Immolation - Acts of God

God got me acting strange. 

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on March 1st 2022) 

Truth be told, it took me a while to “get” Immolation. Last year, I was trying to see what it was that I was missing, because in theory they ticked all the boxes that would make me like them. Off-kilter riffing, menacing growls, and an all-around malevolent atmosphere. That changed over time though, as I had found myself strangely attracted to their sophomore, Here In After and Close to a World Below. Another discography run later, they ended up clicking with me, though not as much as their fellow NYDM compatriots, Incantation. As my fondness for them grew, it was announced that they’d be releasing their eleventh album, Acts of God. It’s an album I was cautiously optimistic for, and one that not only lived up to my expectations, but also turned out to be one of their best in a long time.
The main thing that stood out on my first listen was the production. It’s something that I feel the band has struggled with for the longest time in their career. Whether it’d be the lack of bass and thin vocals on most of their releases, or the general flaccid and sterile nature of their post-Nuclear Blast work. While Acts of God is also released under the same label, things are much better, to the point where I’m inclined to say this is one of, if not the best production job they’ve had. The guitars are appropriately monolithic, the drums cut through without taking over the mix, and the bass is for once audible. Its tone is a little clicky but it’s not particularly grating. The aforementioned mix is also quite good, if a little claustrophobic, with the instruments maintaining their place and Ross Dolan’s earth-moving growls being front and centre without distracting from the music.
As for the compositions themselves, they’re very much what one would expect from Immolation at this point. The aforementioned dissonant grooves are still here, propped up by Steve Shalaty’s erratic drumming, offset by searing riffs that tear through one’s sound system. The riffing on tracks like “An Act of God” and “Overtures of the Wicked” is sure to satisfy any long-time fans of the band, especially with the strange harmonies that accompany them, which are present in a lot of the songs. While the band has found their own niche and has spent the better part of the last 2 decades honing in on it, they’re not averse to throwing some curveballs at the listener. There are traces of black metal-infused riffing on some tracks here, most notably on “The Age of No Light”, which help spice things up a little. It’s something I wouldn’t mind seeing the band explore further in subsequent releases, since it’s a sonic marriage that works quite well all things considered.
While I do enjoy this album quite a bit, it’s not quite as perfect as my review so far would have you think. As one might be able to infer from a single glance at the tracklist, this is Immolation’s longest release to date, with 15 tracks clocking in at 52 minutes. This leads to an album that’s guaranteed to have a decent bit of filler that could’ve been cut out, and subsequently improve the experience. For example, the interlude “And the Flames Wept” is wholly unnecessary and doesn’t add much to the experience, and would’ve been better off left out of the album. There are also a few cuts that simply don’t stack up to some of the highlights, such as “Blooded” and “Broken Prey”, which come and go without leaving much of an impression. That being said, these 52 minutes pass by surprisingly quickly, and I wasn’t constantly checking where I am on the album, so I’m willing to let it slide to an extent. Had there been a bit of editing and trimming though, we could’ve had a real “all killer, no filler” type of release in our hands.
As it stands, Acts of God is Immolation’s best release in the past decade, if not their best since Unholy Cult. It’s not perfect by any means and could definitely use some editing, but it’s still another strong release from one of death metal’s most enduring acts. They may not have broken any new ground in a while, but I can’t help but admire their commitment to honing and tweaking their sound, and their consistency in delivering punishing death metal for 30 years now cannot be ignored.
Highlights: An Act of God, The Age of No Light, Overtures of the Wicked, Apostle

Rating: 85%

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