Check out this brand new song titled “For the Wicked” from Southern California metal band, Impending Doom, below.
Impending Doom – For the Wicked (New Song Lyric Video)
By Brandon on January-17-2012 | Filed under News | Tags : Baptized in Filth, For the Wicked, Impending Doom, Metal | Share 
About the author Brandon
Brandon Jones is a 34 year old male living in Orange County, CA. with his wife of 14 years, 2 sons, 1 daughter and a bunch of animals. Brandon enjoys living a life for God, Family, Passionate music, the ocean, the mountains, and working in the Machining industry (Real Job). Brandon is extremely pleased (and excited) that Five Iron Frenzy have begun again. (Check me out on Twitter @brandonivm )
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| Phil metalhed, 34 mins ago.
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Awesome! I’m so excited, sounds pretty heavy again. There Will be Violence was good but wasn’t as heavy as their previous stuff.
I’ve been looking forward to this. The song is really catchy like “The Great Fear,” and his vocals sound better than on TWBV. Props to whoever did the lyric video for the moment at 2:34. Classy.
SHVEET!!! Really looking forward to this…. Gonna be the heaviest album of 2012!
whats up with the unamerican quote? :-|
for the rest song sounds good!
I would guess “unamerican” refers to a system where Impending Doom’s fellow citizens of the US eschew ‘merican democracy in favor of “the mark.” It’s unfortunate that the line right before it is “anti-Christian,” because it kind of makes it sound like cheesy religious nationalism.
Not referring to you at all Sam, but regarding the rest of the lyrics it sounds like the same type of people who had problems with the line “send me to the depths of hell” will have more artistic expression to judge and cry over with this album. It’s Impending Doom. It’s what they do. Gorship… repentagram… obviously artistic liberties will be taken and there will be dorkiness. Hopefully, people can lighten up to see that.
What I got from the unamerican is that America being the leader of the world. Not saying we dominate every country in everything, just that the world follows America because of the dollar. I don’t know really just a guess…
Sonically, it’s interesting.
Lyrically, it’s clumsy. They’re telling people who’ve rejected Jesus to take the Mark? Why not call them to repentance?
First you have to show them the problem and then call them to repentance.
I also find that last lyric a little sketchy. I would feel completely different about this song if it were written from God’s point of view. I COMPLETELY understand what they’re getting at.. some people are destined to choose death over life.. and as a believer it’s frustrates the crap out of me dealing with people like that.
However it’s not our job to call wrath on any of those people it’s God’s. It’s our job to call people to repentance. Especially considering it’s by grace that we ourselves aren’t in the same position.
I hate to be that guy who starts controversy.. but I had to say something to this.
Not into this but I am sure many kids will eat it up.
Musically, I like it. I’m not a big dOOm fan though.
The lyrics were a tad cheesy and it seems they want to be a shocking Christian band. Just….they fail. Oh well.
Like many people have already said, musically I like the song… But I am having a bit of an issue enjoying the lyrics. First off, the lyrics seem kind of all over the place. It feels like they were trying to cram way too many Biblical ideas into one song, ending up in a big mess lyrically. Secondly, it kind of bugs me that the song offers no sign of redemption. To me the song is basically saying, “You don’t love Jesus like I do? Fine, got take the mark and have fun in Hell” without actually calling people to turn from their sins and seek after Christ. Idk, it just seemed like they were trying too hard to write “brutal” lyrics, and forgot to address the hope that is found in Christ. Don’t get me wrong, I have always liked Impending Doom, and I will probably end up buying this album, but I just can’t really get into the lyrics of this song.
Maybe the song is about the frustration one faces when people shut down their views and basically coming to a point where you know nothing you’re ever gonna say or do will change them. Just an alternate interpretation.
I worded that wrong. Like the frustration when you’re trying to show someone God but nothing you say or do will change their views.
I think that the lyric “Take the number you’ve chosen, 666 is one with the fallen,” is used as a warning. I hear it as, “This is what you have chosen. This is what you want. This is the way that you are choosing to live your life. Are you sure you really want to side yourself with evil? If it is, then take your mark. But beware, it leads to destruction.”
I wasn’t a big fan of TWBV, but this is pretty sick.
