Interviews : “I grew up on Hobb’s Angel of Death, Armoured Angel and Slaughterlord” – an interview with Impiety

Impiety have now been around for over 20 years, and over that time have constantly proved themselves to be, quite bluntly, one of the most consistently awesome bands to come out of Singapore. Soon, they will be hitting Australia on the back of their 8th studio album Ravage & Conquer, alongside the equally intense Goatwhore. Before that happens, we caught up with the main man behind Impiety; Shyaithan.

You’ve recently released your newest full length “Ravage & Conquer”. How do you think this differs from your past material? I think it’s one of your heaviest releases to date, with perhaps a bit more of a death metal influence.

Yes it’s definitely different in the sense that it leans more toward death metal and that’s just the way I wanted  it to be, I aimed  to craft an unmerciful album of hammering blackened death. The metal Impiety conceives has always bordered black and death and with ‘Ravage & Conquer’ I injected more elements of death in comparison to the usual black war metal approach. I like to keep  the music charged with a lot of energy, speed and of course littered with new and fresh ideas.  This is probably the main reason why I always tell diehards to expect the unexpected each time we put out a new release. But even so, I must say this is not entirely new when it comes to concept. It more or less continues charge, along the likes of ’Kaos Kommand 696’ 2002 and ‘Paramount Evil’ 2004. These previous releases I still pretty much like a lot and are some of the band’s best endeavours to date.

Impiety have had a lot of members over the years, the newest being guitarist Nizam Aziz. I gather he’s fitting well in the band?

Well right after the 24 date US/Canada/Mex tour  2011, Deimos  who was lead guitar player at the time, decided to focus on his other bands and desired to be based in Italy, due mainly to a job he had to commit. It was then I told myself, again was another big loss with so much time and effort up in smoke. It felt like I came to a dead end once again but never was I to give up all hope. I began to seek once again within Asia for a capable and dedicated soldier. It was just 1 week before the recording of  Ravage & Conquer that I found Nizam Aziz, and this was like nearly after 15 other potential players I sought out and had auditioned. It’s really hard to find full time musicians here in Asia, and especially those who are established players are usually committed to other bands and other genres of metal. So to find someone accomplished in death and black is like finding a diamond in a desert. In the end, Nizam Aziz joined the force and Dizazter from Perth, Australia had actually joined Impiety in 2011.

Why has the lineup changed so much over the years? Do you prefer to keep mixing things up or has it just been a string of bad luck?

Well, honestly in the beginning  I had to deal with just plain lazy individuals, and then came  individuals who commited more to society and life, a full time job and starting a family,etc. And then I had no option after sourcing out musicians here who could take Impiety forward with me. And this resulted since 2004 that Impiety had band members throughout the world. It’s been a great experience with past line ups and having home base in Mexico, Japan and then Italy. Just amazing despite all the hard work to rebuild and strike strong. Im just glad  finally to have home base back in Singapore once again. And  this time with an indomitable line up with Nizam, Dizazter and myself.

I noticed that he is credit with the latest album’s engineering as well. I imagine it would make the whole situation much easier having somebody capable of doing that in the band? Did you have much involvement there or was it all up to him?

Nizam Aziz was actually the recording engineer and co-producer for Impiety’s albums ’Formidonis Nex Cultus’, ’Dominator’, ’Terroreign’ and also this album ’Ravage & Conquer’ and never did I know in the end, he would join the band full time. Yes, Nizam did in fact contribute ideas on leads and guitar solos, executing his part flawlessly. More or less, all song-writing remains my domain at present but in future I do look forward to working with Nizam on song writing. Time will tell but definitely looking forward to that.

Impiety has now been releasing records for over 20 years. Over that time, how was the way you approach writing and recording an album changed? Are you finding it harder to keep things fresh and interesting after this long?

I think I am one who just goes with the flow of things, once I am able to sit down and breathe a little finding my place slightly away from the chaos, I am able once again to take it from there. Inspiration comes only from looking back at our discography and to see what has been accomplished, and from then on, I would decide the main theme and overall flow for the next composition and let the natural writing take its path. Any thing  fresh and interesting would be indeed be challenging at this stage and I am one who likes to uptake such challenges. I will only write and record an album or release if I know it will be a good one. If not, it’s something I never would force upon myself, all this has to come from the very depths of both mind and soul. I still read a lot and continue to be inspired by the dark.

Do you have any musical projects outside of Impiety?

I wish I could but it’s impossible due to my limited time. I have given all my time, blood, energy and sweat to Impiety and continue to give unselfishly – just too passionate, so it’s hard to give anything if I wanted to start another band. It’s just impossible.

I’m always interested to hear what the different metal scenes are like around the world. How is it in your area of Singapore? Are there a lot of great venues and good shows happening? How are the crowds?

The scene here grew from late 85 with simple heavy metal bands and then emerged the first generation of blackened death metal bands as early as ’87/’88. Notable bands from the past are Abhorer, Nuctemeron and also Demisor. From ’88 I was already forming my first band and was already acquainted with the local underground here. Today we have 30-40 black, death, thrash, grind, heavy metal bands in total. Healthy and kicking well but still compared to neighbouring countries it’s little to compare. On average 200 fans attend gigs here, some times more or even less depending which bands are performing. In the past it was even better but I guess with frequent gigs these days, many choose the gigs they want to go to. A good number of record stores here as well. There is good support for metal here in Singapore as well as throughout the rest of South East Asia. And many international black, death, grind, thrash, heavy metal bands have toured here in the last few years. We just had Suffocation, Nile, Hate Eternal, Psycroptic, Marduk, Dismember, Destruction, Morbid Angel play here the last 2 years. So pretty much open to extreme metal now than before. That’s a good sign.

Alright, some bands to check out would be Rudra (deathmetal), Demisor (grind), Cardiac Necropsy (deathgrind), Wormrot (grind), Infernal Execrator (black metal), Battlestorm (blackdeath), Imperial Tyrants (black metal), Absence of the Sacred (death metal), Tormentress (thrash), Hellghast (thrash death), Istidraj (black metal) and many more.

Do you know many Australian bands? Are there any in particular that you really enjoy?

I grew up with Hobb’s Angel of Death, Armoured Angel and Slaughterlord in the early years, oh yeah, not forgetting the killer Mortal Sin. (laughs). Favourite bands. I dig Sadistik Exekution the most followed by Belligerent Intent, Cemetery Urn, Abominator, Mhorgl, Atomizer, Gospel of the Horns, old Bestial Warlust, Disembowelment, Shrapnel, Vomitor, etc.

Have you ever been to Australia before? Any idea what to expect?

Yes I have, 1999 I was 1 week in Melbourne visiting  friends and relatives and 2006 I was 1 month in Queensland, on military exercise. Didn’t get any chance then to visit any cities except for a few off days walking around Rockhampton. (laughs). I am still serving  in the Army Reserves and have 1 more year to go. But anyways never been to gigs there, never played there, and looking  forward to as much violence as possible. Yes, we have many good diehards writing us from Australia over the years, we know we have a good fan base and just look forward to destroying the stage!

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

A US and Canadian tour is in the works plus we will do a few exclusive Asian concerts this September in Asia. Just selected shows this time round since February we did already 5 shows in 4 Asian countries.

You can catch the very awesome Impiety alongside Goatwhore, Ruins and others on the following dates…