Impaled was one of the Bay Area’s early death metal / gore metal bands, forming in the late 1990s in Oakland, California. They came out of the same goregrind tradition first established most famously by Carcass. Impaled arrived on the scene about 5 years after San Jose, California’s Exhumed, who had a similar evolution from grindcore to more of a death metal sound, always with blood and guts as the subject matter of course.
The demo recordings on this new “Demo Medicale” release were made in early 2002, a few months previous to the recording session for Impaled's Mondo Medicale. The song Raise the Stakes was finished sometime between this demo and the recording for the album and therefore is not present here.
The songs Gross Anatomy and Choice cuts were excised to be included on the EP Choice cuts as a way to conclude Impaled's contract with Necropolis Records. As with many demos, there are some changed vocals and riffs from this demo to the album's final recording.
For demos however, especially given the state of the art in home recording in 2002, the quality of this recording is fantastic. There is a cleanness and polish to the recording that is impressive for a young band recording demos to digital eight-track and the short lived optical format mini-disc apparently.
Good thing too, since Impaled has been unable to come to terms with their original label to reissue Mondo Medicale, despite demand from fans and metal musicians who were influenced by that album.
Sean, Raul, and Ross had all but forgotten that these demos existed until ex-guitar player Andrew LaBarre passed them along to Tankcrimes in early 2022, 20 years since they had been recorded. He passed away just months later due to health complications from ALS.
Impaled has dedicated the release of these demos to the memory of Andrew LaBarre, an amazing guitarist, engineer, and songwriter. Rest in power, Andrew.