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| Impaled Nazarene: members unknown; date unknown |
One of the seminal war metal bands (to my ears) along with Blasphemy and fellow countrymen Beherit (and maybe Sarcofago?), not to mention about as completely over-the-fucking-top as extreme metal gets, Finnish killsquad Impaled Nazarene drew from much the same well as the Norwegians and Swedes with respect to influence. However, where those two factions went for atmosphere (Norway) and melody (Sweden), early Impaled Nazarene (and early Beherit, for that matter) blasted o'er the path of full-on chaos and destruction, influences from both grindcore and crust punk prevalent especially on albums like (my personal favourite) Ugra-Karma.
Here, then, is an interview from 1992 (23 years ago as of today, which is mind-blowing) conducted with vocalist Mika Luttinen in the first issue of American 'zine Sinistrari. Something that I've noticed in reading interviews from our era of interest with the likes of Finnish cults like these fellas and Beherit, as well as even the likes of Marduk, is that they're not nearly as deadly serious/surrealistic as those given by the Norwegians. In fact, the only other scene that comes to mind whose members espoused similar severity was the French Black Legions milieu. Maybe sometimes the guys from the early Polish scene would spout off about impending holy wars, but the Norwegians (and the French) easily take first place in that respect.
I know that I said that 1993's sophomore release Ugra-Karma is my personal favourite Impaled Nazarene record, and I meant it and it is, but the debut Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz is more extreme and of greater historical interest given the format outlined herein: the punk influences from the former are not nearly as prevalent, and it's far and away one of the more violent and chaotic black metal releases both of the era that I'm treating and also ever. It, and the band's entire oeuvre, for that matter, is tragically underrated by my reckoning.
Æon
