Head Stabber Interview 2025

I stumbled upon Head Stabber one night on instagram and I was drawn in by the logo.  He has since updated the logo but I still love this one best!

Upon listening I was instantly drawn in by the music; a simplistic yet original, raw, brutal oldschool feel with great songwriting and vocals.  Get to know Head Stabber below, or fall behind.

CEREBRALREVIEWMENT - Hello!  Love what you got going on!  Head Stabber has been in our constant rotation over here!  Thanks for being down to chat!  Tell the people your name, age, some things about you, anything you'd like!

RALPH/HEADSTABBER - Hey what's up thanks for havin me! My name is Ralph, I'm from Washington state and I'm 19 years old. Music and art is basically my life and I do as much as I can to get my ideas out there and share my passion with other sickos such as yourselves! 

Can you tell us how long you have been into making music?  Were there projects before Head Stabber?

I mean I've been a metal head ever since I was born so I got my first guitar when I was in middle school, I've always taught myself and for that it made me write riffs of my own... even if they sucked. Throughout the years, there were failed bands conceived through conversations with friends until I graduated high school last year and really decided to utilize my passion and somewhat skill to the scene and released the first Head Stabber demo.

How did you land on the name Head Stabber?  What are the themes that you make music around?  who are some influences?

Coming up with the name "Head Stabber" was actually very fun, to come up with a band name, you have to channel your inner sickness and really dig deep for something that actually catches people's eye and fits your overall vibe. It also just comes from my massive love for horror movies and the macabre in general, brutal death metal is a genre where you can actually go deep into the heinous aspects of reality and I try my best to convey that in some of my lyrics.

"Separation of The Flesh"

Ravaged & torn, flesh becomes twined and stretched

Unsheathing from the skin, I feel every nerve

Throat ripped to shreds, screams become distorted

Cause my larynx is contorted, I feel the dead's fingers

AS THEY GNAW!!!!!

Blood starts to clog, chocking on gore

Bones start to break, limbs torn away

My main influences for my overall sound varies a lot because i try to keep it a bit of a mixing pot but definitely stuff like Eternal Suffering, Mortal Decay, Dehumanized, Shredded Corpse and Scattered Remnants. But for my other project "Orgasmic Rot" I like to bust out some Dying Fetus, Waco Jesus, Lividity. 

So you do all instruments and vocals and recording for this project correct?  What has been the hardest part?  What are some pros and cons of doing it all yourself??

Yes I do all guitars, vokills and drum programming! no bass yet but hopefully soon. I would honestly say the hardest part of doing it One-man style is just not having confidence. if you want to start getting your music out there and seen then no one is here to help you but yourself in the beginning. Sometimes you just gotta gun it cause you don't know who will like it or not, but at the same time you have to do it for yourself to really make the art shine. Some pros of doing it yourself do include being able to just do whatever the hell you want! Minor cons of recording I would say are just hardware issues and shit if you don't know what you're doing sometimes like me.  

Can you tell us about Strong Bong Productions?

Wow thank you so much for asking about that! Strong Bong is an independent film I make that's inspired by shit like the CKY movies, Pantera Vulgar Videos and old Trailer Park Boys. I can't sell these movies because of all the copyrighted music but I do it for the passion of expressing my art visually and audibly. Physical DVD copies will be available in the future when the film is done, the only way to get it though is to meet me in person. 

What about Corpse Eater?  How did you get connected and start working with them?

Well about a year or two ago, I was at a Devourment show and went to take a piss in between sets. As im taking this piss, a guy named Mike in a Cryptopsy shirt came up to me and started screaming Cryptopsy songs at me and it was hilarious! Me and him start talking and we decided to work on a split EP with his one man band Emaciated Amalgamation back in January of this year. Months after that, this new label pops up called Corpse Eater Recordings and it turns out that Mike and another guy is running it. He offered to put me on the label and help with some promotion and I can't thank Corpse Eater enough for that! 

What is some music you are into that is NOT metal?

