INTERVIEW - Ben (Vocals) of Impurist: "Brutal, Evil Sounding Death Metal, No Click Track, All Raw"

Today, we’re thrilled to introduce Impurist, a new Death Metal band from Hull, in the North East of England. Comprised of seasoned musicians from bands like Gorerotted, Winterfylleth. Impurist recently unleashed their debut EP Punishment Without Mercy, a brutal and raw offering CD released via Brutal Cave Production. In this interview, the Ben (Vocals) dives deep into their influences, the unconventional writing and recording process behind their music, and their relentless approach to creating unfiltered Death Metal.

Serial Metalbums: Can you introduce Impurist to our readers? How would you describe your style and the musical approach of this project? What were your artistic intentions and goals when you began working on Punishment Without Mercy?

Ben: Sure! We’re Impurist, a new Death Metal band made up of old school fellas. We’re based in Hull, Yorkshire in the North East of England and are due to play our first ever show there this month. I’d describe our music as brutal, evil sounding Death Metal. There was no real goal with Punishment Without Mercy, we just wanted to put out a cool EP so when Brutal Cave offered to release it on CD and Macho Records offered to release it on cassette we were pretty pleased. We’ve had a lot of good feedback and support so far and as long as we still enjoy it we’ll keep doing it.

Serial Metalbums: What are the main musical influences that have shaped the sound of Impurist? Are there specific bands or genres that have particularly inspired this EP?

Ben: Well me and Jon were in Gorerotted together, Mark was in Winterfylleth and Leady was in Introrectalgestation, to me we kind of sound like a mix of those bands! We just do what we do, we don’t write to a formula, its all natural but we’re probably influenced by all the death metal and black metal bands we’ve been listening to our whole lives - mostly '80s, '90s and some '00s stuff, not really the more modern sounding bands. I can’t speak for the musicians but from a vocal point of view my sound is inspired by the usual Glen Benton, Corpsegrinder, Max Cavalera, Frank Mullen etc style but I like to put a lot of assonance, alliteration and consonance through every line in the actual words I’m singing which is more common in Rap & Hip-Hop than Death Metal. 

Serial Metalbums: Can you walk us through the writing and recording process of the EP? Were there any challenges or memorable moments during the creation of Punishment Without Mercy that stood out to you? 

Ben: We did it all ass-backwards! The usual way is to rehearse, write, play some shows, then record. But with us, the guys recorded the music, I then wrote and recorded the lyrics, we released the EP, recorded a second EP and now we will rehearse and play some shows. There weren’t many challenges with the recording part. The musicians did the songs live together with no click track to try and make it feel as natural and raw as possible, then they overlaid some guitars to beef it up, then I did the vocals, then we sent the files to Shaun Black who mixed and mastered it. We’ve done exactly the same thing again for our upcoming second EP ‘Evolving Cortex’ because of how well it works for us. The only real challenge for me personally is that I’m used to doing verse/chorus/verse 3 minute songs, so to write to 5 plus minute songs with lots of riffs, twists and turns and loads of atmosphere, its been pretty challenging but also very rewarding when its all come together.

Serial Metalbums: How did your collaboration with Brutal Cave Production come about, and how has it been working with them for this release CD? Has the release of Punishment Without Mercy opened up new opportunities for the band, such as live performances or collaborations?

Ben: They released Jon and Leady’s previous project Bonetar and after talking to a few indy labels they offered us the best deal. It was licensed to them as a limited edition release which means the four of us still own our music and I’d want to keep it that way going forward, but its nice to work with people as passionate about this type of music as us to get it out there. In terms of opportunities, hopefully its helped spread our music a bit and I still like a physical product instead of just downloads and streaming so to still be putting out CDs, tapes and records after 25 years is pretty satisfying and something I'm very grateful for.

Serial Metalbums: What’s next for Impurist? Are there any plans for a full-length album or upcoming tours?

Ben: Yeah so we got shows in Hull, London, Manchester and Glasgow booked and Shaun is just finishing mixing Evolving Cortex which is a natural progression for us musically, it just sounds bigger and darker! We’re planning to release it ourselves on vinyl this time and hopefully play more shows, some fests and weekenders and eventually put out a full-length release. The digital artwork Josh Brown has done looks sick and totally encapsulates the trippy, Lovecraftian vibe of the title track. Other than that we’re just gonna take things as they come.

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