Formed in 2015 from members who formerly appeared in Shadowplay, Driven Apart and My Wooden Pillow, Impavidus are a female-fronted melodic death metal band with copious amounts of groove to them. With their EP finished within their first year of existence, this is clearly a group who plan to become something of a well known name, so let’s crack on with it.
Its four tracks long, clocks in round the 18-minute mark and the length gives it some real good replay value. Upon hitting play, “Heaven’s Gate” hits you right off the bat with its harsh vocals, reminiscent of Arch Enemy and Carcass backed up by some seriously beefy riffs. With a real steady pace, more groove orientated than death metal, it leads in to the more death metal sounding sections where the harsh vocals give way to a softly delivered and beautifully melodic clean section which is a great counterpoint to the frantic heavy fast paced riffs beneath it. It’s a rapid fire track with plenty of groove to it, but with a fair whack of heaviness to boot, like Gojira’s musical sound with Lamb Of God’s groove elements to it. Perfect for headbanging and pitting to, this opening shot is a real good introduction to the band and despite the guitar solo being rather impressive, this track is all about the riffs!
“Exculpate” is more death metal sounding with its intricate, twisting and weaving riff. Dancing across a pounding rhythm section build up, the anticipation grows and instead of the ferocity the EP opened up with, the smooth and melodic clean vocals come in which is a great curveball, calming things down before it rips into the heavier groove. Thundering rhythm work, heavy as hell tone and raw vocals snap you out of the false sense of security and the track does this switch up several times, each one to great effect, not making it feel old in the slightest. Packed full of powerful groove and with an intricate solo which shows off some skills, it is a strong follow up and halfway through the record, you get the feeling it’s going to keep this up.
“Black Mirror” has all the potential in the world to become one of those ‘must hear live tracks’. Opening up with a classic building feel from the bass, stabbed chords and ‘HEY!’ shouts, it quickly smashes into another full on riff masterclass reminiscent of the Scandinavian styling of melodic death metal with great chugs and melodic buzzing fills before some great pedal tone and shifting sections under the cutting clean vocals which really bring the track to life. With a quick delivery, thunderous rhythm and gratuitous groove, its easily the best track of the EP. It hits hard, delivering riff after riff and given the energy behind it, this definitely does promise to be a fantastic live track.
Closing this EP is “Scourge” which for lack of a better description, is simply phenomenal. From the off, it is packed with plenty of venom and groove in the pounding and heavy delivery. Laced with Blastbeats, scathing vocal deliveries and lots of headbanging feel, it really rounds the 4-track off well. Even when it cleans up near the mid-point, it still retains its ferocity with a real unsettling and ominous atmosphere, generated by the thick bass sound and soft vocal delivery, creating a great dynamic before it unleashes itself for the final rundown with some great lead and vocal work.
In all, this self titled EP is a statement of intent. Given the right exposure, Impavidus have the potential to really make a name for themselves and carve out a good space of their own in the thriving underground UKDM scene. These guys are well worth keeping tabs on.
(8/10 Fraggle)
Leave a Reply