Despite the extreme sick shit being the main music genre I listen to, I actually listen to tons of other music genres as well. Just some random stuff I'm really into is old school Memphis horror rap like Triple Six Mafia, DJ Sound, Tommy Wright III. I also really love ambient stuff like Aphex Twin and certain video game soundtracks like Borderlands and Devil May Cry. 

Name 3 favorite albums

I have waay too many to just Name 3 so I'm gonna just list 3 albums from all of my favorites. Considered Dead by Gorguts is in my opinion the best old school death metal album ever made. Everything from the guitar tone, the solos and album art. Another just absolutely life changing album and band in general for me is Dead Again by Type O Negative. Every single song is this insanely cathartic and downright fun perfect vibe that I want in music and life in general. My last album would have to be Diarrhea of a Madman by Dave Brockie Experience. It's batshit silly as hell and I love it. Dave Brockie's humor is unchallenged and it really shines through the songs which are also just super fun and punkey. 

What is your family life like and are they supportive of your music?

I fortunately got lucky with cool ass parents! My dad is who I have to thank for getting me into metal music ever since I was basically born, I was introduced to shit like Cradle of Filth, Death, Pantera, Down and all that at a very young age. My Parents are extremely supportive of my music and overall art which I'm so grateful for... even if they don't want to hear their son sing about hacking bitches up and fucking the corpses hahahahaha.

Thanks so much!!!!!  Can’t wait for more music from you!  Anything you’d like to say?

Of course thank you so much for having me!!! I can't wait to unleash more Head Stabber this year and pummel everyone with some new music! Make sure to pick up a cassette tape of the new demo at Encephalic Productions and STAY SICK!!!!!  

--------------------------------LINKS--------------------------------

Head Stabber

Emaciated Amalgamation

Corpse Eater Recordings

Encephalic Productions

Enzo Jacobsen (Misanthrope, Chewed To Stubs, Mourning Sickness) - Interview 2025

C.R. - Hello!!! Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions! Can you state your name, age, and some things about you?

ENZO - Hey man thanks so much for reaching out! I'm Enzo, 18 years old, and I'm from San Luis Obispo/Santa Barbara, California. I have played a pretty decent amount of shows around California, released an EP called Psychosis, and a Christmas themed split called Seasons Beatings with my buddy in Convulsed. In my free time I mostly ride motocross, play some video games (right now I'm hooked on Fallout 4) and I also train in a martial art called Krav Maga.

I mostly know of you from Misanthrope, but what else do you have going on?

Misanthrope is definitely my most well known project, but recently I have shifted my focus towards a new Post Hardcore/Screamo project called Mourning Sickness. I would guess about 85% of the music I listen to is anything emo adjacent, so I decided to finally make some music under that genre. The first EP will be out very soon, with a session drummer to start then I will find a live lineup soon after. You can follow the insta for it under @mourningxsickness. I also am currently in a broken hope worship band called Chewed to Stubs and a punk band called War Tomorrow.

PS. If you want some new screamo to check out, listen to a band called Sigh & Explode, they're one of my biggest influences and insanely underrated.

How did you get so into music at such a young age? and how did you find yourself interested in extreme music?

I wrote the first Misanthrope song when I was like 16 years old, but I only really decided to make it a project when I turned 17. It mostly just came out of my parents exposing me to badass bands when I was like an infant, like Black Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth, Korn, all of which I still listen to to this day. Then when I was in elementary school I found out about some of the more popular punk stuff, then eventually I found out about Death, and from there it just got heavier and heavier. Music has always been a really big part of my life, and I've played guitar longer than I remember. I'm only just now getting "good" though haha. I'll only make better music with time. 

How did you come up with the name Misanthrope?

With most the bands I start, I just use a song name from one of my big inspirations. And I love Death, and Misanthrope has one of the sickest riffs ever made. So, I named my band after it. Same thing with Mourning Sickness, I love Hail the Sun so I named the band after one of their songs.

Could you name 3 brutal death metal albums that you love and then 3 albums of any OTHER genre that you love?

