Angry Metal Guy
As I prepare to flip the calendar over to what looks like a pretty stacked September, I took a moment to reflect on my Angry Metal August. Forays into the sump pit this month yielded several better-than-good releases that I was lucky enough to snag and pen words for. My final entry for this last month of summer comes by way of South Carolina’s Imperishable. Formed in 2020 as a side gig by Nile’s Brian Kingsland and Olkoth’s Alex Rush, Imperishable didn’t become a three-piece until 2023, when drum aficionado Derek Roddy (ex-Hate Eternal, ex-Malevolent Creation) entered the fold. Imperishable’s 2024 EP, originally titled Demo’s, caught the ear of Everlasting Spew Records, who signed on to release the band’s debut album, Revelation in Purity. With no question as to the metal cachet of its constituency, the only thing left for me to do was determine if Imperishable’s first outing would signal the end of my August hot streak.
With a blackened death metal heart, Revelation in Purity pierces several veils, tossing traces of groove, doom, and ’90s grunge into the mix. Within moments, album opener “Oath of Disgust” evokes strong Emperor vibes, its eddying riffs and clean, choral-like vocal section landing somewhere between the mighty Anthems and IX Equilibrium. These blackened moments are a red thread running throughout Imperishable’s death metal tapestry, expertly woven into a single style, rather than a collection of either-or compositions. As much as Olkoth and newer Nile (“Where Dead Omens Croon”) nestle in the nooks of Imperishable’s sound, there’s some Morbid Angel crouched in the crannies as well (“The Enduring Light of Irreverance”). Kingsland’s grasp of tension and melody, especially evident in his excellent solo work, provides a guitar tour de force of towering tremolos, whirlwind riffs, and bright, splashy chord harmonies (“Revelation in Purity,” “Spewing Retribution”). His vocals, whether gutturally growled, blackly screamed, or cleanly harmonized, are also impressively discernible as Rush’s sinister bass lines, crisp as Cliff Burton’s and full of malice, hold sway over Revelation in Purity’s nether realm alongside Roddy’s devastating drum work—a maelstrom of stormy snares, deadly double-kicks, and fancy fills.
Revelation In Purity by Imperishable
Revelation in Purity navigates many twists, turns, and serpentine paths without getting lost, Imperishable’s songwriting filling the role of expert trail guide. As deftly merged as their black and death metal elements are, it’s the seamless incorporation of those disparate offshoots that helps Revelation in Purity stand out. On the heels of tremolodic leads and some chaotic verse accompaniment, “Exclusion Continuum” hits a nice little groove at the two-minute mark that continues as it slows to a very satisfying, chuggy crawl before re-igniting with one of Kingsland’s sustained yawps. And it’s the doomy atmospheres of “Iniquity,” with its “Where the Slime Live” feel, that, along with follow-up track “Where Dead Omens Croon,” incorporate vocal harmonies straight out of Alice in Chains’ Staley/Cantrell playbook of old, making this late round, one-two punch my favorite section on Revelation in Purity.
Imperishable dispels atmospheric, interludial frivolity by packing Revelation in Purity’s thirty-two-minute runtime with let-our-music-do-the-talking decisions, outperforming any of the recent output from their main gigs. Jamie King’s mix and master, though slightly muted, still allows every single performance to shine in a way that highlights the musical talent of each member, while Ronnie Bjornstrom’s re-amped rhythm guitars lend an organic air to Kingsland’s performance that never detracts from the cohesiveness of the whole. My biggest gripe with Revelation in Purity is that nearly half of the songs have been circulating in some form or fashion since late 2020, when the first raw versions of “Exclusion Continuum” began to appear. A mostly minor, personal disappointment that Imperishable didn’t keep more of their cards a tad closer to the vest.
Imperishable’s all-killer, no-filler approach makes for some impressive blackened death metal, and while Revelation in Purity isn’t doing anything particularly groundbreaking, what it does do is very good. While I was pleasantly surprised by last year’s Nile album and am wholly looking forward to Olkoth’s follow-up, Imperishable is now on Tyme’s list of things to watch for. I’m eager to hear what a batch of fresh new ideas and songs will sound like from this crew, because, as evidenced by Revelation in Purity, Imperishable has a bright future ahead of them.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Record Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: August 29th, 2025
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Fri Aug 29 16:22:50 GMT 2025