When it comes to Deathcore, artists only have so many areas to explore with such confined boundaries. Impending Doom has continued to stay within those confines with their blend of “Christian” deathcore. Their latest album, The Sin and Doom Vol II (eOne), maintains this pattern across ten new tracks. Overall, the record is a fun deathcore album instrumentally and vocally which I returned to quite a few times. However, I found lyrically that this band continues to be on the cringe-y side in some tracks more than others.

‘War Music’ is the first track that stood out to me with the lead guitar flying over hostile low ends, especially over the ending breakdown. Speaking of that breakdown, I would have to say it is par for the course here in the world of Impending Doom, but they execute well. Then there is ‘The Serpent’s Tongue’ which, too, is a solid track off of The Sin and Doom Vol II. However, right as the breakdown comes in around one minute in, the following lyric hits “I am a Christian, a faithful man of God. Come at me.” I just found this to be absolutely hysterical once “Come at me” came out of my headphones. The closing track is an interesting one at that, entitled ‘Run For Your Life (She Calls)’. This song is the most experimental for Impending Doom on this record as, at times, felt more atmospheric than the rest of the album entirely.

As a whole, I still remain not too impressed with Impending Doom’s overall sound but I can certainly appreciate their execution of a Deathcore album. The Sin and Doom Vol II maintains the listener’s attention throughout each track which is a big scoring point, especially in this subgenre. While I have nothing against the beliefs in the lyrical content, some of those lyrics just come do not translate over the right way and I found myself laughing a few times through the album.

6.0/10

TIM LEDIN