Immolation - Atonement (2017)

I know in the past it may have appeared that I've been a bit hard on Immolation, and to some extent that may be true but that is only because they are one of my all time favorite bands (dating back to 1991 when I first heard Dawn of Possession) and their first four albums are more or less untouchable to me. I mean, that's quite a fucking run, really. In the 'death metal' world, at any rate. Sure, there have been some hiccups, which I can only surmise was due to the fact that their creative fires burned so bright for so long that there was bound to be a stretch of darkness along the way to immortality, yet nonetheless, these motherfuckers have earned their place among the gods for having held high the flag of evil death metal for so long.

Whatever the band's perceived shortcomings may have been, it's clearly irrelevant in hindsight as they have been on an absolutely vicious tear for the past seven years or so starting with 2010's colossal 'Majesty and Decay', followed by the excellent 'Providence' ep and 2013's 'Kingdom of Conspiracy', an overall great album slightly marred by the deafening sound of the drums. All of which brings us to 'Atonement'.... Holy.Fucking.Shit.

First and foremost: The songwriting on 'Atonement' is placed safe and snug beside Immolation's post-'Unholy Cult' body of work, meaning there are scant moments of rampant technicality to be found, if any. The focus here is on simpler, smoother and more straightforward song structures, with, of course, Immolation's signature bizarro tendencies abound. Yes, this is the work of a band that never creatively "sold out", yet has been relentlessly on the hunt for "the perfect riff", casting aside the urge to mindlessly meander along the fretboard (not that that was ever the case, mind you). I'd be lying if I were to say that I do not miss the salad bar of rhythmic fluctuations the band had employed back in the '90's/early '00's, however, this new album is so good that I am completely willing to go wherever it is the band takes me and believe me, listening to and experiencing this album is one hell of a ride!

Speaking of bizarre intricacies, Bob is really firing on all infernal cylinders here! It would seem that he has rediscovered his love for harmonics as they are in full flurry and abound and their inclusion really cements in my mind that they are truly the rotten cherry on top of any evil riff.

I read somewhere that Ross was starting to show a bit of wear this time around. Whoever wrote that must be high on that homemade speed. You know, the kind that meth-zombies with ZZ Top beards out in the backwoods of Texas make by spraying RAID on a screen and shocking it! That motherfucker needs to go Frankenstein a new pair of ears because Ross not only sounds AS good as he has in the past but better. Even the drumming is on point in a way it hasn't been since Alex Hernandez was in the band. It's still not as deliciously kooky in its delivery as it was in the days of old but my man has certainly made it a point to divvy things up a bit instead of answering the guitars in the most mundane way possible.

The album is surprisingly mid-paced, overall, with a few fast and furious moments thrown in for good measure. It kind of reminds me of Morbid Angel's 'Gateways...' in that sense, proving that you don't have to constantly blast like a retard to effectively deliver a sound beating. It also has the feel of a concept album, in the spiritual sense, of course, where everything sort of works together building up to a dark and monumental conclusion.

At this point in the game I feel that Immolation (along with maybe Nile) are at the top of the heap in terms of quality and consistency and as always, I will be impatiently awaiting their next excursion into darkness.

Best to Worst: Immolation

Dawn of Possession (1991)

The best. I mean, the absolute fucking best! This is by far the greatest achievement of New York's finest. Between the band's bizarre riffs and pattern arrangements and Harris Johns' flawlessly haunted production, 'Dawn of Possession' is a masterpiece and the penultimate display of evil death metal wrought from the Northeast. The perfect companion-piece for a hike through Untermyer Park in Yonkers (where Immolation is from) as that was the hangout for occultists in the '70's and '80's, not to mention the Son of Sam himself, David Berkowitz. Prepare to be blown away as you listen to 'Those Left Behind' whilst staring at the Jersey Palisades overlooking the Hudson. Theme music for your ass, mofo!

Failures for Gods (1999)

Not as densely technical as 'Here in After', 'Failures...' can be perceived as the band's first step towards catchier songwriting. That's not to say that this is some sort of journey into the realms of soft rock and easy listening, but it was rather obvious that the band were going more for feeling and vibe on this one than it's almost jazzier predecessor. As far as songwriting goes, I place this alongside the band's flawless debut but the one thing that fucks it up a bit is the production. I could only imagine this with a Harris Johns sheen. Aside from that one flaw these songs are among their best and this is perhaps the second most played Immolation album in my domain. Also of note is the performance of then new drummer Alex Hernandez, who not only fit the band's style like a glove but managed to add more "kook" to Immolation's style.

