Impending Doom
- Story by Kory Grow
Brutal death metallers will scare the devil out of you
“The death metal scene usually revolves around Satan and death, but Impending Doom does not,” says David Sittig, bassist for the Riverside, CA-based quintet. “We are bringing a light into dark places.” By dark places, he most likely means our hearts and not our stereo equipment, but nevertheless, the band is adamant in their message on Nailed. Dead. Risen. (Facedown)—gorship Christ. Yes, “gorship.” Impending Doom made up the word to express how they’re “worshipping God through our gore-type music,” explains Sittig, who at press time was touting a decidedly anti-Christian band, Decrepit Birth, via his t-shirt on his personal MySpace page.
Most death metal fans probably wouldn’t know that Impending Doom were Christian, however, were it not for the band’s interviews and lyric sheets, since vocalist Brook Reeves’ words are unintelligible and the band’s music carries enough Obituary, Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse influence that it’s easy to miss the message altogether. They’ve played with popular offshoots like Job for a Cowboy and experience the same things that every other death metal band goes through: sore throats before and after shows (“On tour, Brook usually won’t speak until he is onstage”) and a burning desire to become more technical musicians.
Because of their influences and steadfast beliefs, Impending Doom have won mostly praise from both Christian and secular communities. Still, like history’s other pro-Jesus extreme metal bands (Mortification, As I Lay Dying, Extol), not everyone thinks their means justify their ends. “There are a few people that believe we cannot be a Christian band because we play death metal music, which is totally stupid,” Sittig says. “We are all Christians in this band and our one mission for this band is bringing the name of Jesus Christ to people that do not know him.” They reply to their critics on “Silence the Oppressors,” on which Reeves growls, “To the following Christians, listen closely… Don’t you ever tell me I’m using God as a gimmick / I’m not a heretic.”
In some ways, Impending Doom are far more vigilant in delivering their message than those who would criticize them, since a wider audience is actually accepting them. Because they’re a death metal band, they can channel their rage about everything from the separation of church and state to anti-Christian bands who don’t believe in God into their music. But if you up the horns at one of their concerts during one of their righteous breakdowns, just remember what Sittig says: “Today people are trying to take the church and God out of everything when the solution is Christ, plain and simple.”
