Impaler's 25-Year Anniversary Show

Hard to imagine now, but when fake-blood-spurting Impaler debuted in full makeup at Goofy's Upper Deck in 1983, punk-metal crossover was still novel and controversial: Slayer released their first album only that year, with Black Flag's My War still on the way, and Gwar not yet formed. Yet by the time Impaler released the Bob Mould-produced If We Had Brains... We'd Be Dangerous on New York's Combat Records in 1986, they'd begun to sound like the speedy consensus—with denunciations from the PMRC merely sealing the deal. Today they're the horror-rock band everyone in Minneapolis-St. Paul can agree on, no less poignant at Earl Root's recent memorial concert for eating their own entrails—Root would have had it no other way. This gig marks a mighty return to the legendary Ryan's several club-names later, i.e. Station 4, with a half-dozen former Impaler members joining the band onstage for tunes that haven't been dusted off since the '80s—a truly undead celebration. With Cold Colours.
Sat., Sept. 20, 8 p.m., 2008