Impending Doom

Although Impending Doom is a Christian death-metal band — normally a contradiction in terms — the act isn’t some cartoonish, mutant purveyor of death grind. Singer Brook Reeves sounds like he’s listened to more than his fair share of ’90s-era Napalm Death, as the music he and his bandmates produce is similarly brutal and dynamically precise. These guys also do the nearly impossible with genuinely clever turns of phrase, coining terms like “Repentagram” and “Gorship.” Both words clearly reveal a playful sense of humor that extremists such as James Dobson and Pat Robertson do not possess. Nevertheless, the music is very serious, and the band’s latest record, Baptized in Filth, is its darkest offering yet.