Franco-Spanish extreme metallers IMPUREZA released a bass playthrough video for "Covadonga" on October 9 through the Season of Mist YouTube channel. The clip puts bassist Florian Saillard's fretless lines — one of the band's signature sounds — at the center of a track taken from their third album, 'Alcázares'.
The four-minute song tells the story of the battle of Covadonga in Asturias, traditionally seen as the starting point of the Reconquista. Sung in Spanish, it follows the king Don Pelayo up the sacred mountain, pits lancers and archers against the Muslim army and closes in on the legend that the attackers' arrows turned back on them while rocks broke loose to bury them. The title is chanted syllable by syllable as a refrain — CO-VA-DON-GA — while the fretless bass weaves between flamenco guitar and orchestral arrangements.
'Alcázares' came out on July 11, 2025, via Season of Mist. It is a concept record about the Reconquista, the centuries-long conflict that ran from 722 to 1492, moving from Covadonga through the legend of El Cid, Templar mysticism, Torquemada's Inquisition and tales of black magic. Sébastien Camhi recorded and mixed it at Studio Artmusic, and Jacob Hansen mastered it at Hansen Studios.
Founded in Orléans in 2004 by guitarist Lionel Cano Muñoz, IMPUREZA call their style Hispanic Metal: brutal death metal in the vein of NILE and HATE ETERNAL fused with Andalusian folklore, flamenco guitar and both clean and guttural vocals in Spanish. The comparison has stuck — the band is often nicknamed "the French NILE."
'Alcázares' tracklist:
- Verdiales
- Bajo las Tizonas de Toledo
- Covadonga
- Pestilencia
- Reconquistar Al-Ándalus
- Murallas
- La Orden del Yelmo Negro
- Castigos Eclesiásticos
- El Ejército de los Fallecidos de Alarcos
- Ruina del Alcázar
- Santa Inquisición
Order & Stream "Alcázares": link