Their excellent self-titled début in 2016 did plenty to make a listener look forward with anticipation as to what Impavidus might have up their collective sleeves. The first release from this EP, ‘Lies’, opens with a storming bit of drumming, courtesy of Chris O’Rourke and some wonderful vocals from the very talented Michelle Adamson, it’s clear right of the bat that on Eradication of Mankind (Independent/Bandcamp) they’ve made good on those expectations.

Michelle’s vocals swoop down from soaring melodic highs to guttural growling lows seemingly with ease, the juxtaposition of the two accentuating the strong hooks of the choruses. These choruses grab the listener and, quite possibly based upon personal experience, will have you singing along in a slightly embarrassing falsetto, for a quite infuriating amount of time afterwards.

The punishing blast of ‘Reprisal’ works well with a solid underlying groove, throw into the mix some epic guitar solos and dizzying riffs from Gav Smith and Eradication of Mankind is pretty much ticking every box you could have hoped for. The production from Chris Fielding at Skyhammer Studios really brings out the sound of the band and lets all the members shine. Helping the earworm factor in these choruses is the hefty amount of groove present in the rhythm section, the bass of Patrick McBride being particularly notable on last track ‘XII’. This goes through multiple phases and really showcases that Impavidus can produce some world class metal.

Only a year since their début, and they’re showing that they’re growing rapidly, the improvement over their first EP is infused throughout, their collective song-writing has come on in leaps and bounds. They seem to be firing on all cylinders here, and I now find myself in the position of REALLY wanting a fully fledged album.

8.0/10

RICH PRICE