Interview with death metal band from United States - ACT OF IMPALEMENT.
Answered Ethan (guitars, vocals), Jerry (bass), Aaron (drums), thank you!
Recenze/review - ACT OF IMPALEMENT - Profane Altar (2025):
Ave ACT OF IMPALEMENT! Hello to the underground in Nashville, Tennessee. Let's get right to the important stuff. You have a new third full-length album out, "Profane Altar", which is literally packed with honest, dirty death metal. How did the album come together and how do you feel about it? What direction did ACT OF IMPALEMENT move in?
Ethan: Hello! So during the recording of the second album, I had a falling out with a former member. Between that and the pandemic at the time, I thought the band was done. Eventually, I was jamming some death metal with former bandmates (Aaron Hortman and Jerry Garner) from an old black metal project. After a couple tracks came together, I recall saying something like “oh man, this is how I wished Act had always sounded”. If I remember correctly Aaron replied along the lines of “well, why don't we just do it now?” and we kept writing. The first of those tracks actually ended up being the title track.
I'm listening to the album right now and I have to write that this time it took a while to get into my blood. I put the album in my player, I'm listening to it in the car. I like the sound a lot. It's lively, organic, old school, and at the same time it's easy to hear. I find it slightly different from your previous records. Where did you record and who is responsible for the sound?
E: As far as recording goes, it's actually the same guy, Shibby Poole, that recorded and mixed basically everything the band has recorded. It's honestly kind of wild that I've worked with him for 12 years at this point. Recording-wise the process was pretty similar to the previous album with the obvious difference in members.
I think you'll agree with me that the cover sells. You have it mysterious and dark this year. The author is Aaron Hortman. The theme is some ancient ritual. How did you and Aaron get together and what exactly is the motif supposed to express in relation to the music?
E: I'm glad you like it! All three of us kind of agreed that there shouldn't be any people in it, dead or otherwise. Aaron and I both did sketches of our ideas, the serpent cross being his idea and the chalices with sigils being mine. With less historical themes and more to do with blasphemy/sin, the cover is sort of a tribute to those concepts. The sigils for example are based on the signs for the 7 princes of Hell who are attributed with one of the 7 deadly sins. The demonological hierarchy used is based of the Binsfeld classifications of these ideas with several different sources on the sigils themselves most notably from the Lesser Key of Solomon and Grimorium Verum. The chalice on the altar itself bears the sign of Azazel who is a “watcher” from the book of Enoch that is accredited with the most heinous sinful knowledge given to mankind.
I put "Profane Altar" over and over again in my head and I think what I like most about the album is probably that hard to describe old school death metal feeling. Then I look at your promo photos and one of you is wearing my favorite ASPHYX shirt. Looks like we're of the same blood. Who was and is your role model? Every musician started out somehow, there are role models that shaped their signature. What were yours?
E: Early inspirations for me to start playing guitar were definitely Tony Iommi, Angus/Malcolm Young, Jeff Hanneman, and generally speaking Lemmy. When I first started doing vocals I was influenced by Mille from Kreator and Chuck from Death too due to playing and doing vocals like I am.
Jerry: For me like so many others it started with Gene Simmons honestly. As I got more into extreme metal, I really was drawn to the super overdriven sound of guys like Dan Lilker and Lemmy of course.
The content of your lyrics is also interesting. They're full of references to history, ancient rituals. In short, the things that make me love death metal so much. What are they about on "Profane Altar", who is the author? Where did you draw inspiration from? What kind of books do you enjoy.
E: I wrote most of the lyrics except for “Piercing the Heavens” and “Zenith of Barbarism” which were penned by Aaron. Most of the lyrical inspirations come from lectures or documentaries I've seen throughout the years even if only for a couple lines or a title. For this album notably Professor Justin Sledge though somewhat loosely. A direct influence on the title track's lyrics was “The Devils of Loudun” by Adlous Huxley. As far as books I've been into lately, I really like “The Evil Creator” by M. David Litwa. Other than various history books, I like Michael Crichton, Bernard Cornwell, stuff like that.
Aaron: I just hate God, I don't know.