Close to a World Below (2000)

The production here is a slight step up from the band's last album but can at times be a bit on the muddy side. I'm not sure what the deal is with Immolation's long-standing battle with production standards but...

Musically, the evil is still here in all it's glory along with the band's knack for bizarro riff intricacies. Unfortunately, Immolation would lose one of their founding members (guitarist Tom Wilkinson) after this album's release and despite all of the praise that other guitarist Bob Vigna gets to this day, I strongly feel that an important piece of the band's sound left with Wilkinson. Nevertheless, 'Close...' is a highly enjoyable record and in many ways I view it as the end of the truly essential Immolation albums. After that it's been a creative minefield of hits and misses. Nothing terribly offensive (ie: Cold Lake, Illud Insanum Divinus), but nothing terribly inspired, either.

Here in After (1996)

After a lengthy hiatus, Immolation returned with their sophomore album and I had slightly mixed feelings about it. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think this album sucks by ANY means, but topping 'Dawn...' is a fucking TALL order. For me, at any rate.

Some of the band's best and most memorable material is found on this album as is their most technically challenging. Despite this, I was actually glad to hear the band return to a more eerie approach to riff-writing with the follow-up, 'Failures for Gods'.

Majesty and Decay (2010)

After what I consider to be Immolation's "dark age" the band came back with a fucking vengeance in 2010 with this monster of an album. The band had finally achieved that "perfect" production and overall this is the album that I feel should have come out after 2000's 'Close to a World Below'.

Kingdom of Conspiracy (2013)

KoC finds Immolation back in the throes of production woes. Instead of an undercooked and dry sounding album (ie: Failures for Gods, Unholy Cult, Harnessing Ruin) KoC is WAY overproduced. Fortunately this takes absolutely nothing away from the songs themselves as 'Kingdom...' finds Immolation continuing on the path blazed by their previous album, 'Majesty and Decay'.

Providence (2011)

Tasty little treat that manages to score lower than 'Kingdom...' and 'Majesty...' only for its shorter running-time. Really this release is about equal to the aforementioned duo in terms of quality and likeability. There are moments of pure evil on here that remind me of the band's earlier works.

Unholy Cult (2002)

Now we get to that part of the list where things get a bit hazy.

I'm not sure what it is about this album that I find fault with as many of the songs are damn good but it exists nonetheless. Maybe it was my inherent prejudice against the band replacing Tom Wilkinson or maybe it was the fact that 'Unholy Cult' broke the cycle of stupendous album covers that adorned each Immolation release up until this point. I don't know. The fact is, 'Unholy Cult' is not a bad album by any means but it would seem that my agitation by the band's simple changes would be a sign of things to come.

Shadows in the Light (2007)

Easily the band's worst production (and that's no small feat). The drum sound on this album is absolutely fucking awful. Just awful. The songwriting isn't the worst but it's far from the best. Though there are some genuinely aggressive moments on this album, the weirdo-ism's of days past are just that... long fucking gone. Thankfully the band snapped to their senses and released a smashing follow-up worthy of the early half of their catalog.

Harnessing Ruin (2005)

By far the lamest album the band has released. I don't know WHAT the fuck was going on in their personal lives, but whatever it was it obviously stunted the creative flow of the band. Nothing evil. Nothing interesting. Just lame. Lame. Lame. Lame. Lame.

Hope and Horror (2007)

The only reason this scores lower than 'Harnessing...' is that it's an -ep- and the songs here are just NOT interesting whatsoever. Obviously the writer's block that plagued the band during the writing process for 'Harnessing...' had not quite worn off during this time.

Immolation - Kingdom of Conspiracy (2013)

Alright, here we have it... 'Kingdom of Conspiracy'. Ever since 'Harnessing Ruin', it's almost as if the band has been on auto-pilot. Now don't get me wrong, Immolation have without a doubt released some winners during this period such as 'Majesty and Decay' as well as the 'Providence' ep, but since 'Harnessing...' Immolation has opted to ease up on the more technical aspects of their former sound and have adapted a more straightforward approach to songwriting. Fine by me, because at the end of the day it all boils down to whether or not the songs sound good, and do they? The answer is yes. Without a doubt this ranks among the bands more formidable material and is certainly finer than the duo of duds that were 'Harnessing Ruin' and 'Shadows in the Light'. The dismal and oppressive atmosphere is still there as are the quirky riffs that only Immolation can produce. I've read complaints about the drummer, and while his style is certainly not as kooky and bizarre as Smilowski or Hernandez, his technique is perfectly appropriate for what the band is currently dishing out.

