“Wake up! Everyone wake up!” belts out lead vocalist Brook Reeves who not only came onstage already pumped, but also came ready to throw it down. The menacing Jesus Christ pose matched with his deep growls took on another life of it’s own. “I want to see some movement!” cries Brook on the microphone, “Let’s go and move!” as to which the crowd managed to start the first pits of the night. Brook and Impending Doom had no trouble invoking the crowd into a frenzy as the tour opener. They came prepared.

Impending Doom is about to release their highly anticipated sophomore effort The Serpent Servant through Facedown Records today and it sure promises to be one hell of a record. Keeping the true form of what Impending Doom is all about, The Serpent Servant will clearly be the band’s best effort to date. From what I’ve personally heard, the record is going to be a good one.

As a first timer, I was treated to some excellent grindcore. Complete with demonic growls, blast beats and technical riffery, the band tore through their pallete of songs one by one. Showing supreme commandment of the stage, the band broke the mold and lit the place on fire by laying their guts out onto the table. And as the music grinded, so did the crowd.

The crowd that had amassed outside of the Key Club before the show, have now piled into the club, packing the house and leaving little room for movement. The little movement that could be made was short lived after Impending Doom encouraged the crowd to “Get it going!” as to which the legion of fans then responded with a much bigger pit, clashing into a vicious outburst. The kids were loving it and eating every moment of it from the get-go. Nice!

I noticed a strong presence of kids between the ages of 14 to 18 with mid-20 year olds also milling around the crowd. It was evidently clear that these kids knew exactly what was going on as they screamed, danced and jumped around all throughout Impending Doom’s set. Receiving nothing but warm responses from said kids, Impending Doom brought the pain.

Impending Doom had a strong stage presence with their own brand of brutal grindcore, violent growls and those sick ass ‘heavy as bricks’ breakdowns that just bring the house down every time it drops. The band also had their meditated moves intact to surmise the intensity of the music and give it more character. With so much energy being given off by the band, the crowd didn’t really have time to get ready but instead had an instant rude awakening as soon as the band set foot onstage. The explosive set went off with a bang from the beginning and didn’t really let up for the duration. Lead vocalist Brook Reeves did everything in his power to rile up the crowd as best he can and for the most part, it worked.

But you know how it is, we’re in the city of jaded fans, Los Angeles.

Even still, Brook managed to get the crowd into the show with no problems and Impending Doom responded by giving them more than they can swallow. Playing songs from their new album The Serpent Servant, as well as songs from their debut Nailed.Dead.Risen., Impending Doom served the very best from their palette of songs. Leaving no stone unturned, the band imploded song after song with little breaks in between.

“God loves you! You might not know it now but he does! God Bless!” screamed frontman Brook Reeves on the microphone as the last note rang, “Thank you for supporting Impending Doom!”

As the lights dimmed and the house music came on, I became a believer of the band. I never got a chance to see Impending Doom live and now was glad that I made the trek to witness their live show. Unbeknownst to me as well, had no idea that Impending Doom were Christians. Not that it makes a difference but I actually dug his last sentiments. It was awkwardly joyous to hear something positive as the last words on the stage from a grindcore band. In all, Impending Doom gave us a show and we ate it up like hot cherry pie. And it was good!

Here’s some photos from the show: