There was a time when Impiety’s name meant pure Black Metal blasphemy, delivered with the sort of conviction that made the Singapore underground impossible to ignore. Before the full-scale Death/Thrash devastation of the later albums, Shyaithan Kommand and company were already spreading their own brand of ‘Terror Okkvlt Dominion’, and ‘Funeralight…’ remains a worthwhile savage document of that earlier period. Originally recorded at The Battledrome in Singapore between July and August 1996 and released on cassette by Malaysia’s Ultra Hingax Production in the same year, this four-track EP catches Impiety at a point when the band’s sound was becoming more focused without losing its savage character.
The lineup featured ‘Goatvulva Lacerator’ Shyaithan on vocals, Al-Marhum Abyydoss on guitars, and Iblyss behind the drums, with Hanael contributing bass as a session musician. The material was initially intended for a CD release through label Shivadarshana, but that plan fell through, leaving Ultra Hingax Production to bring the EP to the underground on cassette. Anyone familiar with the old Singapore and Malaysian tape-trading circuit will understand why that matters. These releases travelled through personal contacts, underground shops, and the hands of maniacs who wanted something nastier than whatever the mainstream metal press was busy celebrating. Impiety belonged in that world, and ‘Funeralight…’ carried the band’s name further into the darkness.
The EP’s fist fucking four songs, ‘Sodomythical Frostgoats’, ‘Serpentspells’, ‘Sorcerique Baphostorms’, and ‘Dragon Oath Diabolus’, are steeped in the band’s early Black Metal identity. The riffs have a dark, aggressive edge, the drums provide the necessary pounding momentum, and Mr Shyaithan’s vocals sound suitably hostile against the murky backdrop. This is not the precision-engineered killing machine Impiety would become on later records. There is a more primitive character here, with the music drawing its strength from rawness, sinister riffing, and an atmosphere that feels closer to the underground’s unpolished roots.
‘Sodomythical Frostgoats’ sets the tone with its blackened attack, while ‘Serpentspells’ keeps the pressure on through its dark guitar work and driving rhythm. ‘Sorcerique Baphostorms’ continues the blasphemous assault, and ‘Dragon Oath Diabolus’ closes the original set with the same uncompromising spirit. The songs have their own movements, but the EP works best when heard as a concentrated burst of early Impiety rather than a collection of isolated highlights. The riffs do the heavy lifting, the drumming keeps the songs moving, and the vocals add the necessary venom without turning the whole affair into theatrical nonsense.
The production deserves mention because it gives ‘Funeralight…’ much of its character. Recorded at The Battledrome, the sound has a rough, somewhat muffled quality that keeps the instruments from achieving the definition heard on later Impiety releases. Yet there is a difference between a recording that captures a band’s rawness and one that simply buries the music. Here, the guitars retain enough presence to carry the riffs, while the drums and vocals contribute to the EP’s dark, underground atmosphere. It is not a pristine recording, and there are moments when greater clarity would have helped, but the rough edges belong to the sound of Impiety during this period.
What makes this EP interesting in retrospect is the distance between this earlier incarnation and the band that would eventually unleash ‘Skullfucking Armageddon’, ‘Kaos Kommand 696’, and the later Blackened Death/Thrash assaults. Those albums pushed the speed, bestiality, aggression, and musicianship into far more punishing territory. On ‘Funeralight…’, the Black Metal foundations are still plainly audible. The music is darker and less physically overwhelming than the later material, but the underlying hostility was already there. Shyaithan was building a recognisable identity, and that determination would remain constant even as the sound and personnel changed.
The personnel changes following this period also make the recording a snapshot of a particular chapter. Iblyss eventually departed, Hanael’s contribution was session-based, and Abyydoss was due to leave for National Service. Lord Shyaithan Kommand remained the driving force behind Impiety, carrying the name through the lineup changes, eradicating the weak, and into the increasingly violent records that followed. Listening to ‘Funeralight…’ with that history in mind gives the EP more weight than its short running time might suggest. This was a band still developing its weapons, but the intention was never in doubt.
For all the pundamos who discovered Impiety through the later albums, ‘Funeralight…’ offers a glimpse of the band’s earlier Black Metal roots, when rawness and sinister atmosphere played a greater role in the overall attack. This is early Impiety, captured in its own time and place, with the Singapore underground written into its history. A worthwhile retrospective for anyone following the band’s evolution from its Black Metal beginnings into one of the region’s most recognisable pundamo-crushing extreme metal exports.
