Impureza – Alcázares (Review)

This is the third album from French death metal band Impureza.

Following on from 2017’s La Caída de Tonatiuh, (which seems like it came out an age ago), Impureza have now returned with the 49-minute Alcázares. If you’re interested in death metal with flamenco elements, and enjoy bands like Behemoth, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hate Eternal, and Nile, then this is for you.

The music is very accomplished. The Iberian influences and layers of flamenco instrumentation are tastefully incorporated into Alcázares with professional skill. The album is technical and precise, but without being cold or dense; Alcázares is warm and welcoming, at least before it burns your face off with its blistering aggression.

The well-crafted songs merge Impureza’s various elements into a feast of colourful extreme metal, combining death metal brutality and heaviness with vibrant, expressive folk melodies, acoustic texture, and characterful clean singing. It’s death metal, but also something more.

Impureza have put together an impressive record here. Alcázares has a lot to dig into, and much to explore. If you want death metal that offers something different and more individual to the norm, then make sure you check out Alcázares.