Review by Carl on November 14, 2023.

"Goat Perversion", Impaled Nazarene's first exposure to the masses outside of the demo underground. It signalled the start of a long and often controversial career, that would encompass a fierce style of metal going from total noise to oddly melodic and everything in between. Impaled Nazarene has always done their own thing regardless, and carved out their own niche in black metal while doing it.

These recordings give us Impaled Nazarene at their most primordial, like on their first album "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz", where most of these tracks would also resurface. Combining old school raw and aggressive thrash/black/death metal in the style of earliest Sodom, Possessed, Minotaur's first album, and Sarcofago, with grindcore in the vein of Agathocles, "Scum" era Napalm Death, oldest Carcass, and Repulsion, the band seethes through their violent, compact and utterly uncomplicated songs, utilizing relentless blast beats, stripped down scouring guitar riffing, and the abrasive raw croak of frontman Mika. In between the lunatic ferocity the band exudes at their most unhinged, slower, more pounding sections have been built in, as well as some harrowing short soundscapes, allowing for the listener to take a whiff of breath, but without losing the intensity of the music in any way. Wether they go off the rails in a screaming stupor of velocity fueled madness or bludgeon the listener to pulp with a midtempo dirge, the lunatic energy the band exudes throughout stays intact. Bolstered by a pretty clear, yet still raw and underground production, this stuff comes roaring out of the speakers, high on energy and barbaric in execution, oozing demented power and a deranged atmosphere. This the black metal equivalent of a nailbomb going off in a nursery, nothing less.

This is a great EP from a time when black metal was still a very marginal thing, that mostly happened on the outskirts of the extreme metal underground. Not constricted by the formulaic approach that is so prevalent in metal today, this platter combines primordial black/thrash metal with grindcore energy and massive dose upon massive dose of cruel profanity. It may be a very primitive approach to early second wave black metal, but it has attitude, energy and conviction coming out of the wazoo.

It may not be refined or pretty in any way, but I love every filthy second of this, and will recommend this to anyone into true raw, harsh and aggressive underground metal.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10