Rating: 9.6

Country: Singapore

Release Date: 1999

Record Label: Dies Irae/Drakkar

Track list:
1. Lords Of Apokalypse
2. Nocturnized
3. Sodomythical Frostgoats
4. Ironflames Of Hate
5. Diabolical Witching Aggression
6. Skullfucked, The Speed Metal Hell
7. Socerique Baphostorms
8. Torment In Fire

Band Website: Impiety

Impiety - Skullfucking Armageddon

Shyaithan - Bass/Vocals
Fyraun - Guitars
Dajjal - Drums

In my continuing efforts to (re)excavate forgotten gems in underground metal history, I now bring you one of my favorite black metal records, the sophomore offering of Singapore 's proudest extreme metal export. While many have come to associate this outfit with a sound that is more inclined towards Morbid Angel textural dissonance and rampaging, hack and slash Krisiun bombast than anything reflective of Shyaithan's more ancient influences (discounting, of course, the Sepultura cover on the wax version of 'Paramount Evil'), this, their marquee effort, is a different beast altogether, a skin-searing, flesh-eating, amphetamine-fuelled THRASHING warhorse that flaunts all the malevolent, reckless speed of later efforts while remaining fully attuned to the importance of the almighty RIFF. What results is a punishing, oppressive, utterly CRUEL recording which somehow manages to walk the tightrope between unapologetic Martire savagery, Sodom riffiness, interstellar Morbid Angel ethereality and GBK/Arghoslent majesty, possibly the finest ‘'war metal'' recording in the history of the (newly vogue) subcategory.

Opener “Lords Of Apokalypse” is a harshly effective introduction to the merciless maelstrom that is 'Skullfucking Armageddon'- a somewhat schlocky keyboard intro precedes a torrential outpour of trebly guitars and non-stop, cackhanded skin-pounding, a nebulous vortex of claustrophobic, SKULLFUCKING virulence that is dangerous, EXCITING. The crazed, messy riffing gradually assumes more coherent form a minute through, Fyraun flinging out fetid 'De Mysteriis' frostiness before settling into a more Azagthothian groove. 03:30 through and we are greeted with a sumptuously EPIC riff that wouldn't be at all out of place on an Arghoslent endeavor, a lofty call-to-arms that is at once rousing and urgent. “Nocturnized” opens with a non-stop barrage of double kicks, ride tapping and snare slapping, shattered shards of riffing assaulting the listener from every direction before gelling into more cohesive, thrashy syncopation that alternates between Teutonic stampede and Deströyer 666 quasi-epicness. This carries on for 2 minutes, where a breakdown precedes an escalating, swelling section, Fyraun and Dajjal progressively gaining momentum that gives way to a fucking AMAZING climax (03:06 into the track…a thrash break absolutely as good as ANYTHING Sodom, Nuclear Assault, Overkill, Exodus etc. crafted in their day….hell…in my top 3 thrash breaks EVARRR).

The songs throughout are uniformly excellent- “Sodomythical Frostgoats” is a vicious, seething, snarling titan that isn't entirely dislocated from vintage Immortal in its trebly tremolo picking and stumbling, really-fucking-pushing-it double kick blasts (and check out that fucking hellraising riff 01:21 through…FUCK! So. Fucking. Fast.). “Ironflames Of Hate” is firmly THRASH at heart, the riffs assuming a more comprehensible, deliberate form before a Metalucifer-ish solo ushers the listener into more bludgeoning, trampling sonic terrorism, the nightmarish proceedings eventually winding into a bizarrely melodic passage accentuated with sub-Dissection trebliness. “Diabolical Witching Aggression” is all bare-toothed aggression, whirlwind rhythm guitars colliding head-on with blitzkrieg rhythms while faintly Swedish tremolo leads waltz nervously atop the storm.

While I harbor a considerable distaste for what passes as ‘'war metal'' nowadays (and an unhealthy disdain for much blastbeat-fuelled speed-for-speed's-sake crap, including Impiety's 'Kaos Kommand 696'), I hold no reservations in recommending this to absolutely anybody who has been captivated by the likes of Mental Horror, Gospel Of The Horns, Arghoslent, Nephasth, VON, Necrovore, Deströyer 666, AntaeuS, for this record manages to encapsulate and distil all the prime facets of each. Tempering unbridled intensity with a highly developed ear for melody/hookcraft and an absolutely LETHAL panache for bone-rattling, spleen-rupturing riffing, this remains among my favorite ‘'war metal'' records, lagging only behind the prime Beherit, Sarcofagó and Profanatica works. Sure, the production is grisly, even gruesome in its vacuum-of-sound thinness and clangy tinniness, the mix's (inadvertently?) necro putrescence at times betraying the busy, chaotic proceedings and rendering everything a sloppy, ill-defined mess. To be absolutely honest, over time I have grown rather accustomed to the mix, an impenetrably apocalyptic, holocaustic wall of sound that just FITS with the Impiety experience. For all its pseudo-melodic varnish and chunky thrash breaks, this is, for the most part, not meant to be easy listening (more like [QU]easy listening….wuahhaha!). Essential.

September 20th, 2005