Impending Doom – The Serpent Servant
It’s hard to be groundbreaking in the metalcore scene any more. There are only so many ways to combine “chug chug wee”s, double-bass pedals, deep growls and controlled screams. All that’s left, really, is to apply as much polish and shine as possible.
Impending Doom’s The Serpent Servant is just that. There’s nothing fresh or unique here, but what they’ve done is done extremely well. Vocalist Brook Reeves is probably one of the most straightforward screamers in the history of the game, but combined with his bandmates’ near-perfect execution of their intentions and the powerful production of As I Lay Dying’s Tim Lambesis, it’s as much of a power machine as Nailed. Dead. Risen. was, but with many of the kinks worked out. (And, let’s be honest, those piggy squeals weren’t working so well for Reeves anyway.)
For those with no background in the band, imagine a similarly drop-tuned but not quite as complex Ion Dissonance, or a Shadows Are Security-style production but without as much of the flying guitar solos of As I Lay Dying.
Solid all the way through, my only major complaint is that it clocks in at a meager 35 minutes.
31 Responses to “Impending Doom – The Serpent Servant”
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On 03/30/09 2:07 PM, snake said:
I disagree. The squeals on Nailed Dead Risen are Reeves’ strongest point. The Serpent Servant is whitechapel-esque shit. As far as I’m concerned anything Lambesis lays his hands on turns to utter shit. I’m sure the sparkling production on TSS was his doing. I loved Nailed Dead Risen because it is noise, really heavy noise.
3.000
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On 03/30/09 5:31 PM, Jay DiNitto said:
Yeah, I hate it when guitars are fairly clear and not a wall of incomprehensible noise, too.
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On 03/30/09 6:13 PM, Cool dude said:
Pig squeals? Sounds like a walrus taking a crap
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On 03/30/09 8:44 PM, kyle u said:
i have to agree with snake. as far as the review itself, let’s be honest here, those piggy squeals are what contributed majorly to ID’s notoriety and made them stand out. they weren’t just filler vocals to put over DA BREAKDOWNS, that was his voice and it scared the hell out of everyone. this record, with its clean vocals, clean production, sounds very very weak compared to Nailed.Dead.Risen. its heavy and pretty good in its own right I guess, but most of the album sounds more like the setlist of The Acacia Strain.
I can enjoy a few songs on this one though. I’d give it a 5
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On 03/31/09 6:07 PM, mtlwannabe said:
The production this time around is great. I absolutely loved the music on Nailed.Dead.Risen. but couldn’t stand the mix. Though the guitar aren’t as fast this time around the music is very enjoyable.
My sole disappoinment is the abcense of pig squeals. Brook didn’t use the typical and over used ‘BREE’ method either which really is the reason I bought the album in the first place.
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On 03/31/09 10:16 PM, kyle u said:
jay’s comment would be funny, but its not what snake said at all
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On 03/31/09 10:57 PM, snake said:
not only is that not what I said, its absurd. metal has become too pretty, in both production and image.
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On 04/1/09 6:30 AM, Jay DiNitto said:
It’s absurd to want to hear what notes a guitarist is playing? Yeah, that’s just nuts man.
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On 04/1/09 1:08 PM, kyle u said:
the difference in production values between the impending doom albums aren’t a matter of being able to understand the notes or not.
its a matter of tone and sound. i bet you’d be able to understand the notes even better if the guitarist played through the clean channel! then jay would become impending doom’s merch girl!
jk, but you are denying that “noise” can be an effective aspect of a song. think breakcore electronic music, or the locust or something. good production does not equal a good sound. think of elliot smith’s bedroom recordings.
what bout the influx of vinyl enthusiasts? yeah for a lot its just ‘cool’ to have ”old enourmous cd’s!” to play for their friends they just met at the apple store, but for many there’s a certain character in the quality of the sound. -
On 04/1/09 1:19 PM, snake said:
Jay,
I believe it is contradictory in ID doom’s style to have clear production. The music is extremely aggressive and relentless, the production should match. Pop guitars should be distinguishable…not ID guitars.
Actually, its not even clarity of the guitars that I’m referring to, its the tone like Kyle said. I find a raw tone with heavy low end, heavy mids and rolled-off highs best suiting. That tone usually leads to the guitars being indistinguishable, but so be it. Its basically the same idea behind pig squeals which are indistinguishable. Its all aesthetic. -
On 04/3/09 7:18 PM, Seth m. said:
wow Snake and Kyle. You guys are huge a-holes and think you know a lot about music. Did you guys go to a small college and learn about music production?
love you guys!!!!!!
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On 04/3/09 9:23 PM, kyle u said:
LOL@ seth
I sure didn’t. snake on the other hand…
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On 04/4/09 12:54 AM, snake said:
HAHAHA how did you know Seth? haha I actually do go to a small college where I’m majoring in Audio Engineering…
and I’d like to know how you knew that hahaha.amazing
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On 04/4/09 5:52 AM, David said:
Since when were these kind of vocals considered “clean?”