I remember years ago when I wrote a review for your first album "Perdition Cult" I listened to the album over and over again. I have it set up that if I like a band, I want to see them live, to confirm what the songs sound like in concert? How do you enjoy going to concerts? And how do the new songs work live? What kind of feedback do you get?
E: I definitely enjoy going to shows although I'm much more picky about them than I used to be. That said, there aren't a ton of shows I'm interested in seeing in Nashville and I am almost as likely to travel for bands as I am seeing them in town. Just a couple of weeks ago, I drove 4 hours to Atlanta to see Nunslaughter for example. The new songs have gone over really well so far and I've been told the “new” line up has brought more intensity to band new and old songs alike. So pretty killer so far
How do you look at the current trend, widespread mostly among young bands, where they try to play as technically as possible, often putting into death metal, for example, saxophone, various keyboards and generally finding their way in a very complicated way. Do you enjoy such bands? I'm confused sometimes when I go to a gig and someone like that is performing. It seems like a jazz school exercise, but I end up not remembering anything at all. What about you and the current trends in death metal?
E: A good trend in death metal I've noticed is anyone worth listening to doesn't have fucking saxophone haha. Jokes aside, I don't think we're seeing that as much here and really we just ignore that shit. We all three generally hate jazzy or technical death metal so fuck all of the perfect chops and hard-line tone chasers on amp simulators or whatever while I'mal at it. Here in the states there were a lot of hardcore kids who made accessible, piss poor death metal too but thankfully it seems like the hype behind that garbage is dying down. Globally though it seems like there's a lot of evil death metal coming out like the albums last year from Adorior and Abhorration to point out a couple so I just pay more attention to that.
The scene in the Czech Republic is so closed. The band and the fans more or less all know each other and to be honest, it seems to me that not many people go to death metal anymore. The younger ones listen to something completely different. You're from Nashville, Tennessee, what's your scene like, what are the clubs like. And the fans? Do they support bands, do they go to shows?
E: It's somewhat similar here man. As far as what the youngsters are listening to I'm not sure, we're all in our 30s. The clubs here are ok. There are about 3 clubs that have metal shows really. Two are more or less dive bars and the other is a DIY type spot. There are definitely fans in town and the core crew of a dozen or so reliably show up to every show with others that have supported bands here over the years but we don't always know a ton of the other folks. Before the pandemic we knew every metal freak in town but Nashville is a growing city so it's difficult to keep up with everyone. I remember the first show here I went to when venues opened back up was Incantation in a packed room and I couldn't help wonder “when did all you fuckers move here?”. That said, most of the time I don't expect more than 40-50 people maybe in Nashville
A lot of bands are already planning tours for the fall and winter. How are you guys doing with promoting "Profane Altar"? I'd like to see it live, finally. Are you coming to Europe, preferably to the Czech Republic?
E: Promotion seems to be going well. There have been a good amount of pre-sales between us and Caligari plus everyone that's heard it so far has had good things to say. We would love to come over to Europe at some point but nothing is on the books right now. If we came to the Czech Republic I'd most likely drown in Pilsner Urquell though haha.
We're coming to the end and that always makes me ask a slightly philosophical question. How would you define death metal and what does it mean to you? I don't mean now the technique of playing, but rather what it brings to you, takes, how you perceive it in relation to the fans. Did you grow up on it?
E: Really for me it's just a much more over the top extension of Rock n Roll in spirit. To an extreme of course with it being the further frayed edges. A place to be free in darker subjects. Preferably death, sin, and the devil/evil. I don't care too much for boring goreporn lyrics. Feels shallow at times. We've all been listening to death metal since we were teens for sure. The first taste of death metal I had was when I was probably 14 and I'm sure the same age is about right for the other guys too so all of us have been around a while.
Thank you very much for the interview. I appreciate it. Now let the music do the talking. I'm gonna go play "Immoral Arts" really loud! I wish you all the best with the new release and that all is well in your personal lives. Thank you!
E: Thank you for hitting us up and the well wishes! Hope you're also doing well! Gonna spin some records and crack a beer open myself. Cheers!
Recenze/review - ACT OF IMPALEMENT - Profane Altar (2025):
Recenze/review - ACT OF IMPALEMENT - Perdition Cult (2018):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sledujte nás na sociálních sítích - follow us on the social media:
instagram:
facebook: