“We are the adversary.”
In the world of heavy music—and death metal in particular—you would be hard-pressed to find a band that can stay relevant and engaging for more than twenty years. After all, death metal is not a genre that can easily be sustained into old age due to the technical proficiency and speed required to perform it, as well as the vocal strength needed for the growls and screams that fans have come to expect. However, this is not an issue for Immolation. Now entering their fourth decade as a band, Immolation have become known for their propensity for writing unrelenting slabs of death metal full of oppressive dissonance and flurries of some of the most technical riffs ever put to music. Whether it’s their 1991 debut album Dawn of Possession or 2022’s Acts of God, Immolation have established themselves as one of the most prolific acts to emerge from the genre as a whole. Now, they return once again with their new album Descent to see if they can continue their long and exciting career with yet another hit.
As an album, Descent adds little, if anything, to the sound now synonymous with Immolation. Instead, it demonstrates that even nearly forty years into their career, they can still write engaging songs filled with the harshness and technical precision that made them legendary in the first place.
One thing that stands out while listening to Descent is that, while the album doesn’t introduce new elements to Immolation’s sound—there are no clean vocals, no overly intrusive blackened elements, and no symphonic additions—it highlights just how proficient the band continues to be at this stage of their career. “These Vengeful Winds” opens the album on a particularly jarring note, delivering a savage helping of melancholy woven into the song’s technical riffs. This not only sharpens the track’s already razor-edged intensity but also demonstrates how a harsh atmosphere can elevate a song without the need for potentially distracting additions. Fans looking for a display of Immolation’s technical prowess won’t have to wait long, as the second track, “The Ephemeral Curse”, showcases Immolation’s ability to craft complex sections and shifting time signatures in a way that would make even the most technical bands envious.
Considering that Immolation is often credited as one of the “Big Four” of New York death metal—alongside Suffocation, Incantation, and Mortician—one can safely expect their albums to be monstrously heavy in a way that few bands can match. Thankfully, Descent more than lives up to that standard. While every song on the album ranks among the heaviest material the band has produced, one of the clearest examples is “God’s Last Breath”, which successfully combines discordance with a rare use of death metal breakdowns to create what could be considered Descent’s heaviest track. Even a more melodic song by Immolation’s standards, such as the later cut, “Host”, carries a weight that easily rivals the brutality of bands far younger than the New York outfit.
Overall, Descent is yet another strong addition to Immolation’s expansive discography. While it doesn’t introduce new elements or significantly expand the band’s stylistic range, it reinforces an important point: an established act doesn’t always need to reinvent itself to remain compelling. Instead, Descent shows the value of refining and perfecting the elements that made Immolation so engaging in the first place. If this album is any indication of the band’s current creative headspace, there’s little doubt that Immolation could very well reach the fifty-year mark.
8/10
Descent releases this Friday, via Nuclear Blast Records, and you can pre-order it here.