Is the world ready for Immolation’s twelfth album?
Titled Descent, it arrives right on time to celebrate the 38th anniversary of the band, featuring Ross Dolan (bass/vocals), Robert Vigna (guitar), Steve Shalaty (drums), and Alex Bouks (guitar, ex-Goreaphobia).
The album opens with These Vengeful Winds’ gentle introduction, a brief moment of floating guitar quickly crushed by a polished and devastating rhythm section, as well as Ross’s roars, which add to the track’s pessimistic atmosphere. The complex, dissonant touch emerges at just the right moment to pave the way for The Ephemeral Curse, highlighting hypnotic tones before launching into another fast-paced assault, drawing on its furious Old School roots to round out these lingering notes before giving way to God’s Last Breath and its unsettling tones. Once again, we sense that the calm is short-lived, and it will undoubtedly hit us with full force with stifling, jerky patterns that follow, leading into the very direct and effective Adversary. Having experienced this track live before, it’s simply monstrous from start to finish; balancing brutality and technicality, it gets straight to the point by pounding us, then abruptly stops to make way for Attrition, which imposes an almost martial pace as it unleashes its killer riffs. The acceleration will get the better of every fan’s willpower, making us give in to the call of headbanging during the solos, but also on Bend Towards The Dark, which starts at full speed and never lets up, barely slowing down to let the musicians place their perfectly dissonant parts before picking up the pace again. We move on to Host, which quickly proves aggressive while remaining catchy, staying within the band’s familiar tones with that little groovy touch here and there, as well as a special focus on the solo, then False Ascent returns to an imposing approach, though a bit old-school in its menacing vibe that comes in waves. Banished finally offers us a true respite with dark yet soothing keyboards, joined by a rather brooding but intoxicating guitar, then the band hits us one last time with Descent, the eponymous title track and coup de grâce of this new album, which drives the point home with its massive rhythm section, sharp leads, and wild vocals, making the track a true pinnacle of violence in every way.
Immolation is one of those rare bands that started off strong and whose production quality hasn’t waned over time. If you’ve enjoyed even a single album by this New York-based band, Descent will be your go-to album for a long time to come!
95/100
