Impalement is a death/black metal band from Switzerland whose new album The Dawn of Blackened Death is out now. Interview was conducted with founder Beliath.
Impalement is your band that is assisted by others for its final delivery to the public. What advantages and disadvantages do you find working like this?
For me personally it does not make a big difference wether members of IMPALEMENT are considered “Live-/Session-“ or “Studio-members“. I consider everyone involved on this journey, from studio to musicians to the fans at our shows a part of IMPALEMENT and I don't care that much about the categories for each protagonist. When it comes to the musicians that enable me to bring IMPALEMENT to the stage, I am very grateful for the dedication and hard work that they put in this undertaking.
I never consider IMPALEMENT as a so called “one-man-project“ and hopefully never will do so. My ambition is to build an old-school-band where everyone can contribute. It currently just happened to be that I am the sole songwriter and main driving force – however this is not carved in stone and might change depending on the people I work with.
Given your excellent final product on The Dawn Of Blackened Death how do you approach wearing so many hats and yet producing quality music?
Thanks for your praise! To be honest: Writing music for IMPALEMENT is for me a very simple approach: Does it rock? Does it sound good? If not – work harder UNTIL IT DOES!
I see many musicians from my generation struggling with that since they seem to be more focused on excentric stage costumes, music theory and equipment...but as already said: If it doesn't rock...IT DOES NOT ROCK! Everything else is just smoke and mirrors!
I am lucky to be born in a generation where so many good bands and albums already exist and it's a huge privilege to be able to listen to all of that in retrospective. IMPALEMENT basically reflects the blend of music that I personally listen to and therefore I don't consider this as a special quality of my songwriting but an echo of what all the great pioneers of Rock, Metal and Extreme-Metal already crafted.
By the time this interview is completed you will have or will be touring with Gorgoroth and Aeternus. Both are household names in your genre. How do you believe Impalement will stand out with its uniqueness and leave a lasting impression with its audience?
For me the questions would be: Why should IMPALEMENT need to stand out? You already mentioned that GORGOROTH and AETERNUS are household names in the genre, so again: Why should the ambition be to stand out from bands that achieved such a reputation?
Obviously for me it's less about standing out but more about complimenting the legacy of these bands. On tours like this, most people usually attend a show because of their love for the headliner. As a support act you are enabled to get your music on the radar of these people. Bringing IMPALEMENT to the stage means to me to bring Metal to the stage. Even though IMPALEMENT stands for the more extreme character of Metal, in the end it does not matter to me with which band we are sharing the stage with. Young bands are privileged for all the groundwork that the older generations have already put in place and I think more humbleness would fit my generation well! If the main goal of a band is to stand out, and I believe that this unfortunately has become the main ambition for most young bands, than music and the passion for Metal and it's history becomes a side issue and to me that explains why most bands of my generation might seem innovative and huge, however stay soulless!
I think the new album title The Dawn Of Blackened Death is an excellent title I believe to invigorate the masses to an oncoming musical storm. Was there an intentional idea surrounding the title?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! As already mentioned when it comes to songwriting, I also have a very hands-on and intuitive approach when writing lyrics and titles. Just like the name IMPALEMENT, 'The Dawn Of Blackened Death' sounds to me like the title of an album I would have picked up just because it sounds fucking Metal haha! I started songwriting during the Covid years and the lunacy that spread like the virus itself reminded me on stuff I had read about terror of the pestilence, the black death – which definitively influenced me a bit. But as you pointed out, I mainly chose a title that indeed reflects the music of the album and IMPALEMENT. The music in between Extreme-Metal genres, especially Black- and Death-Metal, often seems to have the reputation of being a bastard child by falling in between both chairs. IMPALEMENT however embraces this fact and I hope will further blur the lines and challenge the ones that need genres to build their view upon.
What were your aspirations in the creation of Impalement? Are those intentions being realized now as the band is on its second album?