As for the lyrics, come on. Don’t get your panties in a knot. It’s Impending Doom. I see it as a song going out to metalheads who have YouTube names like tehantichristianslayer666.
In any case, I wouldn’t be so quick to judge them on one track. I’m sure the following songs say other things.
I understand that completely. The lyrics could be interpreted different ways like what Andrew said above and of course it’s only one track on the album.
By the way totally not judging anyone. I don’t think anyone is. If I think something’s wrong with something I don’t want to just shove it off.. I’d like to express my concerns so I can get other people’s feedback on the issue. Negative or positive. :)
Hey man, I apologize about the mix-up on the song. In the post you are responding to Greg who references “Storm the Gates of Hell” and so in the context it looks like you are talking about that. That’s why the misunderstanding
In terms of the biblical reference, a gate “prevails against” something when it remains standing and in tact in spite of that something. A gate isn’t an offensive weapon, it is a defensive measure. Hence the gates of hell don’t need to prevail against the church unless the church assaults the gates… If the passage said the armies/forces/attack of hell shall not prevail against it, then the idea of storming hell’s gates would be incompatible with the passage. The fact that it’s the “gates” that won’t prevail implies that believers (the church) are on the offensive. That’s what I was trying to explain sorry for the misunderstanding.
I’d rather attempt to explain myself well and qualify my statements clearly than worry about any one person not reading the rest of the post because reading a page is too difficult, so don’t worry about it!
For what its worth I think that your take: “I see it as a song going out to metalheads who have YouTube names like tehantichristianslayer666.” is one that I could resonate most with…
oops- replied on the wrong thread
…You’re taking this in an utterly senseless direction, but I’ll come along for the ride! I love roller-coasters.
This is off topic, but if you’re arguing that Christians physically can, do, will and should charge towards the gates of “Hell,” show me a Bible passage where it even hints that Christians have a bone to pick with Hell’s gates and I’ll believe that such an act, in a theological/biblical sense, has any real meaning.
I only commented that sometimes “Christian” songs don’t have to be so deeply dissected; because, if they are, songs about charging battle-like into a place where humans are powerless, sinners are punished, and God is said to be “departed,” make little to no sense.
Your interpretation of Hell and the example given is irrelevant to my original point. There are hundreds of “Christian” songs that, if examined, might be theologically wacky. And my point was that sometimes it’s in the listener’s best interest not to get too hung up on it in some cases (like For The Wicked, seeing how we haven’t heard the whole album).
Thazall.
I don’t think it’s senseless direction, but neither do I want to beat a dead horse, especially because every response introduces more ideas that could be unpacked and explained,
I’ll just reassert that the passage we have been talking about establishes everything you seem to think it doesn’t, even if not in the physical sense. “The gates (defensive) of hell (a prison? a representation of death? of evil?) will not prevail against [the church: believers]- Christ was not blathering nonsense, he was proclaiming a spiritual reality about the church and about the gates of hell…. If you are reading the bible always believing that a “true” sense requires an “obvious physical” sense, you’ll have a hard time with the concept I’m laying out (and with interpreting scripture in general)…
At this point you’ve turned the dead horse into a milkshake. The song is a strawman. Obviously for you, I picked the wrong one to get my original point across (that not all Christian songs are going to be theologically perfect).
As for “STGoH” theologically, as I’ve said, man has nothing to do with “battling” Hell. Unless you translate Hell as being something other than what we traditionally call it or thinking whatever you’re thinking (which doesn’t seem to have any substantial support). In the end, it’s Christ who fights and defeats the evil. Man does nothing. Period. However, it’s still a great song with great connotations behind it.
Hilariously, my original point was advising us not to do what we’re doing. Irony really bites one in the face, doesn’t it.
If man “did nothing period” then Christ would not have said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church, he would have said the gates of hail can’t hold him back. That’s my point about the value of accurate theology in these songs… the theological accuracy of the concept of STGoH should inspire believers to respond to evil or to the tragedy of hell with action, rather than resigning themselves to the myth that it is only “Christ who fights and defeats the evil” when he in fact invites the church into action to be a part of battling evil, injustice, abuse, oppression…
I get your point, I just disagree with it. We don’t stop thinking critically or caring about good theology because the christian music industry is rife with bad theology. We “test EVERYTHING and cling to that which was good”, which was my original point.
