Impaled

It’s been a long wait for new material from California’s co-kings of gore-grind (the other sickly surgeons of carnal Carcass cacophony being Exhumed). Death after Life continues Impaled’s fine and loving homage to the kings of the genre, and with this one, the band has created their own Heartwork, although with more humour. Makes sense, as they’ve already conquered the primitive slop of the first two Carcass discs, and the wonderful mid-era genius of Necroticism, so why not move ahead a tad? Death after Life is almost created like a concept album, with little snippets of surgeries gone wrong, conducted by mad doctors, but all in good fun of course. One might get the feeling that it’s been done before, on previous Impaled albums to a lesser degree and by a select few other bands, but these guys are right at the top of the heap, carrying on the tradition of a damn fine band, doing it with passion and humour, but never sacrificing great songs, catchy songwriting and great production values. What’s in store for the next album, though? Strange death metal inspired boogie rock?