Man that's tricky. For BDM I'd have to pick Destroy the Opposition by Dying Fetus, because it's the riffiest album ever. Bleeding Profusely by Gorgasm, because of the way the band mixes melody and insanely tight riffs with fast blasting drums. And Tomb of the Mutilated by Cannibal Corpse because it's just unbelievably heavy and catchy. When it comes to other kinds of music the 3 I would pick are 1. All We Know is Falling by Paramore, which might be my favorite album ever made. Miasma by The Black Dahlia Murder, which is just full of good riffs, and 3. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge by MCR (the original, NOT the remixed version). I also have to mention Doppelganger by the Fall Of Troy, which is also one of my favorites but I just couldn't fit it in that list.

What sort of equipment and software are you using? Or are those well kept secrets?

They aren't secrets at all haha. For guitar tones, I always use Neural Nameless, as the tones from it are just killer. For drums, I use superior drummer 3, with the death and darkness expansion. And bass tones I use the Neural Darkglass plugin. And my DAW is reaper. I have a pretty good workflow now to where I can get stuff done really quickly and have it sound pretty good considering that it's just a bedroom demo. I've just been doing this stuff for so long now that these softwares have become second nature haha.

Am I correct in assuming your parents are supportive of your music endeavors? Any family members thrown off by the music or gory art/imagery?

Yup they're the best! Everything I have done wouldn't be possible without their support. They aren't too pleased with the gorey imagery, but I've been a good kid for my whole life, and I've never gotten in trouble, so they know it's just my weird version of storytelling and not me being an insane weirdo (despite how I might seem when I'm wearing Devourment merch). They might not be the biggest fan of the gurgly blasty slam stuff but they still support it and they love my punk band so that makes it all work out well.

How did you start working with Eminent Sounds?

I sent Zakk a dm before my first EP was finished, and he seemed to be into it and we have been working together since! He was the first label I ever reached out to, and honestly the best label I could ask for. He is a super down to earth guy, and is super helpful to me and is always down to support my music, no matter how shitty it is haha.

So I think I've got them all;

Misanthrope

Mourning Sickness

Slam Andreas

Chewed To Stubs

War Tomorrow

am I missing any?

Nope! Those are all the ones that actually had stuff come out of them. I have a few other projects but nothing has come out of them yet.

Which are you most active with currently? What is up next?

Right now, Mourning Sickness is my biggest focus. I'll have my debut EP out soon, in the vein of City Of Caterpillar, Funeral Diner, Love Lost but Not Forgotten, and Saosin, which I'm really looking forward to. And Misanthrope has an entire full length written and part of a split written, but I just need to put the work in to get them out soon. You should hear a Misanthrope single soon!

Thank you for the great music and inspiration! Any last words?

Thanks so much to all my homies from Mohler, Impalement, Fleshmangled, Gorilla Bomb, Eminent Sounds, my family, and all my personal friends for supporting me. Thanks to Cerebral Reviewment for interviewing me!

-----------------------------LINKS-----------------------------

Misanthrope

Mourning Sickness

Slam Andreas

Chewed To Stubs

War Tomorrow

Eminent Sounds

Convulsed

Sigh & Explode

Sacrificial interview - 2025

New Standard Elite has a talent for finding crazy young talent.  Sacrificial is an up-and-coming Brutal Death act out of Milwaukee.  Do not sleep on these dudes.  Music seems to be tight, marketing tight, professionalism stands out.  I mean, what is not to love here?! Oh, and their ages range from 16-18.

Sacrificial, it's an honor to interview you, and I look forward to what is next for you guys!!!! - CR 

Cerebral Reveiwment - Thanks for taking the time for an interview!!!!  Who are we speaking to?

Elijah - Hello! This is Elijah, the drummer for Sacrificial! 

Thank you for reaching out. 

Who are all the members and their roles and their ages?

Sacrificial consists of five members, 

Elijah White, 16 - Drums 

Leo Tulcanaza, 16 - Guitar/ Vocals 

Xavier Rivera, 17 - Bass/ Vocals 

Warren Tynis, 18 - Vocals 

Sebastian Shackleford, 18 - Guitar

Can you tell the origin story of the band?

