To me, when it comes to deathcore, bands and albums are pretty hit or miss. It’s very much a gamble whenever I pick up a new album from a deathcore band, and some of those gambles have actually ended up in my favor. But, quite a few deathcore bands and albums just lose their appeal to me after a while. With the latest release by Impending Doom, Baptized In Filth, the odds weren’t so in my favor this time.
The opening track “Murderer” is actually quite a decent opener, and it keeps you engaged and honestly wanting to hear more. But something quite annoying is their copious use of bass drops in just the opener alone. Now, I really like bass drops in metalcore or deathcore but they just took it a little too far. Towards the end, there’s a bass drop at least every 4 seconds, which cheapened the effect greatly and just made me want to skip it. There’s a few more that pop up in the rest of the album, and definitely not as overused as in “Murderer”. The main problem that Baptized In Filth seems to run into is just the simple predictable deathcore sound. Tempos generally run at the same pace for each song, and there’s not too much variety in the hundreds of breakdowns you’ll hear, limiting distinction between songs. Some songs, like "Falling Away", have a better combination of quick riffs and breakdowns, but it doesn’t successfully bring the album above water.
Lyrically, the songs are also what you would expect from a Christian band in the deathcore scene. It keeps the lyrics as brutal as it possibly can be with that darker, Christian edge to it. It might also be a little cliché but still pretty awesome. For example, in “For The Wicked”, we have “Rotting from the inside out/destroying our bodies with the filth of the world/creating a wretched spawn of existence/giving birth to evil.” Towards the end, we get a slight ballad with “My Light Unseen” which also shows the band’s more sensitive side on their spirituality and faith. When you get to the song, it comes out of nowhere but it’s a welcome change from the bass drops and breakdowns. It features Ryan Clark from another Christian metal band, Demon Hunter, to handle the clean vocals.
Now let me just make a quick disclaimer and say that just because it’s deathcore doesn’t automatically make it bad. The same could be said about their Christian faith because I have also encountered amazing metal bands that are outwardly Christian. But when I take it all out of context and just listen to the music, Baptized In Filth is just okay at it’s very best. There are a few songs that end up being pretty good, but the album as a whole is rather boring. Any fans of Impending Doom and/or simple and unassuming deathcore will like the album, but if you like something a little more in your metal, you can let this one pass.
6.5/10
Favorite songs: "Falling Away", "Death. Ascension. Resurrection."
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