I pushed back on the “hell’s gates” thing because it’s a great example of how “bad” theology leads to bad practice or misinformation. All the while that you are downplaying the need to consider rightly the theology of the message, you are displaying exactly why we should be considering the theology of the message.
“If man ‘did nothing period’ then Christ would not have said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church, he would have said the gates of hail can’t hold him back.” <–This is senseless, incoherent logic. The same verse that says that the Church can't hold him back is the same one that says Christ built it. If you honestly think man does anything on his own, then I would suggest rethinking Biblical Christianity.
In any event, if you want to pick at the passage like you are, it says that "hell cannot prevail against the church" not "the church will successfully prevail against hell"… with this information, regardless of who has power, Hell is actually doing the storming while the church is on defense. We better take all Hell-Storming songs off our iPods now [/sarcasm].
And don't put words in my mouth. I never said to completely ignore theology in Christian songs. I was talking about this particular song and this particular band… where most of us are used to small things (like "here we are, storming the gates of hell" or "take the number you've chosen, 666 is one with the fallen") sticking out and being a bit unclear. You can either get hung up on things like "where's repentance?" and "why are we storming Hell's gates? Is this a rescue mission?" or just listen to the music.
In this case, I was suggesting the latter—because it's Impending Doom, we're used to stuff like this, and we haven't heard the whole album. If you want to continue running down a rabbit trail because you disagree with the song I chose as an example, that's fine. I'm not going to harass this thread with more off-topic debate. I assume it's irritating to the mods and readers.
You are responding without reading…
1) If you read what I explained about the use of the term “gates”- that’s the language that clarifies that the church is “on the offensive” or “storming.”
2) If you read what I said about Christ “invit[ing] invites the church into action to be a part of battling evil, injustice, abuse, oppression…” you’ll recognize that my statement is a far cry from “man does anything on his own”
3) If you read my original posts you’ll see that I was very diplomatic in my treatment of the band and song. I don’t assume anything I just say I understand why concerns were raised.
4) If you read my last post you’ll realize that I am not saying I am not used to the ambiguity or the shock factor (or maybe even the bad theology)- I am saying that it shouldn’t become a reason to not think critically…”test everything”…etc
I am a great reader. You’re bad at communicating your ideas. One, because you’re vague. Two, because you show no support to whatever your claims are. And three, you bring in random straw men. I don’t have time to go through and translate your walls of text. I’m sorry if I was not clear or if I misconstrued your opinions.
I mentioned that an Impending Doom song could be questioned theologically and you ran down a rabbit trail with it because you find it perfectly sound. Unfortunately, I followed. That was my fault.
I enjoyed the lyrics like I enjoyed “Storm The Gates of Hell” by Demon Hinter. We’re in a war, and while God has offered forgiveness to all, He is a just God, and those that rebel and wear proudly the mark of the beast will face judgement. This song is both a rallying cry and a warning. Impending Doom just keeps getting better and better.
Yeah, getting caught up with theological aspects of lyrics has its benefits, but sometimes it’s better just to enjoy the song. For example, storming the gates of hell makes no sense. It’s not the evil lair of Satan, it’s the upcoming prison.
“Storming the gates of hell” makes absolute sense from a biblical perspective. First of all because it directly ties in with Matthew 16:18, which talks about the gates of hell not prevailing against the church, the implication of those words are an assault by believers (the church) on hell’s gates. Secondly, biblical references to hell are too complex to define it simply as “the upcoming prison.” I’m not sure if you’re thinking of the “lake of fire” in Revelation?
I also understand people’s concern with the lyrics here. We know that all unbelievers’ stand in guilt and responsibility for their own actions, but biblically, they are also described as “blinded” and “prisoners.” Our war is not with unbelievers, even if they attempt to war against us. Our war is against Satan, “the flesh” (our sin nature), and the powers and principalities that stand in opposition to Christ and His message (be those powers spiritual, political or social systems, etc…)
You can make an argument that this song is targeting the message or the audacity to those that boldly oppose Christ… (much like Storm the Gate’s of Hell’s lyric “wicked sons of heaven’s loss, raise your own inverted Christ”) And it’s true that we can dig around and explain our way through things to make every lyric sound right that we want to sound right. But I think the concern comes from who these lyrics might be taken by people; be it a nonbeliever feeling like this song is Christians mocking them about going to hell, or be it a young-in-the-faith or misguided believer being “encouraged” by the song to go out and start yelling at people about how vile they are and condemning them to hell. I’m not saying that this song will automatically do that to people, but I am saying that the band might be trying so hard to push the boundary of good art or creative lyrics (which is “permissible”) that they threw a little discernment out the window (the nature of the message may not be “beneficial”)
I’m not trying too state a case either way (honestly!)- I just am saying that I can see why people are concerned.