Sacrificial started in the dining room of Elijah Whites home in December of 2021 under the name Serrated. The band originally consisted of Elijah, Leo Tulcanaza, former vocalist Julius Ortiz, and shortly after, former guitarist Gloria Pabon. At the beginning, Serrated was not sure what genre we wanted to commit to. This changed in May of 2022 when the band moved to Leo’s basement, where we still practice and record to this day. The band was taking a stab at Thrash Metal. In December of 2022 the band changed the name to Sacrificial, Gloria parted ways, and the band recruited Xavier Rivera to bass. This recruitment would eventually lead to the genre shift from thrash metal, to Old School Death Metal. In April of 2023 the band played its first (basement) show, and continued to begin gigging into the summer and fall. In October the band parted ways with Julius shortly after releasing a short groove/ thrash demo (which has now been removed from all platforms). The band, now a 3 piece, started to write new material. In March of 2024, the band met Mylo Roark, who joined the guitar department for just shy of a full year. Shortly after Mylo joined we released another demo, this time consisting of an OSDM sound (and that we also eventually removed from all streaming services). During Mylo’s time in the band we began writing brutal death metal, this is the genre the band knew we must remain as. In July we decided to record one of these “Brutal” songs, Blown Apart with a 10 Gauge. This song was not only our first (and only) single, but also our first brutal song we released. It was also our first time working with a producer, Christofer Swahn of Worship Nothing Studios. In January, 2025 we welcomed Warren Tynis to the lineup. We were writing our most brutal material yet. In March, the band recruited Sebastian Shackleford and parted ways with Mylo. Around this time we finished gathering all the parts for all the songs that will eventually go into our first album, Eternal Suffering. In April the band recorded a 3 song demo and sent it away to Christofer for a mix and master, with plans to send the outcome to our dream label, New Standard Elite. In May we received our final mix and sent it to New Standard Elite. After what felt like years of anticipation we got a reply from the owner… we were signed. On June 4th, 2025 the news was announced, along with the release of our Demos advanced track, Guzzling Condensed Viscera. The remainder of the Demo is to be released shortly (as of June 17th). The band is entirely dedicated to writing the most brutal material that we can manage. We look forward to our future in brutal death metal. 

Damn!! Such a young band achieving such an awesome goal, gaining the support of one of the genre’s leading labels!  Has this lit a fire under your asses?!  How many songs are on the demo?  Can we expect a full length release in 2026?

First of all thank you, second of all most definitely. Getting signed has inspired us to always be our best selves, both musically and personally. In terms of lighting a fire under our asses, I would say it SORT OF did. By the time we got signed we already wrote all of the songs that we want to have appear on our first album. Though now that we are actually signed (we are still excited beyond comprehension) we do definitely have a few tweaks in mind for our songs; we want them to be as brutal as possible. The album should have 11 songs including an intro track, at least that is the plan right now. 3 of these songs will appear on the Demo, and one is already out (go check out Guzzling Condensed Viscera on the NSE YouTube Channel!!!)

 As for an official release date we don’t really have a real answer right now. We are still planning to take a few months to practice the songs and get them as tight as possible before we hit the studio. I’d say expect it either fairly later in 2025 (no promises) or early in 2026. That’s the plan. 

ART BY PILEWORM

LOGO BY JON ZIG

I know the band has already gone through a wide range of sounds and members. Does it finally seem like you are finding your home in brutal death metal?

Brutal Death Metal is 100% the roof we would always like to fall under. After several years as a band, we have never been more comfortable playing a genre than we are with Brutal Death Metal. We’ve tried thrash, osdm, etc, but honestly, I don’t think we would (or will) ever want to return to those genres. Pure Brutal Death Metal is what we strive for, and 100% is where we find our home. 

Can you tell us about some of your favorite bands?  Favorite BDM bands that maybe influence your sound and then also some influences from other genres or just stuff you like?

