Band:	Impaled Nazarene
Album:	Manifest
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	October 2007

01. Intro: Greater Wrath
02. The Antichrist Files
03. Mushroom Truth
04. You Don't Rock Hard
05. Pathogen
06. Pandemia
07. The Calling
08. Funeral For Despicable Pigs
09. Planet Nazarene
10. Blueprint For Your Culture's Apocalypse
11. Goat Justice
12. Die Insane
13. Original Pig Rig
14. Suicide Song
15. When Violence Commands The Day
16. Dead Return

To keep spitting tirelessly your anger and hatred of everything and everyone during 18 years (17 when the album was released, obviously), you need quite a bit of resolution and a strong will. The Finnish sickos of Impaled Nazarene have both, and show it once again on this 10th album, the aptly named "Manifest".

I say 'aptly named', because this album is indeed a manifest of what IN stand for, that is to say the usual christian-hating thing and general contempt for the human race, and also because it is a kind of showcase of the line the band decided to follow, first with "Absence Of War..." and then more clearly with "All That You Fear", which showed a different, more melodic side of the band. "Manifest" takes up right where "Pro Patria Finlandia" stopped, with that really efficient mixing of black metal fury, punkish fun and hard-rock rhythmics. Nothing really new or inventive, and some will even regret the lack of variation between the two albums, but to hear such hysterical speed anthems as "The Antichrist Files" or "Pandemia" or the 'don't give a shit' attitude of "You Don't Rock Hard" really makes up for the lack of innovation.

Now, the promo sheet states that this is the band's most diverse album. While this is not entirely a false statement, I can't say the listener has real chances of being caught off guard by something unexpected. The mid-tempo tracks were already present on "All That You Fear", so were the ringing bells for instance. On the other hand, the band added many more solos (and really good ones, too) than before, some unusual growls (on "Funeral For Despicable Pigs", not a really good song), a blatant grind touch that hadn't been heard for years in this band ("Original Pig Rig") groovy breakdowns, Gothenburg-like passages and even a stadium chorus (all on the odd "Planet Nazarene"). Apart from these few 'new' elements, it's still the same old Impaled Nazarene, with the crazy vocals of Mika Luttinen still trying to reach new levels of anger, cool guitar leads and memorable choruses. I only regret the lack of depth of the production, which sounds a tad too clinical when it should have been dirty and mean to go with the punk / black metal attitude.

Finally, the major shortcoming of this album is its duration. Like Gimli, Impaled Nazarene are sprinters, efficient on short distances. A 50-minute album (that is at least 15 minutes longer than their average) seems too long for the band, which then commits mistakes that were not to be found on their previous recordings, like a couple of forgettable and soon forgotten tracks. Other than that, "Manifest" will definitely not change anything: those who were fans of the early albums will turn their backs on it, those who enjoy the later releases will love it in spite of its similarities to the previous album.