After only a few years of being around, Impending Triumph (made up of François and Déhà) have already hit the ground running! They signed scored a record deal with Jawbreaker records and now they are celebrating the release of their new self titled EP! Check them out!

THE NWOTHM: Greetings, Impending Triumph! Can you introduce the members of the band and where you are from?

François: Greetings The NWOTHM, and thanks for your interest in Impending Triumph! There are only two members in this band: Déhà, who writes the music, plays guitars, bass, drums, and takes care of the backing vocals (and provides some lead vocals and amazing high-pitched screams here and there), and me, who writes the lyrics and most of the vocal lines, and sings. Déhà is from Belgium and lives in Brussels, where all our songs have been written and recorded. I live in Paris, France.

THENWOTHM: You guys have not been around for long! Can you tell us about the early days of the band and how it came about?

I.T: Déhà and I met in 2017, when my black metal band Abduction came to his studio to record its sophomore album, “A L’Heure Du Crépuscule”. We immediately became friends and in 2020, I asked him if he would be willing to start a traditional heavy metal project with me. I had this idea in the back of my mind for years, but I didn’t feel confident enough as a singer to give it a go. Then, something rather random happened. Some time in May 2020, a drawing artist I admire posted covers of old books he found in his attic on his Facebook page.

These were all fantasy stories from the 80’s, with epic visuals showing stuff like dragons and barbarian warriors in flashy colours. When I saw the post, I commented and wrote something in the vein of “wow. How cool would it be to have a drawing like this as the cover of an old school heavy metal album?” And, rather jokingly, the artist answered and said: “you do the music, I’ll take care of the artwork”. And we both stayed true to our words! We actually asked another artist, Sébastien Grenier to provide the artwork for the EP in the end, but we will most definitely use the original cover we got for something else.

THENWOTHM: And did you have any other bands before Impending Triumph?

I.T: Yes… Many! I’ve been playing with different bands or projects since 2006. Currently, I’m involved in Abduction (progressive black metal) and Angellore (melodic/gothic doom metal). Déhà sings in Wolvennest (dark folk/ritualistic ambient) and Dropdead Chaos (kickass nü metal), among many, many other bands, and projects. Just check his page on the metal archives website. The amount of stuff this guy is involved in is ridiculous… And beyond amazing!

THENWOTHM: Going back, can you all remember the first record or cassette tape that you purchased? And if so, was it metal or something completely different?

I.T: I was lucky enough to grow up in a family where heavy metal was played constantly. My parents didn’t like it, but my sisters did, so I was exposed to it at a very young age. I remember the first LP I purchased, which was Destroyer (1976) from Kiss. I was literally obsessed with this band when I was a kid, and I still love them today. My passion for music is deeply rooted in old school hard rock and heavy metal.

Déhà: I mostly did mixtapes, as I didn’t have enough money to buy tapes. The very first tape that I ever bought was “De Profundis” by Dapnom, French dark ambient. From this moment on, I really understood what oldschool taping and trading meant.

THENWOTHM: How did you guys discover that you had a love for all things heavy metal?

François: Well, it was the most natural thing in the world to me, because my sisters were big fans of heavy metal (Accept and Manowar were among their absolute favourite) and I listened to heavy metal all day long as a kid. In high school, I started to discover other genres of metal, and I felt more attracted to black and doom, but I never gave up on my heavy and power metal roots. When played with passion, this music stills gives me a lot of power. When I listen to my favourite records, I feel a rush of adrenaline and I’m instantly projected in my own fantasy world.

Déhà: Heavy metal makes me smile… I really like it. And writing and playing this music with François just brings me joy. It’s as simple as that!

THENWOTHM: As a group who has inspired your sound for Impending Triumph?

François: Sound-wise, we didn’t try to copy or emulate anyone, but I wanted to have a slightly oldschool vibe in the production, with crunchy guitars, and vocals not too high in the mix, because I feel that it reinforced the mood and the atmosphere of the music. A band like Atlantean Kodex is very inspiring in that standard: their sound is just perfect for the type of slow, epic metal they play. On a strictly musical level, we only listened to four bands before starting to write: Accept, Manowar(first six albums only), Helloween (early stuff) and Running Wild.

