It’s no secret that metal fans can sometimes be resistant to change. Albums that stray too far from a designated path are often met with more suspicion and derision than praise. However, it’s this reaction that Swedish crew Imminence are hoping to welcome when people hear their latest, rulebook-smashing effort.
After forming in 2010 when frontman Eddie Berg and guitarist Harald Barrett were still in school in Trelleborg at the very southern tip of Sweden, a run of singles and EPs led Imminence to the confident if familiar metalcore of debut I four years later. But the dramatic change the band have hinted at since is nothing compared to second album This Is Goodbye’s penetrating synths and Eddie’s piercing melodic vocal performance.
“We wanted to do something completely different that was able to reach a wider audience as well as breathing fresh air into the metal scene,” says Eddie, who not only directs the band’s videos, but has gone to great lengths to fundamentally evolve his own performance to help Imminence take their sound to a much bigger audience. In order to stand out and attain the divisive reaction he’s expecting, he’s taken both himself and the listener outside of their comfort zones.
“We really wanted to find something that was fresh for us, and to get uncomfortable during the writing process. I had a lot of fun experimenting with my voice during the writing of This Is Goodbye to find something new and interesting. It took a long time to get to the point where we started writing actual songs for the album – I think we scrapped about two full-lengths’ worth of songs during the writing process,” offers Eddie, adding that the whole lyrical approach of the album mirrors the changing circumstances of both the music and the band’s lives over the past few years, completing a very involved, natural entity.
Citing influences from the modern and nu metal scenes as well as stadium-filling pop acts from both the present and yesteryear, This Is Goodbye is certainly a radical departure for the band beyond the boundaries of metal. The ear-worms of Broken Love and Cold As Stone over a canvas of snappy metal and euphoric electronics are the fruit of this labour of love, and with Imminence having mainly toured in their home country and mainland Europe, This Is Goodbye is an album that demands a much greater audience’s attention, whether you love it or hate it.
“We’re not afraid of that audience and are embracing the criticism,” claims Eddie. “We want to wake people up. Either they can love or hate the new sound because it is something different. In our opinion that’s the best kind of response we could get.”
This Is Goodbye is out March 31 via Arise Empire
