. As far as high vocals, I sound like Jeff Walker. I understand that, but the way Alex Krull sang on the first Atrocity album Hallucinations is more of an influence on me. That album was a bigger influence on me when I was younger than Jeff Walker. 'The Carcass influence is more of a lyrical thing. The fact that we have three vocalists... I have always loved that style. Ross' vocals add a lot of dynamic to the whole thing, but the music, at this point anyway, is not a whole lot like Carcass. We probably share a lot of influences with Carcass like Kreator, Anthrax and Megadeth. Dismember was a bigger influence (than Carcass) when we started and I don't know if that came across. Furthermore we have more 'black metal'-sounding parts than Carcass ever did, but because we have the three vocalists - high, mid-range and low - and have songs about botched surgeries people forget about how we don't sound a whole lot like Carcass. We were never a Carcass tribute band like General Surgery for example.'

Having said that, with your cover art and Carcass cover song you are not going out of your way to dispel the notion. 'We don't use Carcass as a musical influence all the time, but we are part of the musical sub-genre that they created,' the guitarist attempts to distinguish. 'If someone says we sound like Carcass and are a gore/grind band, even though we don't grind, it's not a bad thing. Some people seem to take it that way. I have read many reviews where people write, 'they sound like Carcass. Why don't they do something original?' Carcass created a sub-style of music and many bands like Haemorrhage, Exhumed, Pathologist and General Surgery do that. Everyone doing it likes that kind of music and Carcass isn't around anymore. It's a style. Nobody seems to complain when ten thousand bands sound like Suffocation. People rip them off right and left and all the time, but for some reason it's more acceptable. There are bands that sound exactly like Cannibal Corpse and nobody gives a shit. When somebody emulates Carcass then everybody gets up in arms about it.'

Setting the English grinders aside, we next turn our attention to Impaled's relationship with their label Necropolis Records. Readers may recall the reports from the Impaled camp last year announcing the band's split with the label. McGrath acknowledges and explains thus, 'we had contractual obligations which we were forced to fulfill. We didn't really want to be on Necropolis Records anymore, but we had to fulfill the contract. We have had a rocky relationship with them, but they have done some really good stuff for us - especially early on. Just the fact that they signed us at all and put out an album that had a toilet on the cover (The Dead Shall Dead Remain of 2000) is something. Nobody else wanted to sign us. It is no secret that Necropolis has had financial troubles. I am sure people who work with magazines know about that. We talked with them and they asked for another EP beside Mondo Medicale, so we recorded everything we had which is why there will be an EP coming out called Medical Waste - sometime in September. So there was a bad situation at Necropolis and I don't know if it's getting better. It seems like sometimes money comes in and goes out of the door immediately. For us it seemed like we didn't know whether we will get any promotion for the album or if the studio will get paid, but it did and now they are doing a pretty good job doing promotion for this album.
'Necropolis Records' owner Paul Thind has some serious financial problems. I mean, I have $600 of debt and I think I am in bad shape! He's in much worse shape than I am. Then he had pretty bad luck with people stealing CDs and running out on the label which is pretty fucked.'

Will you be on Necropolis for your future releases? 'No. We are not on Necropolis anymore.'

There has been internal turmoil at the Impaled camp as well. Singer and guitarist Leon Del Muerte does not appear on Mondo Medicale. 'Leon had a big web presence,' begins the guitarist whilst recalling how Del Muerte's departure affected Impaled. 'We were writing Mondo Medicale and Leon went into his own musical direction. He started being influenced by modern bands like Nasum and Rotten Sound and wanted to write stuff like that. I wasn't into it all. It was not what we were writing. He is not into melodic death metal, even though we have a good mixture of melodic and brutal stuff, he just didn't like it. As a result it became a chore to go to practice. Nobody wanted to do anything and nobody wanted to learn the other guy's songs. It wasn't working out and it was, more or less, a mutual decision for him to not be in the band anymore. He had mentioned quitting a few times and had mentioned quitting after the album and we said why wait and he left.
'He was our webmaster and owned our old site. Two days after his departure www.impaled.net was closed down and now it's a porn site! We now have www.impaled.info which Ross runs. Leon was definitely a mouthpiece for the band on the internet. He was on-line all the time because of his job and talked to people, so probably a lot of people thought he was the band. He now is in one new band and also starting a band called Murder Construct '

