Two years after the magnificent The Black, Imminence returns with an album that may well divide its fans. Moving between modern metalcore, nu-metal, shoegaze and experimentation, the Swedish band is taking risks. And what if that was exactly what they needed?
After The Black, Did They Really Need to Do It All Again?
Two years after the release of the magnificent The Black, and one year after its extended version, The Return of The Black, Imminence is back with Axis Mundi, their sixth studio album, released on October 2, 2026, through Sumerian Records. It is a record that may divide fans, but one that, in my opinion, was absolutely necessary. No The Black strikes back, then.
After all, The Black was an album worthy of every superlative. An extraordinarily dark, intense, almost suffocating work that pushed Imminence's formula to a level rarely reached before. The band could easily have taken the safe route and given us The Black 2. A reliable choice, with very little risk, allowing them to capitalise on their well-deserved success.
But the thing is, Imminence has never really made the same album twice.
Just go back to I, their debut album, and then listen to This Is Goodbye. Two radically different releases, with the violin becoming much more discreet on the second, despite already being present on the first. Then came Turn the Light On, bringing the violin back to the forefront alongside an adrenaline-fuelled metalcore sound. Heaven in Hiding would refine that formula before The Black turned everything upside down, dragging the band into a darkness they had never explored so deeply before.
So why should Axis Mundi be an exception to this constant evolution?
In interviews about the new album, Eddie Berg, vocalist and violinist, and guitarist Harald Barrett explained that they had no intention of simply recreating The Black. And personally, I'm glad they didn't! Comparisons would have been inevitable, and there was a very real risk of Imminence becoming permanently trapped within one particular style.
The Sword That Never Bends: A Cursed Knight and One Hell of a Sword Strike
When the first single, The Sword That Never Bends, arrived alongside its spectacular music video featuring a knight lost in his own torment, the surprise was considerable.
My first impression? Korn on a massive adrenaline rush! The guitars borrow some of nu-metal's heaviest sounds, while Eddie Berg's clean vocals bring back memories of the genre's golden years. It was enough to make you wonder whether the violin, the band's unmistakable sonic signature, was about to be pushed into the background.
Not a chance!
The track actually delivers a magnificent violin passage, beautifully brought to the forefront. And this is where one of Axis Mundi's greatest achievements lies: the violin no longer tries to dominate every composition. Instead, it regularly blends into the other instruments, almost as though it were a fully integrated member of the rhythm section.
Here's a little piece of advice: listen to this album through headphones. You'll discover that the violin is present far more often than you might think, sometimes almost imperceptibly, hidden behind the guitars and arrangements. But when it finally steps back into the spotlight, its impact becomes all the more devastating. Just like the sword of our cursed knight!
Video – Imminence: The Sword That Never Bends
And speaking of cursed knights, I can't help thinking about the one from Joe Abercrombie's latest novel, The Devils, which I discussed in my review: Les Diables: When Joe Abercrombie Turns Scooby-Doo's Monsters into the Suicide Squad.
Because these two knights share a rather unfortunate characteristic: neither can die. A curse that transforms what might initially seem like a gift into a terrible sentence.
The knight of Axis Mundi wanders through a hostile world, trapped in an existence whose meaning he can no longer understand, searching for a rest that is forever denied to him.
And Imminence certainly didn't do things by halves when it came to telling his story. The various music videos form the chapters of a genuine cinematic narrative, to the point that our brave knight even received his own film, screened in several cinemas around the world, including in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe.
An artistic ambition that goes far beyond simply providing visuals for an album.
False Light, Crestfallen and the Arrival of a Four-Legged Companion
The next singles, False Light and Crestfallen, were quick to reassure those who love the more traditional Imminence sound.
We find that familiar combination of power, emotion and arrangements that contributed so much to the success of The Black. Yet beneath this apparent familiarity, the band continues exploring new sonic textures and new ways of expressing its aggression.
False Light is particularly impressive in this respect, with an almost crushing heaviness, not to mention Harald Barrett's now-traditional bow stroke across his own guitar. A little ritual that has become one of the band's visual trademarks, and one I never get tired of!
The music video also introduces us to a new character: the dog!
And that is certainly no coincidence. Eddie Berg is a huge dog lover, a passion he shares with his partner. It was only natural that our canine friends would find their place in this new universe.
The dog becomes our knight's unlikely companion, bringing a touch of humanity and loyalty to his desperate quest. It is ultimately a rather moving presence in a story where death, loneliness and curses play such central roles.
Video – Imminence: False Light
From Deftones to Shoegaze: Imminence Dares to Try Everything
Then come If Not Now, When and Shed Your Skin.
And suddenly, everything changes!
With If Not Now, When, Imminence ventures into territory strongly reminiscent of Deftones. The atmosphere becomes more ethereal, the guitars less confrontational, and the band embraces an almost hypnotic form of melancholy. The violin, still very much present, accompanies this evolution with remarkable delicacy.
Video – Imminence: If Not Now, When
Shed Your Skin takes the experiment even further, leaning unmistakably towards shoegaze. We are a long way from the brutality of The Black, and yet Imminence's identity remains perfectly recognisable.
Perhaps that is what impresses me most about these two tracks. The band dares to venture into musical territories that might seem completely foreign to its universe, yet manages to incorporate them with astonishing ease.
And above all, both songs are genuine successes.
They demonstrate just how much Imminence still has up its sleeve, and how unfortunate it would be to reduce the band's future to a single musical formula.
Video – Imminence: Shed Your Skin
Experimentation reaches its peak with Didn't Think About You (Lately). Eddie Berg even went as far as sampling his own voice so that he could play it on a keyboard! A surprising approach that results in a composition unlike almost anything else on the album.
