Imminence On The Future Of Violincore: “We’re Always Trying To Find Something New That Excites Us”

Eddie Berg talks Imminence’s violincore sound, vulnerability, and returning to Australia this month.

Imminence have spent over a decade building something rare in heavy music: a world where classical virtuosity and metal’s raw aggression collide. The Swedish band’s sound, affectionately dubbed violincore by fans, has taken them from underground acclaim to sold-out global tours, and this week, they’re bringing that experience back down under for their first full Aussie headline run.

For frontman Eddie Berg, the violin has always been at the heart of Imminence’s evolution. “I started playing violin before I started singing and playing metal,” he explained. “Obviously we had the violin as a tool when we started Imminence already, and in our earlier releases, it was more used in the background as writing arrangements and stuff.”

That changed around This Is Goodbye, when the band began performing acoustic versions live. “We could see it was something that people loved and resonated with. So from that point we tried to incorporate it into the normal music.”

This instinct to reimagine has guided Imminence since their beginnings, and resurfaced powerfully last year when they revisited their 2014 debut I for its 10th anniversary re-recording, The Reclamation of I. “It was one of those records we were not completely satisfied with in terms of how it sounded,” Eddie said. “The first idea was just to maybe do a remix and remaster, but I wanted to try to record the vocals for one song… and I just felt it was such a big difference in showing the progress I’ve made as a vocalist.” Releasing those songs again a decade later, he said, “was really special… I felt like I could do the album more justice at this point.”

That sense of progression has marked every chapter of Imminence’s catalogue, from I through to The Black and this year’s extended edition The Return of The Black. The band’s songwriting process evolved dramatically after their debut. “The first album was a little bit more like we used to do it back in the days, kind of jamming songs together,” Eddie reflected. “For the next album, we started working more on our own. It was very liberating to be able to write music without being everyone together at the same time.”

On stage, Imminence have become known for turning their shows into something closer to theatre than a standard gig. That presence, Eddie said, “is small discoveries over a long time of playing live as a band. It’s never really something that we planned out.”

With this tour cycle, though, they’ve leaned even further into production. “We could bring in the production and make it even and lean more into it,” he said, teasing what fans can expect when they hit bigger Australian venues this week.

Their live shows often blur the line between ferocity and fragility, a reflection of the band’s unique emotional range. “Sometimes there’s a handful of shows where you know, maybe you have a connection and a story from someone in the crowd, and you kind of lock eyes during one of the more vulnerable songs,” Eddie said. “It kind of breaks down your walls. That’s the most hard, but also beautiful thing that can happen.”

While fans often associate Imminence with the metalcore scene, Eddie sees the band’s identity as something more fluid. “I do personally see ourselves as something very different, because we change our style quite often,” he said. “Especially last album, I wouldn’t say is much metalcore… but I do think that metalcore as the genre has also evolved so much, and can be almost anything today.”

That open-mindedness extends to what comes next. “What we’re working on right now,” Eddie said when asked about uncharted territory. “We’re always trying to find something new that excites us and makes us feel something different.”

After their Good Things Festival debut and sold-out sideshows last year, Imminence’s upcoming tour marks their official headline debut on Australian stages. “It was very successful for us doing those shows,” Eddie said. “The festivals felt great with big crowds, and it just felt like we had to come back.”

Just recently, they appeared onstage at Louder Than Life in the US – a quick, five-song sprint that Eddie says is a challenge in itself. “It’s pretty hard to choose which songs you’re going to play,” he laughed. “You kind of just want to go in and show people quickly who Imminence are and what kind of music we play.”

As for touring in extreme weather, Eddie’s learned a few things from experience. “That’s the benefit of playing a short set,” he said. “It’s worse when it’s like Sydney, with a full 75 or 80 minute set in 40 plus degrees, no air flow whatsoever.” After that infamous show, the band could barely move. “It was a pretty big shock,” he laughed. “We had to stay outside for like 30 minutes after the show to just breathe air again.”

Australia will be ready when Imminence return this week, although minus those ridiculously high temperatures. Their tour kicks off this Friday at the Tivoli in Brisbane, before hitting Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and wrapping up in Perth on the 15th October. Tickets are available here.