Impending Doom - The Sin and Doom, Vol. II

It’s about time we got a new Impending Doom album; it’s been nearly five years since Death Will Reign, and the Christian deathcore powerhouse has been unusually absent for the genre’s relatively quiet, but strong past year or two (last year being especially great for deathcore). But, better late than never, Impending Doom have come back to pick up right where they left off in 2013 with the slow honing of their sound their previous record helped accomplish. Focusing on monstrously deep growls that any deathcore or death metal fan can admire and groovy, drum-matched 8-string riffs that border on Meshuggah’s side of the djent sphere, The Sin and Doom Vol. II (the title a callback to the band’s 2005 demo tape) comes off noticeably rusty at some points, but is mostly a solid continuation of the band’s efforts from earlier in the decade nonetheless.

Impending Doom has always been one of the most reliable acts and one that I consistently enjoy returning to, mostly during exercise, because if I put it on while I’m not moving, I will probably start moving. And the first single, “The Wretched and Godless” accomplishes just what I love about this band’s sound and style. Though it exists in limbo between fully-fledged song and meek intro track, it’s vocally animalistic and instrumentally crushing, with a haunting choir vocal line in the background, and a groovy, down-tuned headbanger that serves as an excellent appetizer for what is to come.

The second track “Burn” goes heavy on the palm-muting and the repetitive quarter-note riffing. It feels a little weird having such a short and less structured cut right after the intro track and not further into the album to provide some structural variety, but it’s a solid piece of punchy, to-the-point deathcore. The third song on the album, “War Music”, finds the band grooving through a more drawn-out composition that contains all the key highlights of their sound, the rapid-fire brutal growl delivery, the deep guitar riffs that slap like top-tier nu metal. It features an anticipation-laden breakdown that would stand out well if not for its striking resemblance to that of their previous album’s title track (which is indeed absolutely brutal), but it is a wholly brutal song that does well to continue what the band had been doing on that album.

The album’s shortest track, “Evil” ups the tempo and crams everything the band like to do into a compact two-and-a-half minutes that actually represents them rather well. “Paved with Bones” eases up on the pounding a little bit to make room for some mildly sinister vocal techniques and a greater focus on higher register guitar riffs of the non-hardcore variety, but aside from the variety it adds to the bag, it doesn’t make as much of an impact as the material that plays to the band’s strengths. The album’s midway point, “The Serpent’s Tongue”, makes good use of some black-metal-esque guitar riffing as a supplement to the very deathcore rhythms and 8-string accents it reintroduces.

“Unbroken” is one of the more forgettable cuts on the album, not really delivering any uniquely bold or interesting moments, kind of just summarizing the preceing tracks, but “Devil’s Den” leans hard into the band’s djenty riffing tendencies and it comes out more than redemptive with tasty grooves and a satisfying breakdown. “Everything’s Fake” makes heavy use of triplet down-tuned riffs and a panicking guitar riff overlaid well to compliment the frantic changes of rhythm and the stellar breakdown on the track. It’s another strong continuation of the ideas the band had with Death Will Reign.

The closing song, “Run for Your Life (She Calls)”, certainly ends the album on a conclusive note, but it’s hardly as ambitious as previous album closers like “The Great Divine” and “Death.Ascension.Resurrection”, ending up kind of run-of-the-mill for Impending Doom. It’s not a terrible ending to the album, but it could have done more.

I’m glad Impending Doom is back and with full force for the most part, and this album definitely satiates the thirst for their brand of deathcore. I do hope they continue to hone their style much like Meshuggah have and perhaps even expand on their sound in the years to come. I just hope this album gives them some momentum because I would hate to go another five years without new Impending Doom. The iron is still hot, keep heating it, and strike soon. In the meantime, The Sin and Doom, Vol.II has enough highlights to hold me over until then.