Our inspirations definitely have a pretty wide range. Everyone in the band listens to different stuff, but we always connect through new (and old) Brutal Death Metal. I could get into the favorites/ biggest influences for everyone in the band, but that would take forever. In general Cryptopsy, Dying Fetus, Suffocation, Gorgasm, Disgorge, Defeated Sanity, Stabbing, Severed Savior, Inveracity, Septycal Gorge, and Malignancy are our main (Brutal) influences. When we got signed it actually partially had to do with the fact that NSE thought we sounded like Dying Fetus! We can’t complain about that comparison! As for other (non-metal) genres we really like everything as a group, maybe these favorite bands/ genres can be heard in our playing, maybe not, but here’s a small list: The Beatles, Catch 22 (and ska punk in general) Neoclassical Jazz and just Jazz in general, math rock in general, Prog, etc.  I mean we just have a little bit of The Beatles in our playing right? 

I’m sure we will be hearing more Sacrificial and thank you for answering some questions!  Anything else you’d like to say?

Plan to hear some new Sacrificial very (VERY) soon! We also have some other pretty significant announcements that will be coming out in the next few weeks and months. Definitely keep an eye out for all of that! Thank you Cerebral Reviewment for the amazing questions, and to anyone who may see this… Stay Brutal! 

--------------------LINKS--------------------

Sacrificial

PileWorm Art

Jon Zig

New Standard Elite

Worship Nothing Studios

Full Throttle Booking

Vile Deformity - Forced Conviction - 2025

 

"Forced Conviction" is the debut EP from Vile Deformity.  I really don't know a lot about this project besides this is a fun, quality release.  Under 10 minutes, to the point, quick samples, brutal and catchy riffs.  Majority of these vocals sound like inhales, good ones, and we have killer features, two amazing vocalists who we here at Cerebral Reviewment have interviewed before, Taylor from Gnawing and Tomb Dweller and Sony from Cardiomyotomy.   

Instruments are tight and production is fire.  Mixed and mastered by The Razor Crypt.

This was release June 13th 2025, and is not one to sleep on!

Check out the links below and support the band!

VILE DEFORMITY

CARDIOMYOTOMY

GNAWING

TOMB DWELLER

THE RAZOR CRYPT

LISTEN TO EP HERE

GNAWING INTERVIEW

CARDIOMYOTOMY INTERVIEW

Terminal Punishment Interview 2025

Terminal Punishment are a lesser known, young band from The Basque Country in northern Spain.  I am impressed by their naturally occurring brutality and old school sound.  Enjoy a breif interview below:

 

Who are we speaking with and what is your role in Terminal Punishment?

I’m Gael and I do the vocals and help with songwriting.

How did Terminal Punishment start and who is all in the band?

Well terminal punishment is formed by Gael - Vocals , songwriting and Aitor - Guitars, Bass , Drum programming and some backing vocals, we’ve been friends for a while and we both have a very similar musical taste and we wanted to try something out so we started writing stuff in early 2024 , I had been practicing vocals for a while and Aitor is just a master in his craft with the guitar and bass so we connected really quickly..

 I first found "Pacify Through Retaliation" and fell in love with the production and sound of it.  Then "Shrine of Obliteration" came very soon after!  Was the material for the full length already written for some time?

Yeah the production in our demo is very raw we wanted it to sound old school and I think we did a good job , actually Pacify Through Retaliation was released back in the summer of 2024 on soundcloud with different artwork and we also had a different name we went as pacify, but later decided to make the change to terminal punishment , we didn't promote the demo or have an instagram account, we just kept it for ourselves and friends , then in late 2024 we began writing again and decided we wanted to go big with the album and release it on major platforms , so yeah by the time PTR was released on spotify our album was finished completely we just wanted to share the demo too and people seem to have actually enjoyed it we never thought people would dig our shit so for now its been amazing the reception we’ve had!!

Did the band name come from an obvious love of Dehumanized?  What other bands have influenced you guys?

Yes of course our name comes from my favorite Dehumanized song terminal punishment which is hell of a banger 

but I’d say Dehumanized ain’t as big of an influence as other bands , I could do an entire list of 50+ bands we’ve taken inspiration from but definitely our main ones are Dying Fetus, Soils of Fate and Cryptopsy and overall the old school nydm sound.

