Alcázares is the third album from this French death metal act. Their 2010 debut La iglesia del odio I cannot find anywhere. Regardless of that fact this band sounds nothing like a band from France. All the songs are sung in Spanish and there are flamenco and other Spanish musical influences and references all tightly wrapped up in a style not too dissimilar from brutal death metal vets, Nile. There are even some Brujeria influences here and there, so this is a win win in my book. BTW, the Spanish word of the band name, Impureza, translates to Impurity, as the band ventures into religious themes in their lyrics as well.

With 11 songs in 49 minutes let’s see what on earth Lionel Cano Muñoz Guitars, (electric, acoustic), Guilhem Auge Drums, Florian Saillard Bass (fretless) and Esteban Martin on Vocals are slinging at us now. Opening up with the flamenco lead acoustic “Verdiales” this is beautiful. I used to take guitar many years ago and my brother was/is still plays the guitar and he used to listen to shit like this all the time as well as Paganini and I always loved these sounds. After this minute long intro, then right into the rousing bullfighting musical sounds that is “Bajo las tizonas de Toledo”. This is like spaghetti western Nile almost. The intro to this song, sounded as if this was going to be Brujeria. The minute timestamp has a killer gallop and then right into a killer groove with terrific guitar harmonies then BOOM!!!!!!! Right into a Behemoth/Nile blast affair. Marvelous. The song slows down with the flamenco Spanish inspired sounds erupting then right into the blasts with pinch harmonics. The vocals are dual layered at times, and do have a bit of the harshness like Juan Brujo (RIP) had with Brujeria, which I loved so damn much. As soon as I heard this song I got their second album immediately. And that is amazing, however this bests it.

“Pestilencia” starts with the flamenco moments and trumpeting. Excellent acoustic strumming and it sounds as if the guitar is being strummed without a pick. So bonus!! The song erupts with a Behemoth influence with the mid-paced heaviness then blasting and galloping moments are extraordinary. Very, very tight. The hopping parts with the spoken word vocal parts really transports you to Spain and Conquistador battles. These vocal elements over the faster parts work excellently and these vocals make up a large amount of the song. Some of the blasting is just breath taking and the snare drum sound is a thing of beauty. The fretless bass guitar strumming is stellar as are the guitar harmonies on this sucker. This must be in their live set at once.

“La orden del yelmo negro”, which is about a hymn of a ceremonial war spoken of legend, has a terrific opening snare drum pop before the rest of the music ignites and although I have mentioned the above influences this is still really original with the guitar work, vocals, flamenco, all intertwined then right into the powerful guttural vocals which make this mesmerizing to listen to with the spoken word style Spanish vocals then right into the throaty gutturals. Never boring and always keeps you on your feet.

The rest of Alcázares plays out the same as the other songs, with each song introducing all the elements which make this band so special. The production is excellent, crisp and all vocals and instruments are clearly audible. Impureza is one helluva impressive band that while death metal is the core of their music to simply pigeon hole them in this category, is a disservice to what they truly offer. One of the best albums for 2025 without question!

Sure, a few bands have have a few flourishes here and there and some other styles have injected it (Bolu2death, Earth Rot), but this is the first time I have heard it this full integrated and assimilated into technical/brutal death metal, and boy does it result in a unique,  special album.

The backbone of the death metal is a sort of Gorod styled tech death with a playful, fretless bass twang and swing. By itself, this would stand alone as a pretty solid tech death album. But the Spanish/flamenco elements and vocals/lyrics, which are artfully weaves into each song (i.e. standouts “Leyanda Negra”, “Abre-aguas (En la tormenta de Tlaloc)”,  as well as in stand alone interludes (“El Dorado”, “Corazón al cielo (Homenaje a Paco de Lucía)” elevate the already interesting tech death into something much more engaging.

But its not just forced added fluff or a distraction, the band actually can deliver some full tilt, impressive tech death salvos as heard on “Camino hacia Mictlán”, “Último día del Omeyocán” or “La llegada de los Teules” (still with ethnic injections) which have some slight Nile-isms but when blended together perfectly and creatively  with castanets and cante flamenco (flamenco singing) like “El nuevo reino de los ahorcados” or the penultimate, instrumental  title track , it’s a joy to behold.

The production is solid and clean, and the vocals of Esteban Martin are fairly standard blast furnace roar, so there are some safe measures that keep it squarely death metal, but on the whole when the flamenco elements blend in so perfectly, the end result is an album that every tech death metal fan should hear and is one of the best albums of the year.