If I could use another example…I have been a die-hard Project 86 fan since almost the beginning and one of the things that I have loved the most about them is their thought-provoking lyrics and they way they don’t spoon-feed simple messages…But I remember being on the their forums after Drawing Black Lines came out and reading a post from a non-christian guy about the track about “Me against Me” and wondering why a christian band would be encouraging suicide… Same kind of issue as this song.
At the end of the day, almost every song is open to misinterpretation, so it’s not good for us to condemn a christian band for the lyrics they use. But I think it’s good to think critically about it because it will keep us thinking critically about our faith in general: “test EVERYTHING…and cling to that which is good.” And it forces us to think critically about ourselves: For example, if I got into a heated confrontation with an atheist or satanist about our beliefs, would it be good to end the conversation by saying “You’re choosing hell, guess you deserve it. Have fun with it”? I guess that’s where I see the value in discussing lyrics and messages, even of our favorite Christian bands, in a “critical thinking” way…
Sorry- didn’t mean for this post to become a novel. Hope it makes some sense…
ooops- horrible typo. The Storm the Gates of Hell lyrics are “raise your own inverted CROSS”
Excellent post Smacky! I also think we should discuss the value of messages no matter how much we like the band. Not everything in Christian music is perfect just because it’s labeled Christian. Not saying that’s the case with Impending Doom at all though I still am not sold on the lyrics. It’ll be interesting to see the further responses from fans Christian and non-Christian.
@Smacky I said “Storming the Gates of Hell”… which is an Impending Doom song (aka: this topic). And your post made no sense after the first reference. Matthew 16:18 says that the Gates of Hell won’t “prevail against the church.” Thus, my point. No reason for anyone to be “storming it” in a hardcore biblical sense. Yes, any song is up for interpretation. That was the topic to begin with.
And I didn’t read the rest of your novel. If you can sum up your thoughts more concisely, I’ll read them.
I really agree with CellarGore on this one (except I thought TWBV was awesome ;). I’ve learned almost any song has ‘controversial lyrics’. I mean you look at Sleeping Giant’s latest album KDIAEA, I thought that was nothing but pure Christ-centered hxc, but somehow everyone freaked out. Plus it’d help to talk to Brooke Reeves, which I don’t think anyone ik has. So, in any case, I’m not really worried about the lyrics, just enjoying the music.
What?? What was wrong with the lyrics on Sleeping Giant’s newest album? Didn’t love it musically but I thought the lyrics were fantastic.
A lot of people were going nuts about the lyrics to “Tongues of Fire”
http://www.indievisionmusic.com/2011/07/13/sleeping-giant-kingdom-days-in-an-evil-age-lyrics/
…I must say that I’m a bit sad about the absence of skulls in the visual concept of the video…hahaha:-)
Guys and girls, please all be calm, clearly this album is closely tied to an over arching theme or concept, and just like Oh, Sleeper’s latest album, interpreting just one song in a vacuum can lead to exponential errors in the message the artist/band is trying to convey…
Thank you all for your time.
If that’s the case Micah Kinnard laid Oh, Sleeper’s new record out before it’s release so there was no questioning the lyrics when the record came out. I think Impending Doom might want to do the same so that there’s no more misinterpretation especially with their non-Christian fan base.
Man I’ve had a lot of posts in this thread. I’m out of here!
I looked through some of the video’s comments when this had just been posted and, except for a few individuals whose issues go beyond this song’s lyrics, there were a lot of self-proclaimed non-Christians who didn’t mind, didn’t feel offended, unloved, or attacked by the lyrics, and enjoyed the song.
I propose that Christians are the ones who need their hand held like babies when it comes to Christian bands and their lyrics.
