Driven By Impact - Driven By Impact

Driven By Impact is, unfortunately, about ten years too late to the melodic death metal craze. These Germans are on par with many other metalcore bands that have managed to come across my ears and by this point, even though their self titled debut, Driven By Impact, easily checks off all the boxes on the punch list of what could make decent melodic death metal, it still sounds dated. There aren't any single glaring issues for me with this record and if we were to jump in our time-car and sneeze back several years when the sub-genre was at it's height, and if I were to be as close to objective towards Driven By Impact, the album would receive average marks on almost all fronts and result in the ultimate conclusion of "this melodic death metal album is done well and would appeal only to those that care about melodic death metal." It's not a strong enough album for someone who normally does not like the subgenre to find enjoyable. I dare-say that Driven By Impact could be an example of all the things that people that don't like melodic death metal find meaningless.

Breaking down the overall sound of the band, the basis of most of these songs relies on underlying  melodic movements as opposed to riff-based structures. An exclusion to this would be large segments of "Place of Gore," which is more groove-based. Floating on top of the chord progressions are intricately fashioned metalcore riffs that while fundamentally generic still offer some interest through incorporation of some atonal or unsuspecting contrasting harmonic events. "Arise From Ashes" or "Experience in Red" shows how Driven By Impact allows notes to hold out over underlying chords to create momentary unpredictable melodic changes. In some ways, this gives the band a much more progressive sound, perhaps nodding towards a band such as Into Eternity. All of the string instruments are tied to the melodic structure first and foremost. This restricts in some ways the ability of the music to create truly inspired sounding moments where individuals rise above the melodic prison cells the band often finds themselves in. Were instruments given more space to explore their own potential, such as the bass does during segments of "Place of Gore," the album would come across more maturely and patiently composed.



The production on the album is acceptable however not what I would consider exceptionally heavy or crushing in any department; typical of this style to my ears, with modern chunky guitar rhythm tones. It's really nothing worth even talking about because it's such a standard tone for an album of this style. One instrument that truly does stand out happens to be the vocals of Eugen Rutz. They stand out as the sole instrument that doesn't quite gel or add to the overall music. If I had to point at something that holds Driven By Impact back, it's Rutz' vocals. Often low-end growls with a rasp, Rutz doesn't create enough dynamic to match the sweeping melodicism of the rest of the band. His growls are often detrimental in sections where a higher scream or harsher vocal could imbue some extra passion and texture to the songs. Without an identifiable vocal performance, the rest of the album doesn't merit multiple listens for the average fan. Rutz is not a bad vocalist, he just doesn't fit well with Driven By Impact.

Some songs of note. The transitions in some songs seem manufactured digitally such as in third track "Burning Bridges." This track also has the weakest drum performance with some odd kick rhythms that seem to fall off the beat. "Experience In Red" has the albums worst introduction with a lazily written and obnoxious repetitive riff before being somewhat redeemed during the middle section of the song.The "Prologue" sucks and they shouldn't have included it. It sounds like a boss battle song from a third-rate Nintendo game. I did like that Driven By Impact comes with the lyrics in the booklet, however I don't like that the lyrics aren't very inspiring or original on deeper inspection. The first three songs on the album are all standard fare songs about depression, suicide, death... topics which offer little new insight to anything and are tired at this point. Driven By Impact aren't bad, but they need more to separate themselves and make their music shine beyond the typical and generic in this genre. Cheers to them for sending me a physical copy of their album though instead of a digital promo - it just makes me feel that they take their music seriously.