Impending Doom are becoming a big name amongst the Deathcore scene, providing some of the heaviest, grittiest and astonishing tracks put to record in recent years. When they released ‘There Will Be Violence’ back in 2010, many fans were scratching their heads, wondering if the band they loved had started down the path of being less heavy and heading towards mainstream Metalcore. So with this release, has the band managed to capture the gritty brutality that they originally captured in their earlier years?

The answer, by the way, is yes. As we get closer to the end of the year, it seems that each new Metal album is becoming heavier and heavier. This is the case here. The amount of times I have listened to an album and called it the heaviest album of the year is unbelievable and this is no exception. This IS the heaviest album of this year, thus far. And it is something I loved listening to as well, being one of the better albums released so far this year.

'Death Will Reign' starts its stupid amounts of brutality with opener 'Ravenous Disease'. Surprisingly, that is kind of how this track feels. It is fast, it is heavy, it is genuinely earth-shattering. The guitars chug, the bass pounds and the drums seem to open up the earth causing mass destruction. The vocals are some of the best in recent years, maintaining their constant feel of hatred and anger that just pours into the mic. The title track follows, unleashing hell with its jaw-dropping breakdowns that will make you just want to annihilate anything and everything within your sight. This is more terrifying than facing off a shark and probably delivers the same adrenaline rush too.

I don’t know how a band can get increasingly heavier with each track but this ends up being the case, spreading world-wide destruction, possibly bringing the world to a halt. But amongst the heaviness is the whole beauty of the album. It showcases Deathcore and Death Metal at its finest, being one of the most solid releases in a long time. The album progresses through tracks ‘Beyond The Grave’, ‘My Own Maker’, ‘Doomsday’, ‘Rip, Tear And Burn’, ‘Hellhole’, ‘My Blood’, ‘Endless’ and ‘Live Or Die’ before ending with the hellish and ferocious ‘The Great Divine’, a track of sheer brutal force that lasts over and epic length of eight minutes.

I can imagine that this is what the apocalypse would sound like with highlights ‘Doomsday’, ‘Hellhole’, ‘Death Will Reign’ and ‘Live Or Die’. These tracks were made to cause hell and carnage, not to mention lyrics that will likely offend a few people. The closing track fits perfectly with this whole album and I will be damned if someone could deliver something as terrifying, as beautiful and as heavy (all at the same time) by the end of this year because this is ranking very high, ticking all boxes and proving that Deathcore can become something extremely devastating.

The chuggy guitars, melodic interludes and intros, solid riffs, intense vocals filled with anger and unrelenting amounts of power, the fierece bass-lines that thunder away and the drums that could cause the planet to just simply stop functioning and the sun to implode in on itself, ‘Death Will Reign’ is a solid release, producing the best Deathcore album since last years ‘Hate’ by Thy Art Is Murder and thus the heaviest album of this year as of now. Yes, this is downright stupidly heavy. It is also darn amazing.

So then, having being beautifully mixed and everything working so well together, Impending Doom have crafted a beautifully deranged album of delightful brutality that is filled with nothing but sheer force and power. It grips you and doesn’t allow you to take a breath until it’s done. It leaves you speechless, taking your breath away with its heaviness that just explodes the moment you press play. This proves that Impending Doom are a band to not take so light-heartedly as they are a brutal force to be reckoned with. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Satan himself made this record. Terrifying, heavy, beautiful, ground-breaking, amazing. This gets my stamp of approval. Pick it up if you want something that grabs you and doesn’t let go.

10/10

- Asa