I do not hear of many bands from Basque Country, (Spain)

What is the local scene like there?  A lot of other bands?

There is no scene over here, literally no scene at all, we are the only band playing this style, there are some other bands but more on the grindcore side, not much on extreme metal in general.

With the great reception you guys are getting, what is next?!  Any plans for the future?

We are planning on writing more music soon maybe some singles and shit, right now we are just chilling working things out for our physicals and shit.

Thanks again for doing this little interview, anything you'd like to say to your fans?

Thanks to y'all for being interested in the first place man, thanks to all the people that enjoy our stuff and that have bought our shit and thanks to the bands that have shown nothing but support and respect, specially Anhedonia for helping us out with our new release! 

--------------------LINKS-------------------

TERMINAL PUNISHMENT INSTAGRAM

LISTEN TO DEMO

LISTEN TO ALBUM

Embodied Torment Interview 2025

Long-time BDM fans and listeners are most certainly familiar with "Liturgy of Ritual Execution", the now decade-old classic album from Embodied Torment.  When news began to surface up an upcoming second album almost 11 years later, I knew I had to know more.  I was excited to catch up with Joaquin, the band's guitarist, below.

Let's start with who we are talking to and your role in the band?

- This is Joaquin, I play guitar and do backing vocals and I'm a founding member of Embodied Torment.



Who all makes up Embodied Torment?

- We have Andy Smith on vocals, Mark Chandler on bass, Alex Lopez on drums, and myself. Our founding bassist David Ko also helps us out with a lot of our live appearances since Mark lives so far away from the rest of us.


How long have you been a band?

- We first came together in 2011.


Embodied Torment had a long hiatus, correct?  What were some of the biggest obstacles to make it back to where we are now, with an album on the horizon?

- It was a perfect storm that put the band on ice for several years: everyone was having kids, I was in a new position at work and in my union that left me no time to write, personal changes happened... we had all intended to continue with new material right away after our first album came out but life had other plans.  The biggest obstacles to getting things going again in 2022 were just the way that life had spread us out all over the country and made it impossible to get together the way that we used to. Fortunately we were able to re-form with a complete lineup, welcoming Andy and Alex into the fold, and things have been going great.


I think I saw on your latest single you guys worked with Josh Welshman?  How did that connection come about?  What was it like?

- We've known Josh from playing shows together over the years and seeing each other at the same fests. 

He also engineered for Brodequin, so with the connection there it was an easy choice to reach out for our song Tongue of Iron.   Josh was great to work with and we were very pleased with the mix, so I can't recommend him highly enough!


I've always appreciated your attention to detail in the artwork and lyrics of Liturgy of Ritual Execution.  Would you say the band's "theme" or general subject matter has changed over the hiatus?  Will we get to see more beautiful lyrics?!

"Pustules of an indiscernible mass

Writhing spasmodically

Watch it roil

Adhered by bilious fluid

The corpse becomes entrenched

In the virus of subjugation

Externally digested

Fermented in existential terror

Providing sustenance to the parasite

Whose corpulence now dominates it

The vile womb ruptures desiccated waste

No longer fit to feast upon

Despoiled and evacuated

The cryptic earth razed under

Beating morbid wings,

And carpeted with remains

Like an inconceivable ossuary

Relics of a beleaguered past

The host remains adjunct to its history

Unknowingly harboring fallacies of its freedom

Abandoned, only the human husk persists

Its forlorn destruction"

Thank you! The aesthetics and the lore in our songs are a real source of pride. I studied medieval and ancient history and have leaned on a lot of primary source documents to underpin our lyrics, such as in the account in Rädern of a man being broken on the wheel.

We've definitely evolved in a way that builds on where we were going by the end of the writing for "Liturgy of Ritual Execution" (LoRE). The final song we completed for the album was "Thrones of the Slain," which is about the Battle of Agincourt, and we were interested in talking more about the horrors of warfare and the cultural phenomena that intertwine with it. 