The track provides a welcome moment to breathe during the record, even though its atmosphere remains deeply melancholic. A chance to slow things down and leave more room for intimacy before plunging back into our knight's torments.
Twisting in the Wind, Devil May Try and Leviathan: The Storm Is Never Far Away
But don't worry, Imminence hasn't forgotten how to unleash a proper musical explosion.
The album opens with the incredible Twisting in the Wind, immediately establishing an unsettling atmosphere before building towards a particularly effective crescendo. And once again, the violin emerges at precisely the right moment, adding another dimension to the whole experience.
Among the tracks that have yet to receive the same attention as the singles, two particularly stand out to me: Devil May Try and Leviathan.
And I wouldn't be surprised at all if they became the band's next singles.
Devil May Try is simply incredible. The desperate pleas addressed to God, delivered through devastatingly intense screamed vocals, contrast beautifully with the return of clean singing on the words Devil May Try. It is precisely this duality between violence and melody that makes Imminence so compelling.
Eddie Berg's vocals have improved yet again: he moves from crystal-clear clean singing to screams that would make even the most seasoned growler blush.
Leviathan, meanwhile, stands out thanks to its infectious vocal hook, particularly that memorable All I know, which stays in your head long after the song has ended.
And when the band gets particularly sharp and aggressive, the razor-edged guitars and syncopated rhythms lean unmistakably towards djent. Leviathan, False Light, Devil May Try and Power Divine are four excellent examples, with an almost mechanical heaviness that adds yet another dimension to their sonic palette. One more difference that demonstrates just how determined Imminence is to avoid being confined to a single musical formula.
But what strikes me most about these four compositions is how they build tension. The songs evolve, grow in intensity and eventually erupt into absolutely monumental finales.
This ability to gradually increase the pressure is one of the band's greatest strengths, and Axis Mundi offers several particularly convincing demonstrations of it.
As for Power Divine, it perfectly illustrates another side of the record: modern, nervous and aggressive metal, with Imminence continuing to push the boundaries of its own compositions.
Exodus: Finding Rest at the End of the World
The album closes with Exodus, a profoundly cinematic piece and probably one of the compositions that best represents the band's artistic ambitions.
The addition of a guitar solo on Exodus is another welcome sign of the band's evolution.
It isn't necessarily an easy song to fully appreciate on the first listen. You have to let yourself be carried away, embrace its shifting atmospheres and follow its progression rather than wait for an instantly catchy chorus.
But what an ending!
Exodus ultimately captures the essence of Axis Mundi all by itself: a succession of storms and moments of calm, violence and tenderness, despair and hope.
Just like our immortal knight, condemned to continue a quest whose meaning he barely understands, tormented by his own demons and desperately trying to discover why he is denied the peace he longs for.
Throughout this album, Imminence seems to remind us that life, death, suffering and hope are not necessarily opposing concepts, but different facets of the same existence.
And perhaps this is where the title Axis Mundi takes on its full significance.
Does Imminence Want to Become the Next Bad Omens? Not Such a Bad Omen!
Of course, we still need to address the controversy surrounding this new album.
Since Imminence signed with Sumerian Records, some fans have accused the band of wanting to follow in Bad Omens' footsteps. Others miss the days of The Black, when the band was operating independently, and see this new partnership as a departure from its original identity.
Personally, I find that accusation particularly unfair.
Yes, certain tracks such as Power Divine, Devil May Try and Leviathan explore sounds that, if you dig really, really deep, might remind you of Bad Omens. But we are still a very long way from anything resembling a straightforward copy.
That would be a bit like accusing every metal band of sounding like Metallica simply because they use distorted guitars!
More importantly, this comparison completely ignores the other half of the album.
What about If Not Now, When? Shed Your Skin? Didn't Think About You (Lately)? What about this new approach to the violin, sometimes buried within the arrangements and sometimes propelled right into the spotlight?
If Imminence were simply trying to reproduce a commercially successful formula, why take so many risks on the same record?
And does signing with Sumerian Records really amount to a betrayal? Can fans claim ownership of a band to the point of denying its members the right to evolve, change direction or simply benefit from additional resources?
The Black was a remarkable independent achievement, and nobody is disputing that. But does this mean Imminence should remain in exactly the same circumstances forever to preserve its credibility?
I certainly don't think so.
And there is one particularly important detail that some critics seem to overlook: despite signing with Sumerian Records, Axis Mundi is still described as a self-produced Imminence album, with additional collaborations. In other words, the band hasn't simply handed over the keys to its music to a record label. It continues to steer its own artistic direction while benefiting from new resources to bring its ambitions to life. Ultimately, isn't that exactly what we should wish for a band whose work we appreciate?
A record label can also help a band achieve greater ambitions, reach new audiences and develop projects that would have been much harder to accomplish on its own.
And when you consider the scale of the visual and cinematic universe surrounding Axis Mundi, it would be difficult to accuse Imminence of lacking ambition.
Ultimately, Imminence has chosen the less comfortable path. Making The Black 2 would probably have been far safer. Instead, they have decided to continue evolving, even at the risk of unsettling some of their fans.
That is a decision I deeply respect.
Like our cursed knight and his loyal dog, Imminence is setting out to conquer new territories. And I sincerely hope the band will continue surprising us for many years to come.
As for me, I'm completely won over. And as you can see in the photographs accompanying this review, I even had the pleasure of receiving my signed vinyl copy of Axis Mundi. A beautiful addition to my collection!
Now I cannot wait to see Imminence live during their 2027 European tour.
Something tells me that, in a few years, we may look back on this band as one of the great names in modern metal. Perhaps even as one of those bands that helped redefine the genre.
Imminence didn't make The Black 2. And that was probably the best decision they could have made.
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