Impending Doom - Nailed. Dead. Risen.

Band: Impending Doom
Album: Nailed. Dead. Risen.
Genre: Gore-Grind/Metal
Label: Facedown

Tracks:
1. Left Behind
2. My Nemesis
3. In Reverence Of
4. The Mark of The Faithful
5. Nailed. Dead. Risen.
6. Condemned
7. At The Church's End
8. Silence The Oppressors
9. For All Have Sinned
10. Feeding The Decomposing
11. He's Coming Back


"This is our church, our worship, gorship." That is the slogan Facedown Records newcomers Impending Doom have written on their latest merchandise. The self proclaimed Christian death metal act recently released their label debut, "Nailed. Dead Risen." and are now touring across the United States in support. What they bring is a new take on an old sound, but is this new sound any good? Let's take a listen and find out.

Upon looking at the cover of Nailed we find the first problem with this album: lack of originality. A death metal band with a difficult to decipher logo, corpses, and an old building/church might as well be a group of enraged kids holding signs that say, "Dood, that's like, totally Br00t@l!" Once the disc has begun, the album opens with a 57 second prayer that plays over the sound of thunder and rain [oh so dark and mysterious]. From the somber tones at the beginning, we are thrust into the true first track, "My Nemesis," which is fast, typical, and sounds more like a bad rash turned into musical form. The drums beat away in good old 1-2 fashion while guitars screech and chug over sore throat inducing vocals. Somehow, this is their form of worship, and if they feel this praises God, then o.k., but if no one can tell the difference between your praise and a cat being struck by lightning while wearing a muzzle, what good does it do? I don't mean to be harsh, because the guitar playing and production are ace, but there is seriously a correlation between this album and the sound of a metal object in a garbage disposal. It's unclear gibberish meant to move people. Maybe I just don't get it, but that's what I heard each time the album droned on for nearly 35min. I know that I normally take time to pick apart individual tracks, but after one listen I realized it was all the same drum pattern with different guitar riffs and slightly different vocals [or vocal patterns since I have no idea what was being said].

I have nothing against the fusion of religion and metal. I have a lot of bands that I love today and some of the bands that even got me into music come from this vein, but Impending Doom is a seriously wrong step on behalf of Facedown Records. The album plays like a bad vinyl with scratches: the same thing over and over with the annoyance level growing with each passing second. After three solid sittings, I can honestly say this is the worst album I have heard in a long time. If you love grind and lyrics you can't decipher, give this a spin, but don't expect anything special. In fact, don't give this a spin, and pick up something else, like See You Next Tuesday's album, or even Pavarotti's greatest hits, you'll thank me and you're ears won't threaten to riot.

GRADE: 0.5/10