Is it seriously so wrong for a Christian to ask questions about the music that they subject themselves to? You are making it sound like using discernment towards something is a bad thing. I do not know where a band stands spiritually or what doctrines and theological perspectives they believe in if I have never met them in person. Just because a band goes under a Christian title doesn’t mean that the gospel they are presenting is necessarily the true gospel. I’m sure there are wolves in sheep clothing in the Christian music scene. Understand, I am not calling Impending Doom wolves or saying they are preaching false doctrine, but I am saying there is nothing wrong with pointing out lyrics that make you raise an eyebrow, and there is nothing wrong with questioning their intent behind them. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” We as Christians need to approach everything with a level of caution, testing those things in order to make sure that they line up with scripture. In the case with this song, I was simply stating that the band definitely addressed the issue, but the song does not offer a solution. The song makes it perfectly clear that sin leads to destruction, but it did not proclaim the hope and redemption found in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Is this a concept album? I have no idea. Does the band address salvation on a different track on the album? I wont know until the album comes out. I was simply stating my thoughts about the track by itself, seeing that it is a single off of the album. And that is the impression I got from others who had concerns about the lyrics as well.
How literal are you willing to take “test ALL things?” Paul’s letters are not legal documents… and Impending Doom is just a fun, dorky, metal band rocking repentagrams and gorship. Of course, you can interpret Paul how you like. To use that interpretation to justify the over analysis of art and entertainment inspired by Christianity may not be wrong per se, but in my opinion it’s a huge waste of time and energy.
It’s a waste because they’re just a band, as I said, and what does anyone really gain by all the in-depth analysis required to avoid anything possibly theologically unsound or “damaging?” At best, peace of mind that one discerned what is good and right. Maybe a new false prophet to rail against. Both are self-serving through the sense of “rightness” they bring and pride they feed.
I really can’t begin to list all the unproductive negatives gained by this sort of thing. You admit to not having the context of the entire album’s lyrics, but you’ve already discerned (judged) enough to the point that you take issue with, and can’t get into the song because of, the lyrics alone. Bummin’ yourself out with worry over their lyrics when you don’t even have the proper tools (The remaining songs) in front of you to ‘test’ this ‘thing.’ It’s a negative use of your time and energy that I think would be better used if you hoped all things (I Cor. 13:7) instead of tested all things (I Th. 5:21).
Oops, I guess I typed too much, or shouldn’t have broken it up into paragraphs. Well, my thoughts will be here if they make it through the spam check.
For some reason it fell into spam and not even into ‘the comments waiting for approval’ -list and therefor I think your comment was hidden for way too long. apologize.
I interpret this song as a warning if the evil allowed in America keeps going on. As in the unAmerican part because Personally I believe that America is going to have a huge train wreck if it continues the way it runs. I am not going to go into too much details over what is going wrong but I hope you others post what you think.
I’m not into this, but then death metal (or whatever this is, I don’t know all the metal subgenres) has never been my style. I’m more into melodic stuff like Emery and Underoath.
GET HIM.
RAHHH!!!!
Yeah right with you Sam. I can’t stand death metal however I really appreciate the more technical bands like Becoming the Archetype. Those guys are brilliant. But I usually just listen to the less metal side of heavy music (Oh, Sleeper, Hands, and The Chariot are my favorites). I also LOVE Thrice and Emery but don’t really think of them as “heavy”.
As for the angry mob……my favorite band is Anberlin…..if you take anyone take me…
I don’t know if anyone saw the 13 minute album preview for this on youtube, but musically I think it sounds pretty legit, especially the second half of the album. So pumped for Angry Letters to God, My Light Unseen, and Death.Ascenscion.Ressurection!
On a side note, anyone else think the album cover kinda has that cheesy feel similar to the one that the ITMOL “Shadows” album cover had? Either that or maybe a knock-off brand Serpent Servant dude
Yeah, I immediately got that knock-off Serpent Servant feel. I think the problem is that it isn’t an actual person being photoshopped. Straight-up drawings rarely have that “scary” look that you know they’re going for.
(Exhibit A: the amazing Architects of Guilt cover).
There’s a ton of old and new brutal death metal album covers that are drawn and look great. I think the problem with Baptized in Filth is that there’s no filth to the art. It’s too clean–like hot topic art.
I wanna hear this album preview. I’ll go look for that.
Awesome \m/