Imminence - This Is Goodbye (2017)^{Release ID: 36627}

Imminence fans were not expecting a sudden change of style in the band's second album This is Goodbye. They're normally a melodic-ish technical ambient metalcore band, but here they made a detour into pop-ish alt-rock. Not many heavy riffs and breakdowns to be found...

If their debut album I is the band's own Sempiternal (the 4th Bring Me the Horizon album), this sh*t is their own That's the Spirit. H*ll, some tracks sound closer to Imagine Dragons! Despite this different sound not appealing to me, I can't deny the talent and melodic writing this band has. The passion is what I can stand when it all goes down to radio pop sh*t. And this direction being a one-time deal had longtime fans relieved when their next album came out.

Most of the songs are mediocre at best, though the biggest offenders have to be the opening trio, consisting of the title opener, "Diamonds", and "Broken Love". The last of the 3 is the worst, a f***ed-up carbon copy of That's the Spirit, with vocal melodies sounding horrendous. Skipping ahead to the only two highlights, "Cold as Stone" is the strongest one. The riffing sounds so kick-A, and even though the bridge should've led to an earth-shattering breakdown, it's great as-is. "Keep Me" is more melodic while coming out as a modern rock anthem. Vocalist Eddie Berg sounds the best in the chorus.

The album has bonus acoustic versions of 3 of the songs I mentioned above, but those are highly unnecessary, especially considering the album's f***ing pop-ish alt-rock sound. It takes a while for a band going that route to get back on their heavy feet. Bring Me the Horizon didn't regain their heaviness until the Post Human series. Imminence would still have their catchy heavy side in the next chapter of their journey, thus deeming This is Goodbye just a fluke in their path. It's not time yet to say goodbye....

Favorites (only ones I really like): "Cold as Stone", "Keep Me"