Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Imminence - Turn the Light On (2019)

The 2014 debut by Imminence, I is a great offering of violin-infused atmospheric metalcore. Then they made a sudden turn into pop-ish alt-rock in This is Goodbye, stirring up some mediocre tracks and only a couple highlights. With their 3rd album Turn the Light On, the band has returned to the heaviness of the former while maintaining the more mainstream sound of the latter. Better while still bumpy...

You don't usually get to hear the lone violin in most metalcore bands. When Imminence adds that in, you can hear the most clearly in the intro or the bridge. It's all part of the clean side while staying heavy.

"Erase" is the first sign of the more emo-ish alt-metalcore direction the band would take. Good but a little overdone. "Paralyzed" is an amazing track with sweet piano and drums. "Room to Breathe" is also great as it starts slightly soft then the guitars expand into madness. "Saturated Soul" is just sh*tty pop rock leftover from This is Goodbye. Don't expect anymore listening from me there!

"Infectious" is exactly that, from the cool vocal intro. While the clean verses sound so hollow, the choruses are quite big and make up for that well. The violin really fits the heavy sections like a glove, especially in the ending breakdown. "The Sickness" is a re-recording of a non-album single. It's a heavy track with great drums, breakdown, and chorus. How can something be both heavy and clean?!?! Just ask Imminence! "Death of You" is nicely led with violin. It's listenable but anticlimactic with its buildup into nothing. "Scars" is cool yet too poppy for me. "Disconnected" has cool guitar rhythms like a more djenty TOOL. The leads are catchy too, leading up to a nice violin outro.

"Wake Me Up" is a more unusual track. There's too much of the poppy synths that annoy me. Still the guitars and breakdown are something to love. "Don't Tell a Soul" has nice bass as the vocals enter and the instrumentation quiets down to let them shine. Then it all builds up into a cool heavy chorus. The ambient break makes me a little sleep-inducing, though the final chorus wakes me up again before hitting the brakes. "Lighthouse" is the heaviest track on the album. It makes all the soft tracks cower in fear. Holy sh*t, the chorus is so massive! Pretty much everything is so great, with my favorite part being when the violin leads into a huge orchestrated section. That's the epitome of epic ambient metalcore! "Love and Grace" is a sweet piano ballad to end the album, though I'll have to get my metal a** out of there in repeated album listens.

Turn the Light on has songs that connect well and songs that don't, with some potential Revolution playlist entries to come. Adding smooth violin to the dynamic realms of metal is a nice treat. You can listen to this album entirely, but if there's any track you don't like, just skip to the next....

Favorites: "Paralyzed", "Room to Breathe", "Infectious", "The Sickness", "Disconnected", "Lighthouse"