Singapore can boast of Abhorer, Sadiztik Impaler, Istidraj, and Impiety. The mighty Impiety, it seems, has been around forever. In truth Dominator is just their eleventh release. Impiety has its origins in pre-Darkthrone black metal, when the bass guitar was still a vital instrument and as such they are usually referred to as black thrash, until they warped in death metal that is. Dominator has the powerhouse punch of death and the full frontal assault war on Christianity of their black soul, so any old time Impiety fans that skipped a few discs jump back on board (and shame on you for skipping any, grab them too). We start things off with a standard war soundscape intro with blastbeats, no time for subtlety. Dense punishing drums fill the void with vocals more shouted than screamed and shrill guitarlines that pierce the rhythm cacophony but no not stand out in the mix as much this time. The pace is mostly fast, the vocals almost never pause, with lengths of songs essentially fifteen seconds longer than it takes to spew out all the words, which does not mean no compositional innovation, just that vocals have to compete with everything else. Their characteristic off kilter guitar lines, more sonic distortion than progressions of notes, blend together song to song, but I always thought of this band as one where individual songs did not really matter. Instead of creating a best of list just hit shuffle and listen for as long as you wish, with the exception being their intros. They have a propensity for stellar bombastic intros.

To many, innovation would be the last adjective put forth to describe Impiety but it is relative to themselves. They always push their own style, never just stamp out a repeat album. Many bands have melded black and death and many have devolved from black metal to death metal but few do it as convincingly. Over the past few years Impiety has gone from an ideal match for fans of mid period Marduk to an ideal match for fans of Impiety. The sheer joy of listening is just appreciating the maniacal glee with which they do their tongue in cheek Christian bashing.

This could be construed as a review of Impiety in general, or at least the past half dozen albums, and in a way that is the point. Impiety is a must take all band. The biggest disappointment is no “Reign the Vulture” equivalent, the next biggest disappointment is the album goes by too fast, but you can always hit repeat.

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