Talking about changing plans, Mondo Medicale was reportedly to be recorded at Sweden's Sunlight Studio. That plan was scrapped earlier, 'we were supposed to go to Sunlight to record and we actually could have probably done it. We decided it was too much pain in the ass. Our new guitar player and vocalist Andrew is a really good engineer. He is going to school to be a recording engineer and understands sound. He is also pretty good at mimicking other bands' sounds. For example, when we say 'I want this to sound like At The Gates' he comes up with that. So it doesn't make much sense to go pay someone else when we already have somebody who will do it for free.'

Speaking of Andrew LaBarre the new singer/guitarist and engineer, it seems that the band did not have to go far to find him.'He was in a band here called Prevail, 'narrates McGrath 'who played around for a while and sounded like Dissection and At The Gates. They practiced at our studio for a year or two and later on fell apart. Andrew has recorded a couple of Impaled demos and a project of our members called Black Ops. I had asked him to play a solo for us and he played an amazing solo. He was the only choice to join the band that I could think of. He has a Marty Friedman-ish style as far as soloing and is an amazing rhythm player too. I really admire his style. We had asked a few other people if they want to try out, but I just told Ross that Andrew is pretty good and we should ask him to join. He is a better musician than the rest of us.'

Before tackling Mondo Medicale directly, there is the matter of the Choice Cuts EP which preceded it. The mini-album in general and the cover, depicting a dead 'baby,' in particular attracted some negative reaction for band and label. 'Firstly what happened was that a packing plant refused to put the covers into the CD,'recalls the man almost laughing at the whole ordeal. 'The women who worked there were offended and found it gross. Well, it is so who can blame them (laughs!). That's the risk you take when you put a dead baby on the cover. It wasn't really a big deal. I thought it was funny. We used it as a promotional tool, but it is obviously a doll. I mean it was completely fake. It was more meant to be funny than gross. I guess our idea of funny isn't everybody else's.
'I mean they should look at (equally controversial) Disgorge's Forensick album cover. That's real, you know? They actually have a real dead baby with a woman's vagina on the cover. We have a plastic doll with what, after the colour separation, looks like grape jelly! As for some journalists, these people review death metal albums?'

These same people claim to like black metal - a genre which worships Satan who wants to annihilate the cosmos! Let us address Mondo Medicale. Which song was the one which you wrote last? Thinks McGrath, 'The last song we wrote for the album was probably To Die For.'

My reason for asking was to wonder whether given the dissimilarity between The Worms Crawl In and the other songs if that song is indicative of the future Impaled sound. Not quite so, 'I think The Worms Crawl In is a good indication of what Impaled will sound like in the future, but I can say that about any of our songs. Actually the reason we placed keyboards on that song is, this is pretty dumb, that we put keyboards on one part of one single song every time! Every release we do we have one keyboard part. I don't know why we came up with that, but we have talked ourselves into thinking that we must have one part with keyboards and on Mondo Medicale there it is. It also seemed to fit, because that particular riff is bombastic-sounding and needed something else. That's the most quote unquote black metallish sounding part of our album. It's not like we are turning to black metal. If I had to point to one song that would most indicate what we will sound like in the future I would name Dead Inside.'

The album also has more mid-paced material and melody than ever before.'Yeah, it definitely has more mid-paced stuff,' concurs my interviewee.'We never had a slow or moshy song, but To Die For and Operating Theatre may fall into that category. The melodic parts were there before. We have had such bad production that no one could tell though. I listened to The Dead Shall Dead Remain yesterday and a song like Spirits Of The Dead has a lot of harmony. There are also many riffs that have Classical chord patterns, but because we tune to B you can't even tell. It's just like a wall of noise. We have expanded a little bit on that song. It is also a little bit more coherent and cohesive so it now sounds better. The mid-paced thing though is definitely new for Impaled.

