Impious Baptism - Wrath of the Apex Predator [2013]

Australia's black and death metal underground is one of the most unforgiving in the world. Seldom do they manage to fail muster acts that persistently and unabashedly seem to praise demons, hell, and whatever sorts of diabolical content they conjure in their wicked minds, and with their adamant approach to the genres they've proved to be the absolute paragons of extreme practices. That said, Jarro Raphael's solo project Impious Baptism is no exception, recently releasing their scorching debut offering ''Wrath of the Apex Predator'', whose title I've granted numerous accolades, after sordid handful of EPs. Jarro, or J, as choses to name himself, has played in more bands that you can count.  Just the names of Trench Hell, Cerekloth, Destruktor, Nocturnal Graves and Destroyer 666 are enough to soak the pants of a myriad of avid listeners of the ferociously oriented black/death anomaly, and ''Wrath...'' is guaranteed to soak quite a few more. Having listened to Impious Baptism's previous outing, ''Path of the Inverted Trinity'', I can safely say that J has improved upon his sound, making things even more fun while not entirely altering the rules.

''Path of the Inverted Trinity'' was a good fucking EP, despite its brevity; a caustic tour de force in the tradition of Revenge, Axis of Advance, Conqueror and Blasphemy, inculcating the notion of barbarous impiety with considerable strength and rawness, even when regarded alongside some of the bigger groups of today's black/death fleet. The new full-length hardly follows a different trajectory, but still, novel ideas and presentations are aplenty: the production, for one, is far more audible and accessible, while still keeping some of the grime and sodden grimness of the guitar tone; the riffs are somewhat more fleshy, with less emphasis of traditional war metal motifs and more of heavier, bulbous death metal structures that should remind listeners of Morbid Angel, Angelcorpse and Vader; and seething, hypnotic trace that ''Path...'' had so copiously stored is down to a lesser whiff of impurity. This alteration hardly reduces the quality of the album though, in contrast, the heaving, hammering force of the old school death metal tremolos are catchy and will undeniably cast a wider net as to rivet the attention of a larger audience, although they still lack innovation, so you get the sense that J was struggling more to find a combo densely applied demolition than to actually create a string of inventive riffs.

J's low pitched howls somehow resemble many other Australian vocalists in the field. They're low, sinister, but edgy, just enough to keep you relatively frightened and immersed at the same time. In spite of all this praise, though, ''Wrath...'' does admittedly have some flaws. It manages to surpass ''Path...'' in many separate departments and thus outshines it in overall quality, but the main aspect that I found to absent on ''Wrath...'' was that pungent, dissolute sense of evil that was conveyed effortlessly through the EP's narrow yet crude choice of chord barrages and poorly conducted production quality that made it a real war metal record. This may see like delving a little too deep into the margins of death and black metal but I feel obliged to state this: the accessibility of the full-length has connived the true devilish grin that the EP had possessed, undeniably replacing the patterns of gruesomeness with patterns of groove and bludgeon. Nonetheless, I did find a fairly adequate amount of formidable impiety in the album, be it in J's rancid vocal lines or the sheer atrociousness of the broiling guitars. The title track is one of the more explosive tracks on the album, bursting with fiery rage, while ''Release The Titans Part I'' focuses on some slower progressions, and nearly each track comes with a dark ambient that further explores J's conquest of occultism and hellishness.

''Wrath of the Apex Predator'' is not quite the brilliant war metal album of the year, or of recent years for that matters, because the catalog of bands in this vein is extensive and rich, but in terms of sound and structure J is competent enough to tick most of the boxes, though a record with more essence and freshness would have been far better venerated, but the overall strength of the record is convincing enough to go well with a helping of blood and goat's semen, continuing to corrupt unpolluted minds in the good ol' tradition.

Highlights:
Wrath of the Apex Predator
Rites of Illuminated Death
Axis of Lucifer

Rating: 80%

Impious Baptism - Path Of The Inverted Trinity EP

There are many one man death and black metal projects out there, yet the one done by J, must be one the more promiment ones. Surely, Impious Baptism is a relatively unknown band, but it satisfies my voracious thirst for the one thing that I have not getten enough of ever since the release of ''Unholy Exaltations Of Fullmoon Perversity'', war metal. Now I'm not I die-hard fan, but I certainly like the way the raw death metal guitars grind an scratch on the atmospheric surface of black metal blasphemy. This wave created by infamous bands like Conqueror, Blasphemy and Bestial Warlust continue, with  even more strenght. Some of the more dominant bands like Archgoat and Proclamation have released excellent efforts whose hooks will sink into your flesh like butter, and yet one of those bands is Impious Baptism, steady to assult you with its black/death monstrosity.

The EP follows all the blasphemous trends that were created by aforentioned masters with little derivation and change in sound, but still managing to sound as distorted and ungly as possible. J, who has played in numerous Australian bands like Destroyer 666, Nocturnal Graves or Hobbs' Angel Of Death who have all somehow been involved in his dark brand of black/death, playes all the instruments on the album and I have to admit that that's no easy task. Sure, the album strays just a little from the traditional sound of cadaveric satanism, but the riffs are well-constructed and there is no bullshit, just straight up, full speed riffage played most intensely and chaotically. All the riffs channei in between furious tremolo descendage and distorted chords, and drums batter non stop. The is a good concentration on the catchiness on the material too. I mean, black metal can't really get too groovy, but the riffs are all headbang friendly and even slightly memorable between that filthy rubble of debris which provides all the atmosphere. There are cool moments where the drums and guitars cooperate and produce stomping mid-pace chompers, as seen on the title track. There is also a healthy amount of thrash influence to be found here, one trait that streches the sector of originality since many bestial black metal acts prefer to use thrashy monsters at seldom, and that's something I can't quite understand.

With even just three songs and a total of eleven minutes, the album can serve some punishing justice, in the rightful vein of their genre-defining forefathers. The vocals are just as demonic as the riffs, guttural snarls that evaporate and erose as soon as their delivery is finished, in order to emphasize the ominious atmosphere. ''Path Of The Inverted Trinity'' carves through your flesh and grinds you up into uneven pieces and then gladly bashes your remainders bloody. This is the bestial assault that I had been waiting for sometime, and I'm glad that the delivery was still fresh when it came. This EP will constantly lay unholy seiges upon you, therefore if you like Blasphemy, Bestial Warlust or alike, there's no reason not to feel the satanic might of this one.

Highlights:
Doctrine Of The Antichrist
Path Of The Inverted Trinity

Rating: 77%