IMMOLATION

Some may disagree, but in my view, Immolation is a rather paradoxical phenomenon on the American brutal scene. On one hand, the band has a nearly twenty-year history and, although they have released only their seventh full-length across those two decades, they long ago stopped needing to prove their status as mega-monsters of heavy music. On the other hand, throughout those twenty years of creative activity, the band was never a clear-cut representative of death metal's first echelon. Everyone talked about CANNIBAL CORPSE, DYING FETUS, and the various Avulseds of the world, while Immolation, though everyone seemed to acknowledge their high standing, lingered somewhere on the sidelines. Then again, perhaps this is a deliberate desire on the band's part to stay as far as possible from the mainstream and fashionable trends — indeed, nobody has ever accused Immolation of softening up, going pop, or following modern tendencies. The band has always performed maximally dark and severe (though not always truly heavy in terms of guitar chug) brutal death metal, always difficult for the average listener to absorb, which, however, never diminished the number of true meat connoisseurs. The new album doesn't deviate from the band's style, but to your humble servant it did seem slightly more straightforward (in the best possible sense), groovy, and heavy. Slightly more prominent and meaty guitar chug, a somewhat more measured musical tempo, the same low growl, a menacing and confident rhythm section, and the ultra-dark melodic palette of the record — perfectly captured by the color of the cover art: a dark brownish-red, the color of clotted blood, the blood of the burning angel at its very center.