Impiety

Impiety ranks among Singapore’s earliest black metal acts, having been assembled in 1990 when vocalist and bassist Shyaithan, born Ariffeen Deen, joined forces with guitarist XXXul and drummer Iblyss. Exposure to the early assaults of England’s Venom, Switzerland’s Hellhammer, Brazil’s Sarcófago, and Sweden’s initial Bathory recordings prompted the trio to declare loyalty to both Satan and extreme metal. Their 1992 demo, Ceremonial Necrochrist Redesecration, soon circulated among tape traders across the globe, after which the 1993 EP Salve the Goat...Iblis Exelsi, the 1996 album Asateerul Awaleen, the 1997 EP Funeralight, and the 1999 full-length Skullfucking Armageddon further solidified the band’s standing in the underground.

Worldwide licensing through France’s Osmose Productions and, subsequently, Poland’s Agonia label elevated their profile in the new millennium, yet the decade’s output—2002’s Kaos Kommand 696, 2004’s Paramount Evil, the 2006 live album Tormentors of Tijuana, and 2007’s Formidonis Nex Cultus—remained faithful to the group’s founding misanthropy and deliberately raw, ferociously violent black metal approach. Personnel, however, never stabilized; from the outset nearly a dozen players, most operating under pseudonyms such as Abyydos, Fyraun, and Leprophiliac Rex, passed through the ranks alongside the sole constant member, Shyaithan. By the release of the 2008 Dominator EP the lineup comprised Shyaithan, guitarist Mike Priest, bassist Demonomancer, and drummer Tremor.