'Who knows, we might write a bunch of really fast stuff for the next album. That's fine because I like really fast stuff, but we don't have any problems with doing mid-paced stuff. To me the question is whether the song is good. I don't care how fast it is. I have no problem doing mid-paced or slow stuff. I just want it to be good. The songwriting must be good. It must sound like a song and not a bunch of riffs stuck together.'

Another distinction for the current album is the high quality of the solos. That, despite how there are very few of them and the existing ones are short. 'Your criticism is actually the first I heard,' remarks McGrath. 'Most people seem to think we have too many solos on this album! They think we are selling out. I keep seeing that on message boards and in reviews. They think it's cheesy and lame that there are solos (laughs). I personally love the solos though. That's why we have them. It's so metal, come on! I think they are a little bit longer now than on our debut, but there are less of them. There are five or six less solos on this album and I don't know why. A couple of songs don't have solos at all and I don't know if it was a conscious decision. I think there was just no place to put them. Choke On It, for example, had a solo written for it by Andrew but then decided he didn't want it. Personally, I would say he should play solos all the time! I like listening to them. Maybe next time!
'Still, those kids on the bulletin boards can really bring you down. Those bulletin boards can really ruin your day. It's like crashing back down to earth. If you are in a band and you think you are awesome shit, then go on one of those boards. Then you'll say, 'OK, I am nothing!' Those guys are really cruel.'

On a more humourous note I ask McGrath whether Necropolis Records attempted to censor the song Rest In Faeces where the band cryptically refers to their erstwhile label. Seems the question was closer to the mark than anticipated. McGrath:'No, they didn't read the lyrics. I don't know if that's good business practice, but they decided that it wasn't important to read the lyrics. They probably thought we weren't going to say anything bad about them. They found out about it a week after the album came out. I didn't think the lyrics were that obvious, but I guess they are because everyone is noticing. There was a phone conversation with the label (once they read the lyrics) that was pretty tense. They threatened to take the song off the album for the next pressing, but they are not going to do that.'

This memorial park, run by a fool
For the Necropolis, this is the end

The album also features a couple of self-references. McGrath takes up the story again, 'The song Raise The Stakes is pretty much about Impaled.

Raise the stakes, leave them all impaled
No body left unassailed
Raise the stakes, leave them all impaled
These life times we have curtailed
'Dead Inside is actually about touring. We thought at least one death metal band has to have a touring song. Nobody ever does that anymore. We had Home Sweet Home and The Killing Road, all these eighties bands had touring songs!'

The surface teeming with the most noxious infestation of all
Through touring endeavours we will ensure humanity's fall

Yet speaking of the song Raise The Stakes one wonders why the self-reference features only three out of four of the band members. The explanation is simple. 'That's because Andrew (the missing member) is singing it. He is doing the talking and like real life talking to himself. One more thing I can tell you about the album is that the line 'prepare to make carcass stew' is actually a quotation from the Rigor Mortis song called Slow Death which also happens to be the name of the solo right before the line!'

The entertaining explanations have claimed a victim though. For my impression of the album was that it's a concept narrating the story of a surgery. Seems not, even if McGrath likes the idea,'no it's not, but if people take it that way it's great. I never really thought of it in that way. Raise The Stakes is one song that is not about surgery. A couple of people have said they thought Mondo Medicale is a concept album. It could be looked at that way, but it wasn't planned. Your idea is cool. I have to beat up Ross for not thinking of it first.'

Yet another interesting tidbit about the album is how the patient's thoughts can be heard, albeit faintly, on the last song Carpe Mortem. 'It's supposed to be in his head. Sounds dumb, doesn't it? It's supposed to be his internal monologue as doctors are cutting him up. He is paralyzed.'(see Nuclear Assault's Game Over album - Copy Editor)

The album is also issued in limited edition vinyl. He recounts, 'Raul has a label called Evil Morgue and he has pressed 1,500 red, green and regular vinyls of Mondo Medicale. There are no extra songs there, but there are a total of 1,500 pressed. We just sold a bunch of them on tour.'

