Impureza â AlcĂĄzares Review
By Angry Metal Guy
Founded in 2004 by guitarist Lionel Cano Muñoz (of Spanish descent, but born in OrlĂ©ans, France), Impureza is based in France but fully embraces Spanish heritage in both concept and execution. Jokingly called the âFrench Nile,â1 Impureza blends extreme, brutal death metal with rich cultural motifs and flamenco. AlcĂĄzares marks Impurezaâs third full-length album in 15 years. The album continues the bandâs legacy of high-concept releases, following La Iglesia del Odio (2010, an Inquisition-themed album) and La CaĂda de Tonatiuh (2017, an Aztec Conquest-themed album).2
Conceptually, AlcĂĄzares is based around the Reconquista, a centuries-long conflict between Christian and Muslim forces that started in the 8th century, following Tariq ibn Ziyadâs conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom in 711 and the Battle of Covadonga (in ~722) and ending in 1492 with the establishment of the Catholic Monarchs.3 AlcĂĄzares means âfortressesâ or âpalaces.â4 The word is derived from Arabic, âal-qaáčŁrâ (Ù±ÙÙÙÙŰ”Ù۱),5 which means the same. As with many things on the Iberian Peninsula, like flamenco itself, the tension at the heart of AlcĂĄzares is between cultures, faiths, and empiresâspecifically between Islam and Christianity, the Moor and the Castilian. Symbolically, the title evokes the contested strongholds of medieval Spain: places of siege, destruction, religious power, and shifting dominion between Muslim and Christian empires.
Seven years have changed and improved Impureza. At its core, their sound is best evoked by invoking two excellent bands: Vidres a la Sang and Ăternam.6 2017âs La CaĂda de Tonatiuh was replete with the blasty, brutal â90s style death metal (Ă la Vidres a la Sang), a sound near to my heart and that in a lot of ways has receded in the modern death metal landscape. AlcĂĄzares doesnât shy away from this sound. If you needle drop anywhere in the 49 minutes of music on AlcĂĄzares, you are likely to land within a minute of blast beats, guttural vocals, and trem-picked, harmonized guitars. The Nileesque brutality sets down the deepest root of their sound, but the tree has also flowered over the years.
Where La CaĂda de Tonatiuh felt like the tale of two records, AlcĂĄzares feels unified. Having backed away from single-minded br00tality, Impureza does a better job of integrating the different flavors of their sound. The real innovation is that they have discovered dynamics. More clean vocals (âLa Orden del Yelmo Negro,â âCastigos EclesiĂĄsticosâ), better use of integrated acoustic guitars (âPestilencia,â âCastigos EclesiĂĄsticosâ), and the strong melodic content of flamencoâstill bearing the history of MENA influencesâevokes Ăternamâs last two records and even at times Melechesh. For me, this is a perfect blend of brutal and melodic. I love the growls, the anthemic cleans, the fretless bass (âRuina del AlcĂĄzarâ), and the tightly integrated feel.
Integration of flamenco and metal is not easy. This is because these two genres of music are fundamentally quite different. Said differently, flamenco is progressive as fuck. It uses a 12-beat cycle,7 where accents fall unpredictably (on beats 12, 3, 6, 8, 10), rather than on typical downbeats.8 Additionally, these cycles blend note-groupings of 2s and 3s (hemiolas), which create shifting accents and internal tensions. I can only imagine that this is genuinely tough to integrate into metal, which operates in 4/4 or 3/4 or, when weâre feeling particularly saucy, 7/8. So, while some moments here threw me at firstâseeming messy or chaotic, almost like a band that wasnât playing in time (for example, on âSanta InquisiciĂłnâ and âPestalenciaâ)âI realized that what I was hearing was the sound of innovation and adventure.
In addition to compositional innovations and refinements, AlcĂĄzares benefits from notably improved production. The mix is cleaner, clearer, and better balanced than their previous album, allowing each elementâflamenco, cleans, and death metalâto find its place without overpowering the others. Itâs probably too loud, but it is never muddy. The guitars shimmer when needed and crush when they must. The bass is visceral and perfectly matched with the drums, and though they sound crushed and a bit mechanicalâit is Jacob Hansen, after allâthey punch through with precision. Everything feels tighter, more refined, and integrated in a way that I genuinely love.
Impureza has an Orphaned Land-like quality of disappearing and then reappearing to remind you of just what you were missing. AlcĂĄzares is Impureza at their most ambitious: historically immersed, sonically expansive, blasphemous, and, well, super into the (alternative) histories of colonialism. AlcĂĄzares is a violent, poetic invocation of Spainâs medieval imagination, and it sports an enchanting vibe that recalls some of the best records I own. Seven years of development resulted in a record full of tight riffs, beautiful guitar work, and intense compositions, and they somehow managed to work a Necromancer into a historical concept album (âEl EjĂ©rcito de los Fallecidos de Alarcosâ). I would say that I hope to see something from them soon, but Iâm happy to wait another seven years for another record of this quality.
Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR MP3
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: impureza.bandcamp.com
Release Date: July 11th, 2025
#2025 #35 #Aeternam #AlcĂĄzares #DeathMetal #Flamenco #FleshgodApocalypse #Impureza #Jul25 #LaCaĂŹdaDeTonatiuh #Melechesh #Nile #VidresALaSang