By
Nicky BaldrianBy
Nicky Baldrian
Impale are a
powerful new band from Sweden, to date the band have released an
excellent three track cd called "Keeper Of The Flame"
that is well worth investigating.
Lead singer and guitarist Anders Larsson begun to discover music
at the age of eight, "At that time my older sister was
really into bands like Europe and Guns īn Roses." remembers
Anders, "And at night when I was supposed to sleep I could
hear her playing all kinds of different albums. So I started to
listen to the albums, my favourite album at that time was
"The final countdown" with Europe (it still is one of
my big favorites)."
A couple of years later he started to study classical guitar
"I did'ntīt find that very amusing at that time, but after
a while Peter Henningsson (rhythm guitar) and JonasYdlinger
(bass) also wanted to play, so we decided that we should start a
band."
They called the band "LIBERTY DEVILS" "We soon
discovered that the drummer sucked badly so we replaced him and
changed the name to Impale. Now we started to get things rolling,
we played covers of Iron Maiden, Europe and all kinds of other
bands. We soon started to write our own material. In the spring
of '97 we recorded our first demo called (Moonlight)".
That demo contained
the songs "Moonlight", "Souls Wonder The
World" and "Caught In A Nightmare".
"At that time we were really proud of the record, now three
years later I can only laugh at it...! We rehearsed during the
summer of 97 and in September we won the rock contest! We started
recording "Illusions of the past" almost instantly, and
that shows on the cd, the quality isnīt what it should be! Right
after the CD was released the drummer decided to quit the band,
and so he did, and Impale was put on ice for about a year. All of
us in the band joined up with other bands, Me and Jonas joined
with the black metal sounding Brimstone, and Peter joined up with
a band called Legion."
""Our first CD "Illusions of the Past"
contains 4 songs: Illusions of the Past, Silent Eyes, Tell Us and
Fight for your right. This CD was recorded after we had won a
local Band contest. The songs are a bit more 80īs then the ones
on "Keeper of the flame". As I mentioned before we are
not satisfied with the "Illusions" CD at all, but I
will try to give you a good description of the songs:"
"Illusions of the past": This song is a midtempo song
with lots of different riffs, and the guitars are based on
complexed rhythm figures. The lyrics is about a man who is really
afraid of dying.
"Silent Eyes" :In my eyes the best song on the cd, it
starts off slow with keyboards and acoustic guitars. As the intro
ends, the distorted guitars come crashing in, along with the
vocals and the drums. The lyrics on this song is a tale about a
man who is paranoid and thinks he is being followed by assassins.
"Tell Us": This song is a Iced Earth stylish power
ballad, it starts with acoustic guitars and a melody played by
the bass. When the chorus kicks off , distorted guitars and drums
comes in. After the chorus thereīs a bridge, who is really kinda
Malmsteen sounding! The lyrics is inspired by the great author
David Eddings by one of his magnificent tales: The Belgariad.
"Fight for your Right": The only really fast song on
the CD. It starts with double bass drumming and a speedy guitar
figure. The chorus is the only really catchy one on the CD. In
the middle section of the song thereīs a Deep Purple sounding
bridge who is followed by a guitar solo. The songs outro is a
fast Neoclassical lick very inspired by mr Malmsteen. The lyrics
is basically a fight song for all rockers who are being kicked
around and not respected.
Whilst in Brimstone the guys met current drummer Johan
Strende." The three of us felt that Brimstone was not the
place for us so we quit the band and put Impale back in business.
We rehearsed as madman's during the summer of ī99, and in the
fall we decided to record our latest EP "Keeper of the
Flame". We had a great time !recording it and we are
extremely satisfied with the result." he adds
enthusiastically
Musically Anders is inspired by a variety of things "I write
music best when Iīm being really happy or really angry, you
could say that I get inspired by emotions and feelings. I can
also get very inspired by movies and also other music".
And what about the new songs Anders?
"Keeper of the Flame": This is our "kick ass
hit" number one, this is the song we start our shows with
and itīs the most explosive song we have ever written (But there
are more to come). Mighty double bass drumming, fast and furious
guitars, a catchy chorus: Is there anything more to ask for? No I
dont think so! The lyrics is also here a fight song for
Metalheads just like on "Fight for your Right".
"Remember": This is an aggressive mid tempo song, with
lots of keyboards. This song is based on one guitar figure, its
being used both in the intro and in the chorus. The lyrics on
this song is about the cristian crusades.
"Mankindīs Call": Mankindīs Call is a swinging mid
tempo rocker, with a very "sing along" friendly chorus.
This song is kinda special, its the only song that thereīs
slapbass, Jonas plays some really difficult figures in the intro.
The lyrics brings up the subject computers. The lyrics are being
based on my fear of the "computerized" world, were
people no longer talk and meet each other. The computer gets so
intelligent that it controls your life.
"Our biggest goal right now is to sign a record deal,
hopefully with a major label. Other aims is to record a full
length album (but to do that you need a record contract). Other
more down to earth aims is to make better songs and spread the
word about Impale!
I think Impale has achieved a great deal of things, we have a
recorded a great EP "Keeper of the Flame". We have put
the word Impale in a bunch of peopleīs minds".
The band also play live "The gigs we have done so far has
been held at small clubs. With not very high sound/light budget.
We usually play a 45 minutes set, which include two cover songs,
so far we have played Cherokee(Europe), Run To The Hills(Iron
Maiden), Brothers of Metal(Manowar), L.O.V.E Machine(Wasp) and
Future World(Helloween). We are often being told that we are a
kick ass live band, and I think thats great, because no matter
how good you are on CD you have to be just as great on stage! Our
goals right now are with our live show and to buy some really
good lights and also buy a "smoke machine", we have
also just recently started developing our first "back
drop". With a better budget I can promise you that we can
measure
with the best!"
Indeed Impale are a very promising new band, do ourselves a
favour and visit their website at: http://www.impale.cjb.net or email: contact@impale.cjb.net