Given all the activity and thought that goes into Impaled one wonders whether the band members ever get disenchanted by the degree of their success. Do bands get frustrated when a band becomes popular because of their label's promotional budget, a female member or whatever other means hype is created? McGrath is rather philosophical here as he proceeds cautiously.'We have these little publicity things too. I mean the cover of our current album says 'Banned in 84 countries!!!!' Well,... the cover did not really cause a controversy. So it's a publicity tool and all that. Getting a female singer, like Arch Enemy, sells a lot of albums if she is hot. I guess that's cool, but it's not something that we would do. Arch Enemy has real appeal. I don't like their music, but it is super catchy and I understand why people do. They have the rock 'n' roll look and the Amotts are like cute guys with the hair girls like. That's cool and that's fine. Mike Amott was in Carcass which is a band that paved the way for us to sell even one album, you know? We are never going to sell a ton of albums (anyway) because we are singing about cutting people up!
'I am not sure what Peter Tagtgren is singing about now to cite another example, but speaking about people getting abducted by aliens is a little bit more palatable to a lot more people than being eaten by maggots (laughs)!
'Arch Enemy didn't come out of nowhere, but they would admit this too, obviously having that singer has made them a huger band now. It's totally obvious. I saw them in San Fransisco and they ran on stage and started rocking, but when that chick came out the audience went fucking crazy. What are you going crazy for? Because she is good? Or because she is a chick with a tube top? I think she is a good vocalist, especially for a girl, but she is not phenomenal! She is professional, but I don't understand how people would go crazy because she is a death metal vocalist. Anyone can do death metal vocals! It's not that hard. It doesn't really frustrate me that much. There have been times, though, that I saw a band that just get started and because they get promotion then all of a sudden they are on the Morbid Angel tour or something. Well, we would love to be on the Morbid Angel tour. We haven't been around for a very long time, but we do have two albums!'

In this context, what is the latest news with the band? 'We just came off a tour with Incantation, Decapitated and others,' begins the man.' It started at the Milwaukee Metal Fest and lasted for a month. That was awesome. Many bands had problems like vans breaking down, but overall it was pretty cool and we had a great time. We were also just on a radio station here where Jason Newsted was promoting his Chophouse Records. It was bizarre because he was announcing an Impaled song. It was totally weird. I was just sitting there thinking it's fine, but a moment later I was like 'wait a minute, that's Metallica announcing an Impaled song!' We probably won't do another tour because we are really poor. Right now Necropolis is doing a pretty good job doing publicity and getting interviews for us. I get emails and calls from our publicist Julie everyday. She's pretty on the ball about it.
'Right now we are talking to a few labels, but we have no contracts. We don't have a label right now and for the foreseeable future that is not going to change. This album is like a very expensive demo which we are sending to other labels. I also think it's pretty saleable. It is catchy and has hooks. It could be pretty popular if it had promotion. We are looking for a label that can promote the album and give us tour support. We want to go to Europe. We also would love to go to Canada, but that has more to do with what the tour manager wants. Last time we went on tour was with Vader and Origin and we couldn't enter Canada because our drummer is an immigrant and couldn't get a visa for Canada. So we missed the Canadian shows. We also have a split-CD with Haemorrhage on Razorback records soon and a split 7' EP with Machetazo coming on Tag Stew Records. We are working on a lyrical concept with Haemorrhage where each band does half the story. We are also going to start working on a new album and just keep going.'

In the meanwhile enter the world of Mondo Medicale which is at good record stores right now. For more information please point your browsers to www.impaled.info.