You can see the continuity and the change in the lyrics for the songs on Archaic Bloodshed:

In thy name and by thy hand

I laid low the vermin of Suru

I built a pillar over the city gate

I flayed all those chiefs who dared revolt

I covered the pillar with their skin

I walled up some within the pillar

 "Deconsecration of the Monolith" is written as a prayer to the god Ashur sacrificing a multitude of defeated rebels from around 880 BC, "Grasping Salvation" is about the massacres of the Sack of Magdeburg in 1631, and then "Tongue of Iron" refers to the mass execution of Saxon pagans by order of Charlemagne in 782. So there's a strong thread uniting our lyrics across time even as some elements have changed, which is that we draw on ancient lore speaking to man's inhumanity to man.


Archaic Bloodshed is 3 brand new songs?  Or were those written years before they were recorded and released?

"Deconsecration..." was basically written in 2016 and "Grasping" was largely drafted in the same period, and we even had concepts for "Tongue" before we went on hiatus too. I did substantial updates and refinement but if you just look at them in that order they basically show the conceptual development in the band in the time after LoRE.


The last big fest you guys played was Chicago Domination, (the last one, in fact) now you are on the upcoming NSE fest in November!!  Tell us what you know about the fest, how it all came about, and how you feel about it!

I remember that Dan Osborn was planning on NSE Fest a few years ago but it unfortunately didn't come together. It's cool that Ryan has revived the idea and it will be sick to be a part of a big label showcase like this. We've also got some additional dates coming together around the fest that we'll be excited to share details about soon!


What can you share about the upcoming album??

I believe it's going to be a decisive step forward for us. "Archaic Bloodshed" was an important way to get back into activity, but I think our songwriting is on another level now, and we'll see if listeners agree.

We're nearly finished with the writing for the next album but I can already tell you that the title will be "Sacraments of Eternal War." It will be blazing fast, darker, and more evil than what we've done before. It will be a statement against all of the casual, laid-back, fun vibes that are dominating death metal and much of so-called Brutal Death Metal today. No fun, no groove, no mercy.

Can you talk a little bit about influences?  Favorite bands?

Some of the more obvious collective influences are bands like Disgorge, Brodequin, and Suffocation. We’ve increasingly gone back to some of the traditional, blasting, evil death metal bands like Krisiun, Abhorrence (Brazil), and Imposer, to name just a few; stuff that a lot of people have forgotten - bands with furious, teeth-clenching riffs and a militant feeling. I’ve been listening to extreme metal for almost thirty years now and I draw on elements from that whole history when I write.

How do you feel about the current state of Brutal Death Metal?

I think it’s got its ups and downs at any time. A lot of veteran bands have a bigger audience now than they did ten years ago, in part just because fans have had a lot more time to find out about them, and that’s been positive. 

Personally, what got me into BDM in the first place can be hard to find nowadays, since groove is very big right now and the general “vibe” of a lot of the scene now isn’t really focused on darker forms of expression. There are some bright spots we’d point to among newer bands today, like Desecrated Ubiquity.

If you could tour with any 3 bands, active or not, who would make up your dream tour?

We’ve talked about dream tour mates a lot, especially since we plan on doing as much as possible on the road once “Sacraments of Eternal War” is out. There are so many sick choices, but if we had to narrow it down just to three we’re picking Putridity, Sarpanitum, and Suffocation circa 1998 for good measure.

Any newer bands that you guys are really liking?

Too many to name. At the risk of leaving out some of our friends, we’ll start with a few that we’ve been especially impressed by live and some who haven’t gotten much attention: Excrescence, Human Effluence, and Primitive Warfare are some of the sickest that we’ve played with over the past year. 

Grave Heresy, Abhorrency, Wyrmvold, and Venomous Agent X are a few of our favorite newer Black/Death bands. Molested Divinity, Putrescent Seepage, and Desecrated Ubiquity are labelmates making some of the best Brutal Death Metal out there. We’ll leave it there for now.

