Impaled Existence - These Lifeless Plains (self released) 4/5

There has been a lot of great rock and metal out of Wales in recent years, but most of it has come from the south and west. But now here to remind us that there is still metal north of Merthyr Tydfil come Impaled Existence who hail from the seaside resort of Rhyl on the north coast. (a town better known in musical circles as the home of The Alarm). This lot have been around since 2004 and have issued a string of eps of which this five tracker is the latest.

Now I've been listening to this one for a few days now, and I gotta say I've found myself growing rather fond of their distinctive brand of progressive death thrash. First up we have at obligatory introductory instrumental, (and I gotta say as far as intro tracks go, its far better than most), then the ep itself kicks in with Fictions Within The Mind a dark and doomy number that kicks off sounding not unlike Cathedral before moving on into Whitechapel territory. Next up is my fave cut on this one If Error Were True which kicks off with a wonderfully quirky 'call and response' section between some blindingly heavy guitars and the lightest of cymbal fills which then resolves into a track that reminds me a little of Imperial Vengeance stripped of the steam punk trappings. Then we have Through Stinging Eyes which starts out with a dabbling in some moments of sublimely dark doom before ripping into some great old school death thrash riffage. Finally we wind up with Worthy Of Remains a traditional death metal work out that reminds me of Behemoth at their best.

All tracks are superbly produced and played with a huge amount of skill and huge amount of raw fire and righteous passion. The music is intelligent, well penned and I just know the band are gonna win a lot of friends with this one.

I had heard of Impaled Existence by reputation a fair while before I had heard the music for myself, and I can now see what the hot gossip was all about. This ep will do their already impressive reputation no harm at all, and whilst they are at the moment unsigned I can't see them remaining that way for long. Well worth a listen.

For fans of... Whitechapel, Suicide Silence, Cindersfall, Spires, Fornost Arnor....