Impaler – Nightmare Attack

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Not to be confused with any other band of the same name, Japanese thrashers Impaler re-release their 2009 debut album Nightmare Attack here in Europe. Describing the band as raw, old school thrash certainly is appropriate but feels almost like an understatement. In true Japanese fashion, Impaler seem to have taken the classic Bay Area thrash sound, and pushed it just one step further. Nightmare Attack, as an album, is furiously fast and quite honestly exhausting. The band aren’t one for technical lead parts (they try – but they are terribly messy!), but as far as old school Death Angel-esque thrashing is concerned, Impaler are both pure and extremely fast. The main drawback is the vocals, which not surprisingly consist of Japanese wailing and terribly broken english – but to be perfectly honest this comes off as endearing and is easily excused, even adding to the band’s hectic and chaotic nature. In an ironic twist for European fans used to seeing Japanese releases with bonus tracks, the European addition comes with three new ‘raw mix’ songs. The last of these, Junk Brain, might possibly stand as the highlight of the album as a whole, an utterly infectious thrash song with its often mispronounced chorus line of (we assume) ‘Fucking junk in brain’. Nightmare Attack certainly lacks in depth and originality, but quite frankly that’s not what this album is about. It’s a nostalgic, enthusiastic and faithful tribute to the thrash metal of old, and whilst it has its drawbacks, one can’t deny its certainly entertaining. Precisely what old school thrash should be.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2009, Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Re-release, Thrash Metal, Impaler