Like Birmingham and Manchester here in the UK, Seattle in the USA is undoubtedly a music town. Maybe it’s the high rainfall or the threat of earthquakes, but whatever the reason, it’s a vicinity that’s birthed an amazing array of alternative bands, and Filth Is Eternal is a prime example. With a reputation for incendiary live shows and a sound that blends elements of punk, metal, grunge and hardcore, the band make for an arresting spectacle (both visibly and sonically) and that’s something not easy to carry over onto vinyl, yet their latest studio effort, Impossible World, manages to bottle their live magic and serves up a dozen death-defying tracks.
Filth Is Eternal don’t go big on introductions and as such Impossible World arrives without warning: a surprise right hook to the jaw is opening shot ‘Stay Melted’ and one that immediately puts the listener on the ropes. Punctuated by lashings of lovely feedback, ‘Stay Melted’ is an amalgamation of all the band’s influences, only put through their own grinder so the result is something wholly original. I can hear touches of Nirvana and TAD in the band’s sound (perhaps no surprise as they originate from the same locale), yet it is to Filth Is Eternal’s credit that they sound like no one but themselves, delivering an album that twists and turns, rotates and evolves as the band blast through a selection of songs which each have their own identity, throwing a metal solo into ‘Hellfire’ before powering ‘Acetylene’ with the hardest of hardcore riffs. Some might consider that a huge sonic leap, but the band bridge the two genres with ease and that gives them an effortless crossover appeal.
With none of these songs breaking the three-minute mark things tend towards the brief, but that doesn’t make them void of ideas, quite the opposite. These songs are packed full of lightbulb moments with tracks such as ’Bad Faith’ overflowing with goodness, meaning that one listen is not enough to take in all of the nooks and crannies of Impossible World. It’s the type of album made for the intrepid explorer with subsequent spins revealing nuances that can often get overlooked on that first, explosive encounter.
While punk can often reach a dead end with band’s finding their own niche and playing within their own confines, Filth Is Eternal are kicking down walls and genre divisions, and that’s something for which we should all be grateful.
- Impossible World is released via MNRK Heavy on 17th March 2026.
- Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Bandcamp
Track List:
1. Stay Melted
2. Long Way
3. Hellfire
4. Acetylene
5. Weather & Rose
6. Desire
7. Total War
8. Bad Faith
9. Outbreak
10. So Below
11. Slipstream
12. Skorpio
