Immolation – Acts of God (Review)

This is the eleventh album from veteran US death metallers Immolation.

Immolation are one of those timeless, classic death metal acts with a sound all of their own; nobody else sounds quite like them, although many have taken influence from their otherworldly brutality.

Despite the album’s 52-minute running time Immolation are tight and focused throughout, with most tracks hovering around 3-4 minutes in duration. The band know what they’re doing with their material, so there’s very little filler or wasted space here, (the obvious exceptions being the intro and interlude tracks Abandoned and And the Flames Wept, both of which are a decent, but unnecessary).

The music is as well-written and as accomplished as you would hope for a band of this calibre, and it’s clear that Immolation have lost none of their fiery passion for their idiosyncratic style. The songs showcase a variety of Immolation’s strengths across the album, including malevolent atmosphere, catchy riffs, dark melodies, unnerving rhythms, foreboding grooves, oppressive doom, and the iconic growls of their monstrous singer.

The band’s patented combination of dark mood and esoteric brutality makes for a very satisfying and enjoyable listen. I usually prefer my death metal albums to be shorter than this, but the quality on display leaves me very little to complain about, and the length isn’t really an issue. As mentioned above, nobody does this sort of thing quite like Immolation, so it would be churlish to want less of it.

Acts of God is the unmistakable sound of a band in fine form doing what they do best.

Very highly recommended.