Artist: Impiety
Country: USA
Label: Hells Headbangers Records
Formats: 7″ EP / Cassette EP
Year: 2024
While the Singaporean Impiety by far is more well-known than this one from the USA, their musical background is not all that different. Okay, opposed to the more Black Metal oriented Singaporean band this is definitely more deeply rooted in a Death Metal sound. But both band’s penchant for getting things messy and chaotic is something that, besides the shared band name, ties them together.
This American band, however, didn’t last very long. In fact they have released only two demos back in the early 90’s, with this ‘Despondent Ecstacies’ being the last and best one. Yet, that is not the only reason that this specific demo was unearthed and put on a 7” EP by Hells Headbangers Records (already appeared on cassette tape last year), it is also the historical background and significance of this band and particular demo that gave these recordings a second life.
Within the ranks of the band were Aantar Lee Coates (drums) and especially Gene Palubicki (vocals, guitars and bass) who would go on and form Diabolic and Angelcorpse respectively and, obviously, play a major role in the (further) development of American Extreme Metal. With Impiety and on ‘Despondent Ecstacies’ specifically they already laid the very foundations of the sound they would pursue in their further careers.
In four tracks, barely clocking over 10 minutes, the band treats you on a piece of blisteringly fast Death Metal that already has that unmistakable chaotic fingerprint that would typify those early Diabolic records and especially basically everything that Palubicki would produce later on. The extreme high pace, screaming whammy solo’s, constant pounding drums and barking vocals gives the music an overall suffocating character, but the most striking of this performance is the actual musical quality that’s on display here.
Alright, the sound quality is obviously not comparable with the later albums of the follow-up bands, but it is definitely on par with most of their peers doing demos at those early 90’s. But it is not the sound quality that needs the focus, although it of course adds to a certain charm and sense of authenticity, but it is abundantly clear that these two lordships were already showcasing their tremendous talent. Not only the amazing musicianship, especially Coates is on fire on these recordings, but also the musician’s great sense for song writing this early in their career is stunning – keep in mind these guys were still in their teens back then.
Even within the musical frame work of the sort of Death Metal that we would now call “Blackened Death Metal” or “War Metal” or whatever fancy labels can be tossed, these guys already knew how to add a good dose of dynamics to keep their (short) tracks captivating. Just like the majority of what Angelcorpse would sound like, this too is basically Morbid Angel in their prime (‘Altars Of Madness’ days) on a speed overdose.
While a lot of similar reissues are mostly interesting because of their historical significance and much less for musical entertainment, ‘Despondent Ecstacies’ definitely combines both. It shows two musicians with strong musical visions and, as we now all know, a remarkable amount of talent.
