Review by Vladimir on April 2, 2023.

Impending Triumph is a new face of heavy metal on the horizon that stands proudly over a pile of dismembered bodies and broken axes which flood the battlefield. Formed by François Blanc (Angellore, Abduction) and Déhà (Wolvennest, Drop Dead Chaos, etc.) with the idea of starting a heavy metal project revolving around a fantasy setting of a fictional empress Puritania, claiming to be a defender of faith but is a tyrant in disguise, with her story told by one of her biggest admirers and most loyal followers. Impending Triumph has prepared their debut self-titled EP that will tell this entire story, and is due to be released on May 5th, 2023 by Jawbreaker Records.

The story begins with an intro 'Dawn Of Death', which slowly builds up the aforementioned setting with a clean guitar, keyboards and a war drum beat. After that, the next track 'Armies Of The Conqueror' brings in the epic heavy metal with triumphant singing vocals, epic guitar riffs, mid-tempo drums that towards the end switch to double-bass drumming, altogether creating a very powerful battle hymn from the start. The third track 'The Invisible Fortress' goes full on Manowar mode with the heavy chugging guitar riff, powerful guitar solos and vocals in the style of Eric Adams that switch between the “narrative” style in the verse and high singing style during the epic chorus. The fourth track 'Dragon Hunt' finally introduces the power and the speed with a much faster tempo that incorporates double-bass drumming, while also throwing in some nice melodies and solos here and there during slower sections of the song. The final track 'Temple Of Oblivion' goes for a catchier heavy metal approach with its simplistic riffing and drumming, while the vocals sing in a dirtier singing style along with epic back vocals, which I believe was heading for a Running Wild style. The songwriting on this EP is indeed various in terms of styles, which incorporate elements and bits inspired by Helloween, Accept, Running Wild, Manowar just to name a few. Although the fantasy setting is more or less a standard theme within the epic heavy metal genre, nevertheless it never fails to amuse me with every new band out there, especially if they successfully manage to execute their ideas. Although the songs are definitely worthy of praise, I think that the EP’s production should also deserve a highlight for its sharp and heavy sound, along with the awesome cover art which displays a muscular barbarian figure standing triumphantly over a pile of bones and axes, whereas the character on the cover reminds me a lot of Warduke from D&D games.

Although this is but a side-project of two passionate musicians who grew up listening to oldschool heavy, power and speed metal, it is a work of art which deserves attention from the dedicated fanbase that worships the heavy and the loud. This EP is just the beginning, so I can’t wait to hear their full-length album which will definitely give us more awesome battle hymns worthy of headbanging.

Rating: 8.9 out of 10