EP REVIEW: Hellbent – Impending Doom

For a band with song titles like Satanic Panic, Devils Den and Hell Breaks Loose, it is hard to believe that IMPENDING DOOM’s affinity for the Christian faith inspired them to make deathcore music together. But, over a decade down the line, and after two short hiatuses, they have returned with their latest EP Hellbent – an all encompassing magnifying glass on a new melodic sound, complete with searing guitar fury, zealous attack and sordid stories to tell.

This record is the most succinct the band have ever released, coming in with five songs at 20 thrashing minutes. It delivers exactly what IMPENDING DOOM have always promised – sprawling Christian deathcore that is as melodious as it is heavy. Their self-professed ‘gorship’ (a portmanteau of gore and worship), combines their want to praise the Lord, spread his gospel and scream bloody murder until the walls come down.

From the inception, the record stirs like a brooding whirlpool with Satanic Panic, a thrashing, quick paced masterclass in their own sound. New World Horror leans on a thuggish riff that serves as the tentpole for the track, reappearing in numerous forms and echoing the guitar chops of SPIRITBOX’s Holy Roller that was released to critical acclaim in 2020. The track broadens out in a half-time drum driven bridge, delivered underneath the gutter-scraping vocals of Brook Reeves.

Culture Of Death explodes into furious action; chainsaw triplets fly at breakneck speed and an eerie lead riff floats into the soundscape before Reeves bursts onto the track with his vile, layered screams of “Dancing on the graves of this culture of death that offers nothing/Pushing me to madness!”. Whilst the rhythm section maintains the pace of the crushing track, Reeves flits between heaves and whispers lucidly about a “lost soul [with] a lust for destruction”.

Hellbent is a demonstration of IMPENDING DOOM’s leaning towards a more melodic world. Reeves slips in a remarkably catchy chorus of “These are the voices inside my head”. Plus the use of early metalcore’s ‘glitchcore’ fad is used to formidable effect in the lead up to a brutish break in which Reeves employs his guttural lower register to pack a more resounding punch. The aptly named EP finisher is I Must End paints a soulless picture of a “desolate wasteland”, introducing scrappier screaming, soaring lead riffs, thudding tom rolls and a handful of bass booms.

The marked improvement in production from 2018’s The Sin And Doom Vol. II is a welcome refinement to IMPENDING DOOM’s near 15+ year discography. This improvement in both quality and dynamics will serve as a proving ground for them in the mobbed world of modern metal. Mixed by the veritable ear of Will Putney, a highly reputed producer who has lent his mastery to recent albums from KNOCKED LOOSE, STRAY FROM THE PATH and THY ART IS MURDER, Hellbent bursts with brightness amongst the near-remorseless barrage of patent melodic deathcore.

All taken into account, IMPENDING DOOM’s first EP is a lesson in movement. Each track carries its own unique brutality; Culture Of Death heaves between building anxiety and engorged breakdowns, whilst Hellbent draws its harshness from the lightning deathcore verse riffs that sustain an impossible pace. The experience of the band is evident, and even though they are innovating their own sound, they are not necessarily innovating in their scene. Hellbent doesn’t scream comfort, but it doesn’t stray far from what we have previously heard from the California outfit. The mythology of IMPENDING DOOM is decadent and immersive, so this release will no doubt satiate long-time fans. However, it is becoming harder to have a standout sound in a saturated scene, and if IMPENDING DOOM are content with singing from the same hymn sheet as previous records then one fears they are preventing themselves from furthering their reach.

Rating: 7/10

Hellbent is out now via MNRK Heavy.

Like IMPENDING DOOM on Facebook.