Metallian's Jussi captures the moment of brutality while sharing some knowledge with none other than Impaled's own ROSS Sewage hashing out his view points of the current release with humour that can be felt through his savvy ways of verbal expression. Bestowing laughter only ROSS can conjure, but yet somber enough to reveal the album's turning points and on to Impaled's website video game they take into account other factors taken into the recording of Death After Life. Unleashing the dead shall remain dead theory Century Media's latest addition recording group sheds insight into a mentality so unlike the norm. - 01.03.2005

METALLIAN: How's it going and stuffies?
ROSS SEWAGE: Not bad, how are you?

METALLIAN: First and foremost I wanted to say a job well done with your current album and congratulations with being taken on by Century Media Records.
ROSS : Thanks. I don't know how we have done it.

METALLIAN: So, how are they treating you?
ROSS : They make us push brooms around the office, but other than that they have been really swell.

METALLIAN: You don't fly on them (laughs)?
ROSS : Yeah, you know in the contract there was a little subclause that we were also the janitors. But you know we still got to record and still promote the album. So who's going to complain?

METALLIAN: So far Death After Life has spawned some killer reviews, how does the band feel about that?
ROSS : Ah, that we have gotten killer reviews?

METALLIAN: Yeah.
ROSS : I don't know because all the web boards slam us, but that is nothing unusual. We just go back on there and post naked pictures of ourselves for the different internet websites that we posed for. And give them the big middle finger. As far as the awesome reviews it has been it really nice to see awesome reviews. Sorry what was the question (seems to me that Ross was side-tracked with the question by posing for the websites)?

METALLIAN: With the reviews that you got so far.
ROSS : I would say that we got a lot of slamming for our production, but that's OK because we were really high and drunk when we did it. So

METALLIAN: They are all probably jealous, you know.
ROSS : I am sure they are jealous of our incredibly easy production.

METALLIAN: Do you think that Impaled is forging a new way for music, more in an artistic comical flair with all due consideration to the latest material?
ROSS : Are we making a new direction for music? I thought we kinda did like a U-turn for music.

METALLIAN: Is it more like a comical artistic flair, more or less?
ROSS : I mean it has been done before, I think Galagur used to have a really good album out. We are trying to keep it more in the vein with Weird Al Yakovick and really keep that torch lit.

METALLIAN: Have you ever heard a band called Separate The Bones From The Flesh? They are sorta grindcore but more humor and Jerry Springer sick type of stuff?
ROSS : Where are they from?

METALLIAN: They are from Finland.
ROSS : I have not heard of them. I only have heard of a couple, well there is Rotten Sound and Excrement was really good. They had a song called Corpse Fuckin' Art. I always though that was a beautiful title for a song. I have not heard the band that you speak of, but anyone who wants to tell jokes and play music quite frankly I see them as competition and I hope they die.

METALLIAN: Impaled seems to be more death gore style musically, do you find it somewhat difficult to describe the group's style when someone asks you where does Impaled fit musically?
ROSS : We always considered ourselves death metal even though lots of people like to lump us into grindcore and I think there is an important difference that needs to be marked that if a band does not have blast beats I don't consider them grindcore. There are a lot of people like to say Suffocation is grindcore I would immediately argue against that. They are death metal. In order to be grindcore you need to be British, have blast beats, talk about politics and sound like you are drunk men screaming and leaving a pub. That's grindcore! We're death metal and the only difficult time I have explaining is say I'm buying,.. say like Vaseline, safety pins and alcohol before a show at Walgreens. And they go "Oh, are you playing down the street? " I say yeah. And they say what kinda music are you? I say well it is kinda like Pantera times ten zillion or something. And they'll go "who's Pantera?" And then at that point I walk out disgusted.

METALLIAN: What is the difference between this current release and the prior ones? More in a creative sense that is.
ROSS : Well, the biggest difference is that all of our songs are like stories, and this one we decided to do one story because we couldn't come up with a bunch of ideas for songs. So we made it one album, a concept album. So, we definitely stretched out that way and tried to give each song its own personality. That means we ripped off from more different people instead of just one band. So it is definitely different in that respect. We tried to expand certain things like we were able to get a violinist and celloist in and so we decided to try to be pompous like a bunch of Swedish bands. To have it sound like an orchestra and try to evolve musically which was hard because we still suck but that's a you know we gave it our best shot. We'll see how the kids take it.