IMPALEMENT to me is the manifestation of my passion for Metal. It is a tribute to all the bands and musicians that inspire me and a vessel to live out my thoughts, emotions and ideas. In times of malignant individualism, psychological mass pathology and false prophets and their idols around every corner, Metal to me is one of the last archaic strongholds of mankind. IMPALEMENT feels like the antidote to many toxic stuff that gets thrown at me in daily life. I am privileged to have strong comrades around myself that share the same passion for Metal and it's culture. I don't think that IMPALEMENT should be build on ideas that can be “realized“ like being ticked of a list. I see this band as a process and there is still a lot of areas where IMPALEMENT can grow. An example is the participation of other musicians in the songwriting process. I will always be limited by the boundaries of my own creativity and abilities, therefore I think there will always be room for growth and I hope I will inspire the musicians around myself to also take part in the process of crafting the music, lyrics and visuals that IMPALEMENT materializes. But nothing needs to be forced – things will turn out the way they are supposed to be, I guess!
The album artwork on your new release is stunning. Who was the artist and how did you get in touch with them?
The artist behind the album is my old friend Carlos Aguilar. We got in touch many many years ago because of his tattoo work and to this day he is the only tattoo artist I work with. Over the course of many years and tattoo sessions we became close friends and the same as with many things with IMPALEMENT: I prefer working with people I personally know or even consider family. Carlos also did the artwork for our debut album 'The Impalement' back in 2020 and I am happy to have my buddy again delivering such a killer artwork! In addition I want to mention my talented friend Simon Bossert who supported IMPALEMENT not only with the layout on this album, but does a huge job when it comes to realize the visual manifestation of IMPALEMENT.
Black metal and to some extent death metal has relied on imagery to assist conveying the inner soul of the music. How important do you think this imagery is to Impalement and what you hope to achieve with the band?
Good question, not easy for me to find a good answer on this. However I am growing more and more skeptical about the whole “visuals in Metal“ topic. When I look around myself I see SO MANY bands hyped because of ridiculous stage outfits that years ago would have been tarred and feathered for making this culture into a mockery. Also many new bands make a big deal out of their nationality, political view, gender and other identity aspects and I am so tired of that! In my opinion Metal was explicitly NOT about these things but more about profound aspects of life itself - Aspects that are shared among humanity, no matter where you are born, color of your skin or what is in between your legs! To me most of these hyped bands are just empty shells, grabbing quick cash and reenacting what they believe Metal is all about. When you have the chance to see behind the curtains of many of these acts you see that most of them are far away of being what I describe as a “genuine rocker“. Social media also pushes the idea of just slapping the label “Metal“ on yourself makes you part of this profound culture with its rich history of tradition and thoughtful progress.
In my opinion, the visuals shall compliment the music and its meaning with a respectful eye to our ancestors and NOT build the fundament of a band. That's at least what I hope to achieve with the visuals that surround IMPALEMENT!
This genre has a niche audience still despite increasing accessibility to the music. What makes underground metal special in your opinion in relation to mainstream music?
To be honest, I don't differentiate that much between underground and non-underground music. I believe that bands historically grew popular because their music and ideas were simply good. Underground itself is just a word with too many meanings: When does a band leave the Underground behind?! I think there are bands, some more, some less popular...the only difference from the so called Underground to the so called Mainstream is maybe the size of the stage or the sales of albums...but all this is just a distraction to me since in the end the music counts. Why should bands like IRON MAIDEN or JUDAS PRIEST play in a small club when there are thousands of people that want to celebrate their live music?! Why should a small band be pushed on a big stage if their music sucks and does not enrich the life of anyone else?! I often see bands with shitty music, shitty discipline and shitty attitude that slap the label “underground“ on their music to justify their existence - a very weak reason to exist haha!
In my opinion we should be grateful that we still have the freedom to choose wether we want to attend an underground or a mainstream show, that we still can decide on whose shirt we sport and which band we support by buying their album. IMPALEMENT will celebrate Metal, in the smallest club and on the biggest stage – and everywhere in between!
As a person with obvious drive for personal success what is the next steps for Impalement after the tour is done with Gorgoroth?
2024 will be a year of change for IMPALEMENT. There will be minor changes in the lineup and also regarding the amount of single shows we will play in between tours. Besides this I am hungry for working on the next album since I have many ideas that are burning to manifest themselves under the sign of IMPALEMENT!
Any other things you'd like to add?