Kids nowadays.
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On 04/7/09 1:40 AM, David said:
Yeah, I bought the cd.
NO. CLEAN. VOCALS. WHATSOEVER.
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On 04/8/09 6:37 PM, bill said:
the only christian grind out there
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On 04/8/09 11:26 PM, David said:
Errr…wha?
1) Impending Doom is not grind.
2) Ever heard of Vomitorial Corpulence?
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On 04/9/09 9:20 AM, bill said:
No i have not. Are they christian. And what is Impending Doom if not grind?
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On 04/9/09 3:20 PM, The 1/3 said:
VC was a Christian goregrind band from like 10-15 years ago. I would look them up on Google to try to find a link to something, but there would probably be some NSFW stuff, and I am currently at work.
Regarding ID, deathcore seems to be the internet’s most agreed upon term with death metal and grindcore coming up as secondary genre labels.
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On 04/9/09 7:07 PM, David said:
It’s not metal like Metallica, but I feel like the simplest genre labels are the easiest…*shrugs* But that’s just me.
But look them up on Myspace. It’s not music I’d listen to. I hate it. But that’s technically “Christian grind.”
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On 04/9/09 8:52 PM, bill said:
God bless you and your kindness towards me
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On 04/13/09 7:48 AM, luvfree said:
this band rocks ….=)) nice nice
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On 04/13/09 8:47 PM, chxd said:
i often ask myself if this band would get any credit if they weren’t a) christian, and b) a part of the deathcore FAD. that’s right, FAD. whitechapel, suicide silence, job for a cowboy…fans of these bands will be denying they ever liked it in a few short months…unless, that is, they just really need some mediocre christian music in their life….
there are so many better christian bands out there, yet, this is what gets pushed…shame.
also, “deathcore” as horrible as it is, is intended to be a cross between death metal and hardcore, not grindcore. calling this band anything related to grindcore is disrespectful to that genre of music that bands like Napalm Death, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, etc helped establish.
*puts on basketball shorts, flat billed cap, and hardcore dances over your comments*
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On 04/21/09 6:51 AM, Paathos said:
Just had to step in about Vomitorial Corpulence, they do have a website (www.vomitorialcorpulence.com) and they’ve actually only been on a long hiatus, and have not split up. Though, they probably won’t be completely active anymore. They’re the only christian goregrind band I know of, and I do like them.
Now, about ID, I like them even more. NDR was like a big punch in the face, as in how-can-they-be-this-brutal/good/etc. (since I listen mostly to christian extreme metal, and nothing quite like it had crossed my path before). Though it was unique in it’s brutality and rawness, it wasn’t/isn’t one of those albums that made me want to listen it over and over again after having heard it for the first time. When The Serpent Servant came out and I got to listen it through, I was totally hooked. I was afraid it would be over-produced, but as the songs were (mainly) more focused and intense than on NDR, I felt the clearer production supported the songs (just like the “dirty” production on NDR supported its songs).
@ chxd: I’m with you on the deathcore = death metal + hardcore. People often seem to confuse fast death metal with grindcore.
And lastly, a little commercial for my neighbours from Sweden, Inevitable End, which I think many of you might like: http://www.theseveredinception.com
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On 04/21/09 7:28 AM, Jay DiNitto said:
“GUYS GUYS GYUS…JUST LISTEN TO THE BANDS I LIKE BUT YOU DONT LIKE AND EVERYTHING WILL BE OK OK?”
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On 04/21/09 10:20 AM, Paathos said:
No no, I was more like “GUYS, GUYS, WHY SO MAD ABOUT THE BAND THAT I LIKES AND THEN THEY DO SOMETHING ELSE WHICH I LIKES NO MORE?” and “HEY, WE’RE TALKING ABOUT FAST MUSIC HERE, YOU might LIKE THIS ONE.”
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On 04/21/09 11:29 AM, Jay DiNitto said:
LOL
That actually wasn’t in reference to your comment, Paathos. No worries.
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On 04/21/09 6:05 PM, Paathos said:
No problem, I’m a finn with high self-esteem.
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On 04/28/09 1:49 AM, bill o reily said:
fleetwood mac is so fucking rad.
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On 04/28/09 5:49 AM, dave said:
I would just like to take this opportunity to mention Seventh Angel…
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On 08/24/09 3:48 AM, Jacques said:
This is hilarious. Honestly Jay is the only one with his panties not in a bunch and being all fucking judgmental and proud that they went to college for audio engineering. People need to take things less seriously.
Back to the subject of Impending Doom though, I feel that their first ep: change was just horrible shit. N.D.R. was good but even though there wall of guitar flatulent is cool and respectable musically. It’s just too out there to actually be able to properly judge. Serpent Servant was incredible. The drums are impeccable at the end of more than conquerors and the whole thing is just… a better album. No matter how less original it is, it’s still overall a better made album. Bands grow up.