METALLIAN: Death After Life material is more comically humoured and skitted musically. Do you think this gives the band almost a signature mark with this musical approach?
ROSS : A what remark?

METALLIAN: Do you think it almost gives the band a signature mark with this musical approach comically?
ROSS : Well, I suppose it can be funny. We were trying to be scary but I guess us trying to be scary is pretty funny. I think there is actually in the jokes in the lyrics there is less jokes, we most defiantly did skits. And so I think that comes from our love of Saturday Night Live and we wanted to have a recurring character that we can make into a movie produced by Lorne Michaels. And but so far we haven't got any calls from Lorne. I'm kinda disappointed about that but I am sure, but maybe we are not up to SNL status maybe we are Mad TV.

METALLIAN: Like Stewart get away from me.
ROSS : Yeah, I want Stewart to save the world but I want it to be Ross saves the world. That's kinda my goal.

METALLIAN: Do you think the group's personality gives comic relief to its music, where typically most of the extreme metal bands focus on seriously dark aspects?
ROSS : I don't know. We are all sitting at home cutting ourselves with razors trying to dull the pain of life. And normally we are going around smoking cloves and you know sitting around in coffee shops staring at our shoes. Music is really the only thing that we do humorously. I think in everything else we're extremely serious. You know, we attend funerals on our days off because we're that hardcore. As far as the music goes that is our only escape from our darkest reality that is life.

METALLIAN: Do you think it sets Impaled apart from other bands, more in a different flavour?
ROSS : I think it makes us booed a lot more. We go to shows, and I was taking to a German once "Manowar is pretty funny, huh?", and he said, "You do not say Manowar is funny!" There seems to be in metal, people tend to take it very seriously but then they go to their jobs you know in the shipping department and then go home and get wasted. They listen to songs about warriors conquering lands written by a bunch of other guys who are working shipping jobs and go home and get drunk. I think that's pretty funny.

METALLIAN: Do you find it an oddity at times when reviews or interviews describe Impaled to the likes of Carcass and Autopsy?
ROSS : I am always complimented by such comments because of course we look up to and respect those bands. I am happy to see more Autopsy comparisons now than when we started because I think that band didn't get the credit they deserved when it was around. As far as the Carcass comparison I heard that Carcass heard our cover that we did of their song for the tribute and they apparently gave it the big thumbs down. So apparently we are failing in their eyes. I don't think we intentionally go out other than ripping off of their lyrical style and ripping off naming guitar solos. I don't think we go out listening to Symphony Of Sickness and try to play it note per note backwards or anything like that.

METALLIAN: Behind the album idea of a theme it seems you spin more of a tale of sinister plans about exploring a cure for death. What prompted Impaled to convey this story musically for Death After Life?
ROSS : Well, the concept came from the name of our first album The Dead Shall Dead Remain. I wanted to write a song about that, because I thought in retrospect that was the stupidest possible comment anyone can ever make. I don't think there is anymore an obvious statement than The Dead Shall Dead Remain. It is like the blue sky will stay blue. I wanted to explore that completely ignoreanus concept and it kinda evolved into an album that we thought we can really go and talk about. I mean we love movies like Reanimator and things like that and we love trying to bring dead cats back to life that we find on the street. We always fail. So I kinda thought we can you know like bring our real life into the music and our own stupidity because the whole album is the about the tragic failure of not being able to accomplish what we want to accomplish. Then you get a dumb statement like The Dead Shall Dead Remain because you know we ignore reality and like the reality that our band is not ever going to make us money. We ignore that.

METALLIAN: What was it like working with Trey Spruance on the new stuff?
ROSS : He is a swell guy and we got to hear lots of Mr. Bungle stories and got to hear lots of stories of when he was with Faith No More. We got to hear lots of stories about how hard it was to record and then we forgot to actually concentrate on recording our music and so we ended up paying him several million dollars for his time while he told us stories. Then we spent a day recording the album.

