Because I’ve already reviewed all of Impending Doom’s albums
prior to this one, I almost feel obligated to keep the trend going by reviewing
this album too. I’ve had this album since its release, but the reason why I
haven’t written ANYTHING about it until now is because this record leaves me so
little to discuss. My original intention was to write a review on it right
around the time it came out so that I could be a part of the collective initial
reaction, but that proved to be virtually impossible no matter how hard I
tried. After listening to it for the first couple of times, I was left
completely uninspired to write anything; it was so marginal that I didn’t even
develop an opinion on the album. So I put it down with the intentions of
picking it back up later with hopes that I would actually be able to write something
about it. Well I finally picked it back up a few days ago while doing some
coursework, and then sat down and put my full attention on the album the next
day.
Part of the reason why I was left so unimpressed and
untouched by this record at first was because I had not listened to much
deathcore at all during the year of 2013. The only occasions where I had (that
I can remember) were at Summer Slaughter (Thy Art is Murder), discovering and
seeing Lord of War, and listening to the new albums released by Winds of
Plague, Oceano, Lifeforms, Iwrestledabearonce, Eat a Helicopter, Born of
Osiris, Delusions of Grandeur, and the occasional listen of Suicide Silence,
Whitechapel, and Despised Icon. The majority of that year was taken up by
listening to and discovering black metal artists. So I wasn’t at all in the
right mindset to have an optimistic listening session of a generic deathcore
record.
If you’ve chatted with me before or have been reading my
reviews for a while, you already know that I never use the term “generic” in a
negative or demeaning way at all. Generic simply means the pure/raw form of a
genre without any extra bullshit to try to be different and unique. Impending
Doom have made it clear on every single one of their albums that they’re not
interested in “pushing the boundaries” or being “progressive”. They know
exactly what they want to do and they have more than enough evidence that they
know exactly how to do it.
If I remember correctly, the album before this one caused a
mixed reaction due to it following the major trend at the time that consisted
of overusing those polyrhythmic breakdowns. Although these aren’t the bands
responsible for inventing this style, After the Burial, Veil of Maya, and Born
of Osiris are definitely responsible for sparking the trend of using this in
the deathcore genre. Once Veil of Maya released The Common Man’s Collapse in
2008, WAY too many bands popped up out of nowhere and started copying this. And
in order to stay in the loop and stay under the spotlight they had lost after
the release of their debut, Impending Doom decided to follow this trend on
their last record. Although they didn’t really do the best job at it, they
still managed to create a solid-sounding album that expressed their ability to
experiment while staying well within their comfort zone. And I might’ve bashed
them a little more than I should’ve in my review of that album, but
nonetheless, they’ve responded to the quick decline of that trend and have
returned to their base sound….for the most part.
The band really did a lot of advertising work last time,
which is probably the only reason they managed to narrowly avoid being
completely forgotten about like Suffokate, In the Midst of Lions, Through the
Eyes of the Dead, Here Comes the Kraken, As You Drown, Bleed From Within, Salt
the Wound, Arsonists Get All the Girls, and countless other previously
relevant, but still active deathcore bands. Thankfully, the excess advertising
of Baptized in Filth’s release in 2012 paid off. It landed them on a couple of
popular tours, most notably the one that I saw them on (my first time ever
seeing them, great nostalgic experience) with DevilDriver, The Faceless, Dying
Fetus, and a bunch of other bands. Another tour that helped album sales was
when they opened for one of the currently thriving metalcore bands, For Today.
But after the big touring run in support of Baptized in Filth, Impending Doom
quieted down a little too much too quickly. They did almost no advertising and
hype work for Death Will Reign. And as a result, barely anyone was aware that
they had even recorded new material!
After listening to this again recently, I’m getting the
feeling that Impending Doom haven’t taken as much pride in this piece of work
as they did in Baptized in Filth. Most likely I’m wrong and I’ll get an email
or something from them bashing that statement and whatnot. But really,
everything about this album seems very minimal. The album cover isn’t very
attractive, they did next to no hype for this album, and I’m not aware of them
being on any recent tours. What the hell happened?? But most of all, the music
feels dry.
One thing that Impending Doom has never failed to do is make
a record that has a solid foundation and isn’t lazily slapped together and
rushed. So I’m not at all worried about them failing in that area; these guys
know how to at least make a record that doesn’t suck. But this feels like The
Serpent Servant all over again…except this time it’s more tight and practiced. So
if you love the deathcore sound in general, you’re going to love this,
Impending Doom is very good at what they do and have always had more brutality
and power in their sound than the average band of their style.
For those expecting even a LITTLE bit more than just the
bare minimum, it might take you a little while to warm up to Death Will Reign. The
step in the right direction that the band has taken is keeping some of the new “djenty”
elements from their previous record and implementing it into this one. The step
in the WRONG direction that they’ve taken is a little hard to explain. They
haven’t exactly put more emphasis on breakdowns as much as they have put less
emphasis on everything else. So that’s the main reason why I feel so dry and
unsatisfied after listening to this; it feels lazy. The breakdowns are VERY
tight, but everything else in the music is either the bare minimum or just
overly predictable. The only thing that saves them this time is the fact that
they’re all outstanding musicians. If they couldn’t keep time and stay tight
with each other, this would be a dismal failure.
So once again, if you like deathcore in general and enjoy
obliterating breakdowns, you should at least check this out on YouTube or
Rhapsody or whatever free music service you fuckers use. If you know Impending
Doom and love what they do, pick up a copy of this because you will NOT be
disappointed in the least bit. But if you’re looking for something with a
little catch, sorry, you might want to just wait until their next album in
hopes that they surprise us. I would give Death Will Reign a good solid score
of 10/20.
