''Impurity'' is the second studio album by the German

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

band

Fleshcrawl Fleshcrawl is a German death metal band formed in Illertissen, Bavaria, in 1987. Their most recent album, ''Into the Catacombs of Flesh'', was released in 2019 under Apostasy Records. History 1987–1997 Fleshcrawl was formed by Stefan Ha ...

. It was their first album to feature guitarist Mike Hanus, brother of founding member Stefan Hanus and last to feature founding bass guitarist Markus Amann, and it is the only Fleshcrawl album thus far that does not bear the "carved-in-flesh" Fleshcrawl logo. This album is different from the preceding '' Descend into the Absurd'' in that it is somewhat more melodic and musically organized, thus making it closer to the Swedish subgenre of death metal in relation than their earlier releases, which carry a more generic death metal sound. As is typical of their mid-1990s albums, and of mid-1990s Swedish/

melodic A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinat ...

death metal in general, ''Impurity'' is characterized by rapid

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

rolls that alternate with slower, more intense patterns, particularly to counter the mid-to-high tempo guitar

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompani ...

s. However, the sound of this album is unique among similar bands of the same time in that the drums are toned somewhat higher than usual, resulting in a "tinny" sound not unlike that of many mid-1990s

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

bands. The major lyrical themes of this album are consistent with their previous releases, and tend to focus on grim, dark subjects, as is common in death metal, such as evil, death, slavery to dark forces ("Subordinate"),

sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

("Center of Hate"), and

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

and

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

("Incineration").

Track listing

# "From the Dead to the Living" – 02:33 # "Withering Life" – 02:37 # "Reincarnation" (

Demigod A demigod or demigoddess is a part-human and part-divine offspring of a deity and a human, or a human or non-human creature that is accorded divine status after death, or someone who has attained the "divine spark" ( spiritual enlightenment). A ...

cover) – 04:42 # "Subordinate" – 03:35 # "Disfigured" – 02:17 # "After Obliteration" – 01:12 (instrumental) # "Stiffen Souls" – 03:36 # "Center of Hate" – 03:59 # "Inevitable End" – 04:29 # "Incineration" – 05:48

Personnel

* Alex Pretzer – vocals * Mike Hanus – guitar * Stefan Hanus – gitar * Markus Amann – bass * Bastian Herzog – drums

Additional personnel

* Rickard Alriksson – backing vocals on "Disfigured" *

Dan Swanö Dan-Erland Swanö (born 10 March 1973), also known as Dan "The Man" Swanö, is a Swedish musician and record producer who is currently the vocalist, guitarist, ex-bassist and ex-drummer for the band Nightingale, lately vocalist, keyboardist and ...

– backing vocals on "Incineration" and keyboards on "After Obliteration & "Incineration"

Production

* Produced by Fleshcrawl & Dan Swanö * Recorded and mixed at Unisound Studio in

Finspång Finspång () is a locality and the seat of Finspång Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 12,440 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Finspång is a traditional industrial town. The first industries were established in 1580 when a Royal fact ...

, Sweden, December 1993 * Engineered by Dan Swanö. Mixed by Fleshcrawl & Dan Swanö * All music & lyrics by Fleshcrawl, except "Reincarnation" by Demigod (Laitinen/Linden/Parviainen/Taatila) and "After Obliteration" by Dan Swanö * Cover photo by Getha Weeber, all other pics by Claudia Eckhard, Günter Hellwig and Christina Weikmann. Graphic work by Stefan Hanus, Alex Pretzer, Manfred & Nina Ottow.

External links

Official band website
{{Authority control 1994 albums Fleshcrawl albums Albums produced by Dan Swanö