Thanks again for taking some time for this!  Any last words for your fans?

First of all thanks for the interview! We intend to make the long wait for our second album worth it and we’re eager to share it with all of you. AVE MORS! ⚔️

LINKS

New Standard Elite

Embodied Torment

Josh Welshman

Desecrated Ubiquity

Impalement Interview 2025

Who do we have the pleasure of talking to, and who are the band's members and what are their ages

Left to right:

Thomas - Cam - Dylan

Hello this is Cam from Impalement, so far Impalement is comprised of myself ( 20 ) on drums, Thomas Meeker ( 21 ) on guitars and Dylan Drach ( 21 ) on vocals

What is the origin story of Impalement?

The origin of Impalement is a long one somewhere in late 2022 through 2023 our former guitarist ( Jayden West ) and I would riff out until we found our vocalist Thomas. 

Shortly after we found Thomas in late 2023 we dropped our demo in early 2024 which had me on Drums , Jayden on Guitars and Thomas on bass and vocals after our demo came out it garnered attention from NSE .

After signing to NSE , Jayden ended up leaving and Thomas took over on strings which fit our sounds perfectly. So then the writing process for stabbed was underway with just me and Thomas. Dylan had joined as well to fill in on vocals and then became an official member after playing a couple shows with us, we ended up loving his vocals and that's how the current line up was formed.

Do you like Devourment?

Yes  Impalement loves Devourment ! we aren't necessarily heavily inspired by them but we certainly love em!

You guys got a lot of new ears and attention from Stabbed.  I don't think it needed a push from NSE, but I am sure it helped!  How has it been working with the label?

In regards to working with NSE its been the best we couldn't of asked for a better label it was important that we not only share a label with people who share a same interests. While we may stray into the realm of slam or grind we consider ourselves BDM first and NSE in ours eyes is the best label for pure 100% brutal death.

"Stabbed" was released but then the S.E.i.P. very soon after?  am I right?  what was the timeline like with writing the eps and the signing to NSE?

Stabbed was comprised of old music and rewritten music that we had previously been played live but not tracked, every track we still love but we decided to move forward and drop Sadomasochistic to not only showcase our new direction as a band and new direction musically but to also properly introduce Dylan as our vocalist. 

In regards to the writing process me and Thomas have a approached it fairly unconventionally , drums first riffs after was how we wrote most of stabbed and sadomasochistic. 

Somehow magically Thomas just knows what I want over my drums and it works.

Who did the artwork for Stabbed?

The artwork for stabbed was made by our good friend and underrated artist Colter Masson. His previous work includes Misnathropic, Nuclear Remains and more. 

The artwork itself was inspired by simple hard hitting artwork like Stabwound Bloodsoaked Serenade, Disgorge cranial impalement and Wasteform crushing the reviled. We wanted artwork that looked both old school and represented us as a band and Colter managed to capture that...

What are some of Impalement's biggest influences?

I would say Impalement is heavily inspired by bands like Stabwound (sweden) , Craniotomy , Delusional Parasitosis and Gorgasm are probably the biggest influences.

What are some of your guys hobbies, outside of music?

Outside of music we mostly work and school. Not much time for many other hobbies. 

Can you name any bands from your local scene that we should be on the lookout for?

Local bands that are worth checking out would be local atascadero grind legends Necropsy Odor and Mephitic Corpse real filthy slamming deathgrind.

Inside of San Diego there are a huge amount of awesome bdm and slam bands , some of my recent favorites have been Gnawing and Enucleation ( Dylan's other band ). 

What is the future of Impalement looking like currently?

In regards to the future of impalement we've been planning on writing new material for our full length , so far we have about two / two and a half songs ready which we plan on showcasing at our shows! 

outside of impalement the impalement members are also starting a new band called Sterilized so be on the look for that and the impalement full length!

Thank you so much for doing this, anything else you'd like us to know?

Absolutely we appreciate the opportunity!

____________________LINKS____________________

IMPALEMENT

NEW STANDARD ELITE

COLTER MASSON

ENUCLEATION

STERILIZED