Nuctemeron: Legacy of Swirling Blackness (2013)

One of my favorite things about the metal scene is the effort by underground labels into unearthing obscure bands who released material that was seemingly lost to time.  I have no idea if this is common in other forms of music, I am not qualified to say one way or the other.  But it is common in metal.  This can take a few forms: re-releasing the material in its original state, re-mastering material if the original sources can be found, or compiling the material and releasing it new.  That brings us to this release, which is a compilation of the two demos and a promo released by Singapore's Nuctemeron.

Nuctemeron was mostly active in the late 80's/early 90's in the underground extreme metal scene of Singapore.  They were one of the earliest such bands and the first to release a demo.  Singapore has never really been a metal hotbed, and at the time extreme metal was very rare in the very conservative country.  But one band has risen from Singapore's extreme metal scene to become an underground legend.  That band is Impiety, whose primary member Shyaithan helped to compile this release and write a brief band history in the liner notes.

That brings us to this release.  The first thing to note is that the production is not terribly great, which is not surprising.  None of the releases compiled here are professional releases.  This was a very DIY band.  It is a little surprising that the songs from the first demo generally sound better than those from the other two releases.  And the promo songs from the third release sound really rough, with the vocals almost completely buried in the mix.

The band is an extreme take on thrash, bordering on brutal thrash and even death metal.  The sound would fit in quite well with the South American scene at the time, in particular Morbid Visions-era Sepultura and Sarcófago.  It is not terribly musical, existing more to simply make as much noise as possible.  The riffs are fairly simple and the drums even moreso.  The vocals are delivered in a shrieking growl similar to the aforementioned bands.  The band gradually added more solos in the second and third releases, but retained the more straightforward aggression otherwise.

Overall, this is a far from an essential release.  It is more of a curiosity than anything.  It is certainly interesting that such an extreme metal band was able to find any sort of foothold in a country like Singapore.  Nuctemeron did not exist for very long, but their influence can be heard in Impiety.  That is something at least.

Impiety: The Impious Crusade (2013)

Impiety has been a personal favorite of mine since I first heard their 2007 album.  The Singaporean group perfectly captures the various extreme styles of death, thrash, and black metal and welds them together into a caustic, aggressive mix.  It's abrasive as hell, but that's part of the beauty of it.  So of course, I am on board when the band releases something new, even if, in this case, it's an EP.

Things kick off immediately with a bang with some evil riffing courtesy of the introductory track.  From there, Impiety rolls forward in their standard take-no-prisoners style.  Impiety do not simply play their instruments.  They use them as weapons to attack the listener.  Everything flies by at the speed of light, but that is not to say that they are not accomplished musicians.  They most certainly are, they just believe in making things as brutal and vicious as possible.  Mission accomplished.  The EP ends with a cover of a Sorcery song, not a band I am familiar with.

Of course the star of Impiety continues to be vocalist/bassist Shyaithan.  This is his band and he controls every aspect of it.  His sinister bark propels the band forward and keeps the band from becoming another Sarcofago/Vulcano clone.

I always enjoy a new Impiety release, and this one is certainly no different.

My Favorite Metal Band from Singapore

Sometimes, some of the best metal comes from unexpected places. Take Singapore for example, a southeastern Asian country with strict regulation of media but a surprisingly high quality of life. However, arising out of this country is the amazing Impiety, a band that combines black, death, and thrash metal into an extremely volatile, violent, and aggressive sound that calls to mind the South American scene of the mid 1980's and the Australian "war metal" scene. Impiety though have been doing the same thing since the early 1990's. And they continue to put out great albums even today.

HONORABLE MENTION:
Psycho