Impending Doom - There Will Be Violence

This is the first album that Impending Doom released that was ACTUALLY GOOD! Their debut is completely mediocre, their sophomore release is a disappointment, and now…There Will Be Violence (I fucking love that album name!). I think I’m now to the point where I really don’t enjoy having a minute-long breakdown as the opening track for an album. The reason why I’m saying that is because Impending Doom does that on all of their albums. Here’s the most unique thing about this album: it has THREE guitarists on it! Now, why the hell would you need THREE guitarists on an album that’s not that technical? The answer: it gives the sound more power. And I’ll tell you this, they did just that.

The first actual song album is what completely blew me off my feet. A lot of pure deathcore out there (especially these guys) isn’t really that powerful and crushing. But once the buildup at the beginning of There Will Be Violence had reached its peak, what came next was like something huge had shaken the earth. What the hell happened to these guys?? The first positive thing that I noticed was how fast the drummer was hitting the snare during that initial buildup at the beginning of the song, but I still wasn’t anywhere near prepared for the violence that this song threw at my face. After the album finished, the first thing that I asked myself was “where did THAT come from?” Where did all of that brutality and fury come from? And why did they do such a better job on this than on The Serpent Servant? WHY AM I ASKING ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS!?

Although I’ll never know for sure, here’s what I’ve noticed: after The Serpent Servant, the band got a new drummer and the addition of two new guitarists. My guess is that the new members were a lot more committed and interested in making GOOD music. So with new members, that probably meant that the band got along much better and created a more committed atmosphere. Not only that, but the new drummer is better than any that they’ve ever had.

Impending Doom’s debut so far still remains the heaviest album they’ve ever written, but this one has come pretty close considering the driving brutality minimal use of weak breakdowns. The song structures are much less predictable and also much more creative, but still stay completely true to the PURE deathcore sound. The most unique quality that this album carries is how smooth the music transitions in and out of breakdowns. Don’t think that a rough transition in and out of breakdowns is a bad thing, because sometimes it’s actually what the music requires. But in this case, the smoothness of the transitions is like almost nothing I’ve ever heard before (I’ve heard transitions this smooth before, but it’s VERY rare and very hard to pull off). The general sound of the songs vary from being a slow chugging style to being a constant driving wave of brutality to almost having a complex Meshuggah-ish sound (Peace Illusion).

Something obviously clicked in the band that caused them to get serious about actually making music and being connected to it. This album is the best release that Impending Doom has come out with so far and I will never forget the wave of brutality the second track brought upon me. I would give this album 16/20 for winning my support and appreciation to this band. Still, I wouldn’t suggest to anyone who isn’t very appreciative of the generic and traditional forms of deathcore, but if you want to hear something by Impending Doom, There Will Be Violence is what you want to hear first.