Impending Doom was one of the deathcore bands that released
their debut in 2007, which was the year deathcore exploded. I’m not going to
talk a whole lot about the whole history of deathcore and about the 2007 era
because I do that in plenty of my other reviews. In case you’re new to
deathcore, Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, Attila, Emmure, Carnifex, I Declare
War, Born of Osiris, Rose Funeral, After the Burial, From the Shallows,
Impending Doom, and countless other huge and underground deathcore bands ALL
released their first album in the year 2007. Yes, 2006 was a fairly active year
with debuts released by Burning Skies, Bring me the Horizon, As Blood Runs
Black, and Veil of Maya; but with the long list of bands I have from 2007
above, it’s obvious enough that 2007 was that year. Ok, now that I’ve given you
the ultra-basics of deathcore history, let’s talk about one of the first
deathcore albums that I ever listened to, which is by Impending Doom.
Here’s an interesting thing, I don’t ever remember
absolutely loving this album. But I don’t have any negative memories regarding
this album except for almost temporarily losing my voice after I learned the
lyrics to the title song. So even though I’ve never been MAJORLY impressed by
Impending Doom, there’s still a very strong sentimental connection that I have
with this band because this was one of the first albums that I listened to when
I first got that spark of extreme interest and hunger for this angry, extreme
music. One last background thing before we talk about the actual album itself.
I actually quickly lost interest in Impending Doom about a year or so after
getting this because they never stuck out to me as being amazing and I was
discovering (literally) hundreds of other metal bands every two months, so I
was distracted from them. I was aware of their sophomore release when it came
out, but I never bothered to listen to it. After that, I almost COMPLETELY
forgot about these guys until I saw advertisements this year showing the
release date of their fourth album. What inspired me to go back and listen to
this album (and the rest of their discography) was when I saw them play an
absolutely crushing show this year on the Metal Alliance Tour just a couple of
weeks ago.
Impending Doom has always been pure, generic, traditional
deathcore. So if you’re looking for something new, go away, you won’t find it here.
I, personally am a huge fan of the better generic deathcore bands out there, so
the fact that these guys aren’t progressive doesn’t pose as a disappointment
for me. I will tell you that out of all the deathcore albums that were released
in 2007, this was definitely one of the heaviest. So this album is more on the
heavier side of things. The guitars on the album don’t have a really tight and
choppy sound at all. Instead, they have an extremely big and thick sound that’s
actually really powerful and crushing. The song structure is what you would
expect out of deathcore; a mix of fast buildups that explode into brutal
breakdowns. Some of the tracks have more breakdowns than others, but none of
them are completely composed of simple and repetitive breakdowns. Also, due to
the immense brutality that the music ends up releasing, none of the breakdowns
are super bland and disappointing; all of the breakdowns pound you into the
ground.
The vocalist was not ready to be on this album when they
recorded it. The reason why is because his exhale growls are extremely
underdeveloped, and he uses way too much inhaled growls and pig squeals.
Although his vocals match the brutality of the music, they aren’t what I would
consider to be exceptional and professional deathcore vocals. And yes, there are
other cases where I enjoy growls that have a bit of a yelling sound, but not
here. You can tell on this album that this guy isn’t doing it on purpose; he’s
doing it because he can’t get that really deep and powerful sound out that the
music demands of him.
Other than that, everything is generic and traditional
deathcore sound and style. I would only recommend this to fans of PURE
deathcore and people who want to hear something from deathcore’s early history.
Even though I still have a strong sentimental connection with these guys and
still would go crazy if they played at a show I was at; from a critical point
of view, this album is mediocre. So 10/20 for this one. But that does not mean
it’s bad at all, it just has nothing special about it other than being a part
of one of the most important years the death metal genre has ever seen.
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