Rockfreaks.net

Immolation

Acts Of God

Written by: RUB on 15/02/2022 23:11:15

Hailing from the Big Apple, Immolation has been a household name of the American death metal scene for decades. Ever since changing their name to Immolation back in ’88, they have evolved and perfected their blend of death metal with added progressive elements — you know, that very old school sound the old guard of death metal had (and in the case of Immolation, still have), and which several newer bands are now returning to. With several critically acclaimed albums to their name already, Immolation have released new records at a steady pace every other year or so. This one, however, has been five years in the making, the first time this has happened since their début album “Dawn of Possession” and the following “Here in After” released in 1991 and 1996, respectively. This latest outing “Acts of God” is their 11th full-length overall and has a lot to live up to given the late and great “Atonement” from 2017, and also because the group has released some absolutely mind-blowing albums with remarkable consistency. So, hand to the almighty, I have pretty high expectations for this one.

Setting the stage with an eerie and ominous atmosphere, it quickly becomes evident that Immolation aren’t about to change anything about their sound. And why should they? As the intro piece “Abandoned” concludes, track two “An Act of God” kicks off in fierce and familiar fashion, with a bass sound so deep and pounding that you just instantly recognize the signature Immolation-sound: a super-crisp production, disharmonious melodies, and an overall bleak and heavy soundscape. This specific sound is just so heavy and massive, complementing the man with the pipes — founding member Ross Dolan — very well too. Rather strangely actually, his vocals have never struck me as being anything out of the ordinary, but at the same time, they’re just extremely fitting for Immolation’s music. The tempo as well should come as no surprise to anyone. Even though the plentiful and well-placed breakdowns arrive as naturally as anything throughout the entire album and serve as an opposition to the otherwise extreme soundscape, the tempo overall still remains quite aggressive and rigorous. Imagine mixing classic Morbid Angel with Ulcerate, and you have a pretty decent idea how this sounds.

The same can be said about the third track, “The Age of No Light”, the dissonant and disharmonious riffs of which should make every fan of the band feel right at home. The way in which the other founding member, guitarist Robert Vigna, makes every stroke of the guitar a necessary part of the song and stands out with clever, yet very peculiar riffing is endlessly impressive. Anyone familiar with the band should know how this looks like in a live setting as well – it’s quite the spectacle. The thing about Immolation, and maybe one of the things I like the most about them, is how dynamic the band is, constantly playing with the song structure and tempo of every track, yet never leaving the slightest doubt that this is still very much a death metal album at heart.

After a couple of more or less insignificant tracks in my book (“Shed the Light” and “Overtures of the Wicked”), “Immoral Stain” picks it up again in proper fashion. The dragging guitars complement the pounding double bass drums to perfection as the track leads into oblivion. It’s both grandiose and complex, and utilizes the drums as anchorage to a steady rhythm, with the guitars becoming more and more dissonant throughout the track until it explode into a vortex of blastbeats around the two-minute mark — just to return to the echoing riffs and drum patterns from its start once again. The same soaring guitars are present on “Derelict of Spirit”, albeit the menacing atmosphere is turned up a notch in tandem with the rhythms leading the track being toned significantly down to an absolute beast of a slow-burner, perfect for that floor-deep headbanging. The good thing about Immolation is that they actually master both spectrums of extreme metal; the down-tempo, atmosphere-building death metal, and of course the crushing 240 BPM variant of extremity. Whether the band chooses to utilize both aspects in a single song, or opts for switching it up from track to track, they really sound completely mental when they’re at their best.

Ending on a final high note with “When Halos Burn”, “Let the Darkness In” and “Apostle”, (disregarding the instrumental interlude “And the Flames Wept”), everything should spell for definite end-of-the-year list topping-material, but there is something amiss. What is perhaps the only downside to “Acts of God” — or maybe Immolation in general — is that it feels sort of repetitive. This is mainly due, I believe, to the fundamental sound and song structure Immolation uses. For instance, if you have the album queued in the background during work hours, you miss many great aspects of it. Because of this, and the fact that the album is over 50 minutes long, I’m left with a feeling that at least a small handful of these tracks could’ve been scrapped to avoid the overall picture becoming distorted by their presence, and as such, “Acts of God” ultimately foregoes the opportunity to be a compass and intense force to reckon with. Does this mean that my expectations weren’t met? Only partially, but I believe this to be due to their back catalogue being as strong as it is. Don’t get me wrong: the album is very good, but it’s just not an album that catches on that easily. Instead, the listener truly has to immerse oneself into the soundscape in order to truly grasp what “Acts of God” is all about. If you manage to do this, however, I’m sure you’ll find just as much death metal-pleasure as yours truly managed to in the end.

Download: An Act of God, The Age of No Light, Blooded, Immoral Stain, Derelict of Spirit
For the fans of: Deicide, Hate Eternal, Incantation, Morbid Angel, Ulcerate
Listen: Facebook

Release date 18.02.2022
Nuclear Blast