Creating a style of music that allows them to worship God through gore (self-described as "gorship"),
Impending Doom are a Christian death metal band who use extreme music as a means to explore their beliefs, and in their own words, "warn of society's inevitable destructive collapse." Emerging in 2005, the band found mainstream success in 2009 with the release of their sophomore effort,
The Serpent Servant. Subsequent outings
There Will Be Violence (2010),
Death Will Reign (2013),
The Sin and Doom, Vol. 2 (2018), and Hellbent (2021), saw the group continue to deliver the good word, albeit with extreme prejudice.
Formed in Riverside, California, in 2005, and featuring core members
Manny Contreras (guitar), Brook Reeves (vocals), and
David Sittig (bass) -- early members included Chris Forno (guitar), Isaac Bueno (drums), and Greg Pewthers (guitar) -- the band quickly self-released the EP The Sin and Doom of Godless Men. Forno, Pewthers, and Bueno left the band and were replaced by
Cory Johnson, Chad Blackwell, and
David Sittig. With a new lineup, the band signed to Facedown Records in 2007 and released its full-length debut,
Nailed. Dead. Risen, featuring re-recorded versions of some of the songs from the debut EP. In early 2009, the group released
The Serpent Servant, also on Facedown. Their third LP,
There Will Be Violence, appeared the next year and featured new drummer Brandon Trahan (xDeathstarx) who was recruited for the effort.
Baptized in Filth was issued in early 2012 on E1 Music. Produced by
Andreas Magnusson (
the Black Dahlia Murder,
the Famine),
Filth included singles "Murderer" and "Deceiver." Fifth album
Death Will Reign (eOne) arrived the next year, reaching the Top Ten on Billboard's Christian and Hard Rock Albums charts. Working with longtime producer
Will Putney, the group issued the punitive five-song EP, Hellbent, in 2021. ~ Gregory Heaney & Neil Z. Yeung