I am trying to open up my mind a little more to some genres I have not generally been a fan of. The first one is deathcore. Deathcore is obviously a hybrid genre of death metal and hardcore, and it is one that I thought would be a short-lived phase from around 2007 to 2015 or so, but it is not going away. My Twitter (I refuse to call it X) page is often full of deathcore mentions, so I decided to revisit the few deathcore albums I own and see if I can appreciate them more. Off the top of my head, I own four (one album each by Through the Eyes of the Dead, Carnifex, Despised Icon and this one). I suppose you could count Infant Annihilator too. I've only seen All Shall Perish and Fit for an Autopsy in concert, both opening for bands I wanted to see. Yep, like I said, it was not really a genre I cared much for, so I avoided it.
I can't say I will be making a deep dive into the genre and I am going to stick around the bands that are more on the metal side of things. So, no Slaughter to Prevail. I can't stand that fucking band. Maybe I will try to branch out a bit and check out bands that I have not really explored in the past, such as Job for a Cowboy (still one of the stupider metal band names I have heard of), Whitechapel, and the like. I fear I am becoming an angry, curmudgeonly metalhead stuck in the past. Whether I like it or not, the music evolves and deathcore is not going anywhere.
So, first up is Impending Doom, and this is an EP so it is short enough to listen to all the way through without shutting off right away and giving up on the whole plan. Now, Impending Doom is notable because they are a Christian deathcore band. I can't remember how it is that I came into possession of this release. Maybe I didn't know that when I purchased the album. Maybe it was sent to me when I was a member of the Monthly Metal Box subscription club. I don't know. The band apparently likes to refer to their music as "gorship music", a portmanteau of gore and worship. The lyrics are definitely Christian-oriented. The first track "Satanic Panic" features this little gem: "You will feel the wrath of God when the noose drops. Vengeance is his name." So, not really your bright and shiny Christianity, more of the fire and brimstone preacher stuff. It's a bit more heavy-handed in its message than some Christian bands.
The music is pretty typical for the genre. It's certainly heavy and more oriented toward the death metal side of things. The hardcore portions are definitely the heavy use of breakdowns, but they are generally built around actual riffs. Some of the songs are quite a bit better than others. The last track "I Must End" should have taken its own advice about four minutes sooner. The band leans into some nu-metal-esque elements at times, such as eerie guitar noodling and drumming that sounds lifted from Korn. The aforementioned opening track "Satanic Panic" and the title track are probably the highlights of the album. Some of the other tracks veer too far from death metal at times for my taste.
Well, I tried. I don't know how I will keep going at this and for how long. I suppose I didn't hate this album, but it did try my patience at times. I will give it another couple spins and see if it is something I can get into or not. As I said before, at least it's short.