THENWOTHM: And where else do you take influence from?

I.T: Impending Triumph’s universe is very much inspired by the comic books/graphic novels I enjoyed as a teenager. Actually, since it was a comic book artist who gave me the initial push I needed to start the project, I decided to hide some references to the graphic novels and comic books I loved as a teenager in the lyrics. Aside from the introduction “Dawn Of Death”, all the song titles in the EP are taken from comic books that I love. They are famous here in France or in Belgium, but probably not so much abroad. I still advise your readers to check the Thorgal saga (“The Invisible Fortress” is the 19th book of the series) and The Quest For The Time Bird, which is an incredibly
deep and moving story. That’s how I got the idea for the “Temple Of Oblivion”.

The lyrics of our songs have nothing to do with these books though. Aside from that, books and movies like the “Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, the old “Willow”, “Dark Crystal” and “Neverending Story” are definitely inspirations, and regarding illustrators, I would name Frank Frazetta, Ken Kelly, Jean-Claude Gal, Victor De La Fuente and Simon Bisley as my main idols. I also love more classical painters like Peter Nicolai Arbo. Just looking at their paintings makes me wanna create music. An endless
source of inspiration!

THENWOTHM: What can you tell us about your EP “Impending Triumph” and the background behind writing and recording the record?

I.T: I’m very pleased with this EP, and I don’t think I would change much on it, even if I could. On that summer of 2020, I entered in Déhà’ studio with some lyrical ideas and a concept in mind, and I knew what type of mood and sound I was aiming at, but that was it. There was no melody, no riff, nothing. But that’s where Déhà thrives! We sat down next to his mixing desk, he grabbed his guitar, started to play some riffs, and we immediately started exchanging ideas and recording. The first song we wrote and recorded was “Armies Of The Conqueror”, and that specific track set the tone for the entire EP. It came very organically, very naturally and we loved doing it from the get- go.

THENWOTHM: It must feel amazing to be signed to Jawbreaker Records! How did you guys get discovered?

I.T: It does feel amazing, and we consider ourselves quite lucky, as Jawbreaker is a perfect label to work with. Once we were done with the EP and got good promo pictures and our amazing artwork, we just contacted a few labels that we thought would dig our work and asked them if they were interested in signing us. We got a few positive answers, which was unexpected to be honest, but we chose to go with Jawbreaker. And it really was the best possible decision.

THENWOTHM: The world of metal always gives fans so many great and interesting album covers! Can you tell us about the warrior with his sword on the front of your EP? Who created him?

I.T: Sure! This nameless character is a high-ranked officer from Puritania’s army. All of the Impending Triumph lyrics are dealing with the horrible things he does by following the orders of Puritania, a fictional empress which pretends to be a benevolent sovereign but actually is a tyrant in disguise. He has the eye of Puritania tattooed on his arm to show his absolute fidelity to the empress. We will follow this character, who is the one telling the story, in future releases as well, and there will be a lot of things happening. It was designed and drawn by the amazing Sébastien Grenier, an amazing artist – who became an amazing friend in the process!

THENWOTHM: And do you have any places or festivals you are really hoping to play sometime soon? Any touring plans for the rest of the year?

I.T:As there are only two guys in this band, we need to hire some friends of ours as backing band. We have some names in mind, but it might take a while before we actually get ready. So, hopefully later this year or next. We would love to play, but we will never be a heavily touring band. It will most likely be special shows every once in a while or appearances at festivals.

THE NWOTHM: And finally, anything else you would like to share with fans? Where can people buy your music and merch?

I:T: Thank you for listening to Impending Triumph, the response to the EP has been very positive, which is super awesome. Please visit our Bandcamp page and the Jawbreaker official website to buy our CDs, LPs, tapes, shirts, patches and everything else a heavy metal fan could wish for! Stay metal!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/impendingtriumph

Bandcamp: https://jawbreakerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/impending-triumph

#jawbreakerrecords #impendingtriumph