METALLIAN: So, technically it took a day to record Death After Life?
ROSS : I'm putting on a line.

METALLIAN: How long did it take to record the album?
ROSS : There was ah, I think the studio time was like a week and then we went up to Trey's shack in the woods. This isn't a lie this is totally true! In his house, he had another house and then we would go into his shack and this took, I think this was over a month because we had to get down there and take time off of work. Because like some 15 year olds like to believe that Impaled is our job, but it's not. And so I had to get time off my work at the porn warehouse and go up to his shack and sit in rat-infested bathrooms screaming vocals with rat shit around me. I probably ended up with a giant E-coli infection, I am not even sure. And so we sat up there and he has all these weird instruments and we banged on this weird instruments and he told us to stop because they were worth a lot from India or some stupid crap like that. So the mixing time took and then we're sitting on a computer in a shack in the woods. It was quite an interesting experience.

METALLIAN: Was there anything that the band wanted to do differently with this album?
ROSS : Anything different that is an interesting question I haven't thought about yet. I think if we could do anything different I should call you back about this. No the album's perfection I think it is going to rewrite music as we know it, I think it is death metal's Abby Road. How is that?

METALLIAN: I heard that the band performs in doctors' attire live. Is this something apart from the album's theme?
ROSS : Well, we have been dressing up in different silly attire for a long time. We tried clown suits, but that didn't really work. We all tried tuxedos and everyone thought we were going to play lounge music and then we got the doctor gear. And it was oh, the kids know we are going to play gory death metal. So it is all for the kids and we dress up for them. And you know we are going to try the clown suites again and see how that goes. I think if the time is right, oh god what was ah, Nightstick they used to have a clown on stage or was it? Yeah, it was Nightstick and I really think we can bring that back.

METALLIAN: Any plans for future tour dates?
ROSS : Oh absolutely. We are working a small tour right now with our friends Engorged because we basically try to get their lazy butts out of Portland and get them on the road, so we are working on that. And then we are going to do some east coast shows around the Maryland Death Fest. Our main problem is that no band wants us to tour with them. But we are maybe getting on the next Napalm Death tour. We are going to pretend that we are someone else and then show up there. "Hey it's Impaled." So our plan is to sneak in.

METALLIAN: If you were any comic superhero who would you be and why?
ROSS : I think I would be Spiderman. That's because I actually have the powers of a spider. I would say Superman but I can't fly. I can shoot webs out of my butt.

METALLIAN: So what's up with the Impaled gaming on the band's website? Who came up with that idea?
ROSS : The game?

METALLIAN: Yes.
ROSS : Have you played it?

METALLIAN: No I haven't had the time to actually do that.
ROSS : Every loves that it's there, but no one plays it. It's a fun game. You play a surmantran rat monkey right and the members of Impaled try to kill you and you have to vomit on them to kill us.

METALLIAN: Was it the band's concept to have the game there?
ROSS : We were approached. It is metalzonejesuscrusher.com and there is a link on the site and everything. It is this really weird red state kid who I argue with politics all the time. I tell him that president Bush sucks and he doesn't believe me. And maybe you think president Bush is a rat too but whatever! Let's not get into it in this interview for Impaled. He wanted to do a video game for his class project because he is going to programming school and probably going to have a career unlike us. So he wanted to know what we want to do and I throw out all these really retarded ideas and he ended up putting it together as a game. He is very proud of it and you need to go and play it because otherwise this kid's existence is futile and meaningless without your participation.

METALLIAN: Any Jerry Springer-like final thoughts?
ROSS : Ah, Jerry Springer final thoughts I think from what we learn from our differences with people is that we really don't get along and that we really should separate from each other and that you should punch your best friend anytime he disagrees with you. And that is my final thought.

Impaled is a band from somewhere in a red state that thinks it is a blue state. The band's album is out now and there have been no press reports regarding whether the band successfully snuck up on Napalm Death.










Impaled