Imminence - This Is Goodbye album review

Swedish post-metalcore merchants strike the wrong key

Cover art for Imminence - This Is Goodbye album

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The path to stagnation is paved with the rehashing of former glories and failure to evolve. As such, it’s hard to fault the ambition with which Imminence have approached the follow-up to 2014’s I. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to fault almost everything else. Gone is the brutality, the interesting guitarwork and the blurring of genres. In its place: synths, and lots of them. Production-wise, the proverbial kitchen sink has been thrown at this album; subsequently, it suffocates under uninspired beats and off-the-peg electronic elements that aim for the experimental but too frequently land at sub-Top 40 cheese. Broken Love sounds like Avicii, for Christ’s sake. By the time Imminence remember they’re signed to a Nuclear Blast sister label and peel off some Actual Riffs on Cold As Stone, they only serve to put the rest of the album in stark contrast. A band this young could yet find a huge audience with their combination of metal and pop. But on this evidence, the formula needs considerable work.