Thanks for your thoughtful questions and the work you put into the Zine! Also many thanks to all the supporters worldwide that keep the fire of IMPALEMENT burning – Your support DOES make the difference and none of us takes this for granted! STAY METAL!!!
https://impalement.ch/
For me personally it does not make a big difference wether members of IMPALEMENT are considered “Live-/Session-“ or “Studio-members“. I consider everyone involved on this journey, from studio to musicians to the fans at our shows a part of IMPALEMENT and I don't care that much about the categories for each protagonist. When it comes to the musicians that enable me to bring IMPALEMENT to the stage, I am very grateful for the dedication and hard work that they put in this undertaking.
I never consider IMPALEMENT as a so called “one-man-project“ and hopefully never will do so. My ambition is to build an old-school-band where everyone can contribute. It currently just happened to be that I am the sole songwriter and main driving force – however this is not carved in stone and might change depending on the people I work with.
Given your excellent final product on The Dawn Of Blackened Death how do you approach wearing so many hats and yet producing quality music?
Thanks for your praise! To be honest: Writing music for IMPALEMENT is for me a very simple approach: Does it rock? Does it sound good? If not – work harder UNTIL IT DOES!
I see many musicians from my generation struggling with that since they seem to be more focused on excentric stage costumes, music theory and equipment...but as already said: If it doesn't rock...IT DOES NOT ROCK! Everything else is just smoke and mirrors!
I am lucky to be born in a generation where so many good bands and albums already exist and it's a huge privilege to be able to listen to all of that in retrospective. IMPALEMENT basically reflects the blend of music that I personally listen to and therefore I don't consider this as a special quality of my songwriting but an echo of what all the great pioneers of Rock, Metal and Extreme-Metal already crafted.
By the time this interview is completed you will have or will be touring with Gorgoroth and Aeternus. Both are household names in your genre. How do you believe Impalement will stand out with its uniqueness and leave a lasting impression with its audience?
For me the questions would be: Why should IMPALEMENT need to stand out? You already mentioned that GORGOROTH and AETERNUS are household names in the genre, so again: Why should the ambition be to stand out from bands that achieved such a reputation?
Obviously for me it's less about standing out but more about complimenting the legacy of these bands. On tours like this, most people usually attend a show because of their love for the headliner. As a support act you are enabled to get your music on the radar of these people. Bringing IMPALEMENT to the stage means to me to bring Metal to the stage. Even though IMPALEMENT stands for the more extreme character of Metal, in the end it does not matter to me with which band we are sharing the stage with. Young bands are privileged for all the groundwork that the older generations have already put in place and I think more humbleness would fit my generation well! If the main goal of a band is to stand out, and I believe that this unfortunately has become the main ambition for most young bands, than music and the passion for Metal and it's history becomes a side issue and to me that explains why most bands of my generation might seem innovative and huge, however stay soulless!
I think the new album title The Dawn Of Blackened Death is an excellent title I believe to invigorate the masses to an oncoming musical storm. Was there an intentional idea surrounding the title?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! As already mentioned when it comes to songwriting, I also have a very hands-on and intuitive approach when writing lyrics and titles. Just like the name IMPALEMENT, 'The Dawn Of Blackened Death' sounds to me like the title of an album I would have picked up just because it sounds fucking Metal haha! I started songwriting during the Covid years and the lunacy that spread like the virus itself reminded me on stuff I had read about terror of the pestilence, the black death – which definitively influenced me a bit. But as you pointed out, I mainly chose a title that indeed reflects the music of the album and IMPALEMENT. The music in between Extreme-Metal genres, especially Black- and Death-Metal, often seems to have the reputation of being a bastard child by falling in between both chairs. IMPALEMENT however embraces this fact and I hope will further blur the lines and challenge the ones that need genres to build their view upon.
What were your aspirations in the creation of Impalement? Are those intentions being realized now as the band is on its second album?
IMPALEMENT to me is the manifestation of my passion for Metal. It is a tribute to all the bands and musicians that inspire me and a vessel to live out my thoughts, emotions and ideas. In times of malignant individualism, psychological mass pathology and false prophets and their idols around every corner, Metal to me is one of the last archaic strongholds of mankind. IMPALEMENT feels like the antidote to many toxic stuff that gets thrown at me in daily life. I am privileged to have strong comrades around myself that share the same passion for Metal and it's culture. I don't think that IMPALEMENT should be build on ideas that can be “realized“ like being ticked of a list. I see this band as a process and there is still a lot of areas where IMPALEMENT can grow. An example is the participation of other musicians in the songwriting process. I will always be limited by the boundaries of my own creativity and abilities, therefore I think there will always be room for growth and I hope I will inspire the musicians around myself to also take part in the process of crafting the music, lyrics and visuals that IMPALEMENT materializes. But nothing needs to be forced – things will turn out the way they are supposed to be, I guess!
The album artwork on your new release is stunning. Who was the artist and how did you get in touch with them?
The artist behind the album is my old friend Carlos Aguilar. We got in touch many many years ago because of his tattoo work and to this day he is the only tattoo artist I work with. Over the course of many years and tattoo sessions we became close friends and the same as with many things with IMPALEMENT: I prefer working with people I personally know or even consider family. Carlos also did the artwork for our debut album 'The Impalement' back in 2020 and I am happy to have my buddy again delivering such a killer artwork! In addition I want to mention my talented friend Simon Bossert who supported IMPALEMENT not only with the layout on this album, but does a huge job when it comes to realize the visual manifestation of IMPALEMENT.
Black metal and to some extent death metal has relied on imagery to assist conveying the inner soul of the music. How important do you think this imagery is to Impalement and what you hope to achieve with the band?
Good question, not easy for me to find a good answer on this. However I am growing more and more skeptical about the whole “visuals in Metal“ topic. When I look around myself I see SO MANY bands hyped because of ridiculous stage outfits that years ago would have been tarred and feathered for making this culture into a mockery. Also many new bands make a big deal out of their nationality, political view, gender and other identity aspects and I am so tired of that! In my opinion Metal was explicitly NOT about these things but more about profound aspects of life itself - Aspects that are shared among humanity, no matter where you are born, color of your skin or what is in between your legs! To me most of these hyped bands are just empty shells, grabbing quick cash and reenacting what they believe Metal is all about. When you have the chance to see behind the curtains of many of these acts you see that most of them are far away of being what I describe as a “genuine rocker“. Social media also pushes the idea of just slapping the label “Metal“ on yourself makes you part of this profound culture with its rich history of tradition and thoughtful progress.
In my opinion, the visuals shall compliment the music and its meaning with a respectful eye to our ancestors and NOT build the fundament of a band. That's at least what I hope to achieve with the visuals that surround IMPALEMENT!
This genre has a niche audience still despite increasing accessibility to the music. What makes underground metal special in your opinion in relation to mainstream music?
To be honest, I don't differentiate that much between underground and non-underground music. I believe that bands historically grew popular because their music and ideas were simply good. Underground itself is just a word with too many meanings: When does a band leave the Underground behind?! I think there are bands, some more, some less popular...the only difference from the so called Underground to the so called Mainstream is maybe the size of the stage or the sales of albums...but all this is just a distraction to me since in the end the music counts. Why should bands like IRON MAIDEN or JUDAS PRIEST play in a small club when there are thousands of people that want to celebrate their live music?! Why should a small band be pushed on a big stage if their music sucks and does not enrich the life of anyone else?! I often see bands with shitty music, shitty discipline and shitty attitude that slap the label “underground“ on their music to justify their existence - a very weak reason to exist haha!
In my opinion we should be grateful that we still have the freedom to choose wether we want to attend an underground or a mainstream show, that we still can decide on whose shirt we sport and which band we support by buying their album. IMPALEMENT will celebrate Metal, in the smallest club and on the biggest stage – and everywhere in between!
As a person with obvious drive for personal success what is the next steps for Impalement after the tour is done with Gorgoroth?
2024 will be a year of change for IMPALEMENT. There will be minor changes in the lineup and also regarding the amount of single shows we will play in between tours. Besides this I am hungry for working on the next album since I have many ideas that are burning to manifest themselves under the sign of IMPALEMENT!
Any other things you'd like to add?
Thanks for your thoughtful questions and the work you put into the Zine! Also many thanks to all the supporters worldwide that keep the fire of IMPALEMENT burning – Your support DOES make the difference and none of us takes this for granted! STAY METAL!!!
https://impalement.ch/