### Forest of Impaled: Rise and conquer

#### 17/04/07 || Euthanatos

Dog’s bollocks. That’s how the English (or British, if you prefer) call something that’s real good, awesome, brilliant. Well, the term certainly fits here. Forest of Impaled once again unleashes tracks filled to the brim with hatred, fury, brilliant musicianship, melody and taste. Fucking TASTE. It’s a damn shame these guys aren’t more popular, because they are making amazing work here.

I first heard of Forest of Impaled when good friend and GD collaborator Tiago Bonamigo recommended me “Forward the Spears”. I was very thankful, for I loved the album and the very different flavor the band was bringing to the death metal table (I bet you never thought you’d ever read that one… death metal table…HA!).

Now comes 2007, and the band release their new mammoth, aptly titled “Rise and Conquer”. The formula hasn’t changed much; it’s still death metal, very extreme and well-performed with an adequate production. The thing that really shines on this album, though, is how appropriate every melodic moment, every keyboard insertion is. Nothing sounds forced or out of place, nothing thrown in there just for the sake of being eclectic. It all melds into one massive chunk of evil, harsh metal that still manages to sound creative. Another cool thing is that it isn’t merely relentless death metal pounding either, the track “Nil Desperandum” is a nice change, slow-paced, black metal-ish, but still very heavy and sinister.

The highlight? For me, definitely Zion, bass player and vocalist of this gallant bunch (by the way, not the same dude that recorded “Forward the Spears”). His vocals are brutal, varied and strong, he doesn’t flinch at all and delivers one of the best performances of the genre.

A lot of people (reviewers, i.e., people who think WAY too much of their own opinion) felt that “Forward the Spears” showed a band with potential, but that failed to present a convincing collection of songs. Well, I certainly dare them to check this cannon ball of an album out and tell me if this isn’t the perfect amalgam of black and death metal.

The cover: There’s nothing to it. And that pisses me off. The previous one was awesome, so the band loses brownie points for that. Fuckers. I want to be entertained visually as well.

9 Canine testicles out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Red Stream Records
- Website: www.forestofimpaled.net
- Band
- Zion: vocals/bass
- Adrian Adamus: guitar
- Mark T: guitar
- Duane Timlin: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Rise and Conquer
- 02. Beyond All
- 03. Take the Throne
- 04. Cleansing Ablaze
- 05. Nil Desperandum
- 06. Blessed Are We
- 07. When Warriors Led
- 08. Schizophrenia