There’s a scourge festering on the skin of this country. Without getting stuck in the weeds of politics that noxious odor of corruption is  sneaking it’s way into every fabric and nook and cranny. It’s time for angry music again, we need to release our frustrations and what better way than with blast beats?

The answer, constant reader is simplicity, meat and potatoes, balls to the wall Death Metal. Look no further than Nashville’s Act of Impalement, they join the plethora of bands coming out of that area including the mighty Casket Robbery.

Guitarist Ethan Rock’s longtime collaborators Aaron Hortman (drums) and Jerry Garner (bass) have created this impure, blasphemous album that puts you on the floor and keeps you down there, all the while kicking the fuck out of you.

Profane Alter is at its black heart, a 90s inspired brick of brutality. Picture a brick with the word ‘brutality’ written on it crashing through the wall. Beginning with the lumbering “Apparition”. Those riffs, though! Straight and to the point, mastered and produced to inflict maximum punishment.

This album is like a musical battlefield. “Piercing the Heavens” brings an Incantation style beat down while “Sanguine Rites” comes dragging itself across the bloody concrete then picks up speed to a mid-paced crusher, getting almost Entombed around the 2:21 point.

Profane Alter is not a long album, clocking in at 30:15 it races along with reckless abandon, and manages to hold your attention for multiple listens. Act of Impalement has been at this for a while. Beginning with the Ritual Warfare Demo in 2012, the Necromancer’s Theme Demo in 2013 followed by the Hyperborean Altar (EP) and a handful of other Eps and a compilation in 2014. The first full-length is Perdition Cult in 2018, followed by the full-length numero dós Infernal Ordinance in 2023(!)

Profane Alter is a great Death Metal album, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t reinvent the Death Metal wheel because it’s goddamn fun to listen to. That’s what elevates it. “Deities of the Weak” rides in on an extremely catchy riff sounding almost Samael-ish circa Worship Him. It’s unrelenting and it’s one of my high points on Profane Alter.

“Final Sacrifice” is a blast furnace, spewing fire and halfway burnt pieces of human meat. The blood soaked carnage continues with “Gnashing of Teeth” a tornado of horrors and then it’s time for “Zenith of Barbarism” my second favorite track off of Profane Alter.

The war ends with the fucking monstrous title track bringing up the rear of Act of Impalement’s armored column. Like I said, it’s an incredibly enjoyable record in every way possible and I’m definitely looking forward to their next release.

If you like your Death Metal sitting squarely in the heart of the 90s, where Morbid Angel, Incantation, and Bolt Thrower ruled supreme. Pick this fucker up and bang your goddamn head.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments