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Song debut: Impaled - "Spirits of the Dead"

Impaled’s The Dead Shall Dead Remain holds a special place in my heart. Even now, I see myself at the Tower Records by Lincoln Center, witnessing that cover — a toilet full of human guts — staring back at me and falling instantly in love. To me, that album is all things gore metal, from its fuzz-tinged production to its devil-may-care pace to the line “I ram the ass with my fist” on “Back To The Grave.” I blasted that record on repeat at 15, reveling in its totally stripped-down gross-out approach.

The news that the band was re-recording The Dead Shall Dead Remain (retitled, confusingly, as The Dead Still Dead Remain) was both startling and not that surprising. The album has long been out of print. As early as the album’s follow-up, the sophomore effort Mondo Medicale, the band were taking a page from the Carcass notebook and trading in their harsh grindcore antics for more polished, sultry death metal tones. At the same time, my memories of the album and the time I spent with it were so rose-tinted that I wasn’t sure there was any need to improve this charnel masterpiece. Did these songs of trocars, coprophilia, and medical madness really need an updating, mature thought the musicians may now be?

You can judge for yourself. Listen to the rerecording of “Spirits of the Dead”, one of Dead Remain’s more dynamic tracks, below, presented with fuller production, aged vocal snarls, and more precise tempos and atmospheres. Enjoy. (It’s the Soundcloud player.)

The Dead Still Dead Remain comes out on October 29th via Willowtip Records.

— Scab Casserole

And here’s the original, just for kicks: