Impaled - Mondo Medicale
Death Vomit Records
Death / Gore Metal (Carcass style)
10 songs (42'19)
Release year: 2002
Impaled
Reviewed by Crims

I had never heard of Impaled until I decided to give Mondo Medicale a whirl, and I must say I’m impressed. I was not knocked off my feet, but I was impressed. I’ve been a fan of Carcass for quite a while now, with Heartwork being one of my favorite CD’s, and their older work, while being lower down the list, is still classic stuff. Why do I mention Carcass? Well, it’s simple; the main influence of Impaled’s music is Carcass. I suppose it would be fair to say that they are a Carcass clone in some respects, however, what makes them just a little different from Carcass is that they combine both spectrums of Carcass, that being the old Goregrind on their first couple of releases, and then the more Death Groove oriented material on their last two CD’s. This is a combination you do not hear that often and I must say that Impaled pull it off well.

The highlight of Mondo Medicale is the guitars; Sean McGrath shows us that he has some real talent with some quality solos and Bill Steer inspired dirges and riffs. The rest of the band is of course more than adequate, but McGrath really shines at parts. So that brings us to the actual music. The intro, The Hippocritic Oath is one of my favorite Death Metal intros ever. It starts out with eerie piano work and then goes into a spoken word passage. The spoken word is done over minor instrumentation, and ends with the line, “I say, kill them all! “. Of course, after that pounding drums, a growl, and crushing guitars come in. Typical? Yes, but effective? Yes! The onslaught is continued with Dead Inside which immediately pays homage to early Carcass, and then later Heartwork era Carcass. This is a trend that will continue with the rest of the CD, although the songs aren’t really similar because Impaled structure their songs in a way that allows for complete freedom when it comes to implementing their influences, in other words they don’t follow any defined pattern, instead they tend to use each style at different parts so most of the time you don't know when they will change- despite knowing the fact that they are bound to sooner or later. Most tracks tend to have some stand out moments, mostly when they do a mid-paced Heartwork style break after a fast Goregrind section. Once again, this is pretty simple stuff, however, most bands don’t combine those two elements very often. Other songs that are worth mentioning are We Belong Dead which has some solid vocal lines and punishing guitars; The Worms Crawl In with it’s hook filled opening; and Rest In Fæces which also has a strong opening and happens to be a very long song, clocking in at over 7 minutes; surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, the band is actually successful with this track, mostly due to the talent of the band.

I already mentioned the guitars, so the next logical clarification is the vocals. Two vocal style are used here: one is a deep death growl, which sometimes become more audible, and then an alternate style which sounds suspiciously like Jeff Walker who sang on Heartwork; I suppose that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, as this style works very well here as well. Overall the vocals are successful, especially when they combine the two styles to accentuate certain lines.

Mondo Medicale excavates the Carcass Death/Gore Style, and brings it back to life with a sickening and overwhelming force. However, despite being a solid offering, this release offers nothing new. Everything is more or less by-the-Carcass-book of Death Metal, but since Carcass is no longer around I’m sure a lot of people won’t mind, and I do know a lot of people consider this band superior to Carcass, but everyone will have a different opinion. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Grindgore or Goregrind, whatever you want to call it, and therefore the Grind sections weren’t my favorite, but they were by no means horrible and I did enjoy some of them a lot as 2 or 3 of them kicked my ass good. So if you’re a big fan of Grind, you’ll probably like this release even more than I. There are about 4 songs that really stick out and are memorable, but the other ones despite having sections which are memorable, aren’t as good from the standpoint of an entire song. Don’t get me wrong; they’re still above average songs with some killer moments, but overall nothing mind-blowing either. I recommend this release to avid fans of the genre, but everyone else definitely try before you buy if you’re curious, at least that would be my suggestion.

Killing Songs :
Dead Inside, Operating Theatre, We Belong Dead, The Worms Crawl In, Rest In Fæces
Crims quoted 78 / 100
Other albums by Impaled that we have reviewed:
Impaled - Death After Life reviewed by Aaron and quoted 71/ 100
Impaled - The Dead Shall Dead Remain reviewed by Danny and quoted 5 / 100
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