Stylistically KOC is the natural continuation of the band's two previous releases. There's no big change in sound or direction. The only real flaw here is that some of the songs lack a standout identity and tend to bleed into one another. Five songs in and you're still thinking you're on the first or second track. Not a big deal and usually the more you familiarize yourself with an album that sort of thing tends to iron itself out. I mean fuck, this album was just released today! Give it some time.

Again, this is a solid Immolation album that will sit quite comfortably alongside the rest of their catalog (although I gotta say, that cover is fucking terrible) and unless you're an abnormally anal fuck, KOC should satisfy your hunger until the next album comes rolling down the hill a couple of years from now.

The Way's Top 5 Most Blasphemous & Evil Sounding Death Metal Albums of All Time

To me, for a band to sound truly "evil", there has to be that special something about it. It has to have a certain quality. I know many folks out there think that by having Satanic lyrics in their songs the musician is automatically "evil" sounding. Ha! Nothing could be further from the truth. I've heard many bands throughout the years with Satanic lyrics, who made The Chipmunks sound voraciously blasphemous in comparison. A great wealth of black metal bands quickly comes to mind. No. Truly evil sounding death metal bands have to have a certain vibe about them. A Particularly "gloomy" aura. It's not just about "evil" lyrics. There has to be a mastery over nuance and subtlety. For example, there's something about a band that employs the use of string bends and trills that somehow gives me the impression that they're privy to some unspeakable horror that can only be found within the darkest landscape of the mind. Obviously the use of tremolo style picking is also of great importance. Personally, I've always considered the contrast of low end gloom and pinch harmonics to be an added bonus when applied. Here are the following five death metal albums that, for me, fall perfectly into that category.


5) Morbid Angel - Covenant (1993)

I know a lot of people cite 'Altars of Madness' as the "be all end all" Morbid Angel album, but for me the band truly reached the pinnacle of their abilities with 1993's Covenant. Though the band has always had a firm grasp on creating evil sounds, I felt that they really knocked it out of the park with this album. The sound was a bit more murky and cavernous what with their newfound low end and there was a larger emphasis on slower, gloomier sounding riffs. Make no mistake though, the whirlwind rhythmic onslaught that made them such a force to be reckoned with in the first place was still present in songs such as 'Rapture' and 'Blood on My Hands', yet it was the doomier tracks like 'God of Emptiness' and 'World of Shit' that had me entranced and obsessed.



4) Disciples of Mockery - Prelude to Apocalypse (1999)

Featuring 3/4's of Incantation's 'Onward to Golgotha' line-up, DOM's blasphemous debut features everything from grinding death metal to slow and decrepit doom to even a more "blackened" sounding tremolo assault. The vocals of Craig Pillard are a bit different here than anything he's done with Incantation or Disma, for that matter, yet they sound just as menacing and evil. It's too bad that DOM didn't remain active as they would have easily given Incantation a run for their money as evidenced on 'Prelude to Apocalypse'. Hell, I prefer this album to anything Incantation has released since Craig's departure, so there!




3) Coffin Texts - Gods of Creation, Death & Afterlife (2000)

This album really blew me away upon its release way back in 2000. From the band name to the album cover and song titles, I guess I was expecting some bootleg Nile rip-off. By the time the first song finished I knew that this was going to be one of my all time favorite albums.

Coffin Texts sound like a cross between early Incantation and early Bolt Thrower with a healthy dash of Immolation thrown into the mix. The vocals are a bit "witchier" sounding than the aforementioned bands, which brings to mind the German old guard of bands such as Kreator and Sodom.



2) Incantation - Mortal Throne of Nazarene (1994)

Choosing between 'Onward to Golgotha' and this, is no easy decision to make by any stretch, but ultimately I have to give 'Mortal Throne' the edge as it takes everything from the first album and improves upon it. The band sounds that much more mature and enlightened this time around, yet without sacrificing any of the gloomy aesthetics found on their debut.







1) Immolation - Dawn of Possession (1991)

And here it is...

By far the most haunting and sinister sounding death metal album ever! There is something rhythmically serpentine about this album, from beginning to end. The mastery over feeling and atmosphere is rather uncanny when you consider that this was the band's first "professional" outing as well as the fact that they really haven't sounded this sinister since. Everything about this album is top shelf, from the absolutely brilliant production, courtesy of Harris Johns, to the masterful use of tremolo picking, harmonics, string bends and other assorted spells. This is the pinnacle achievement of the band, and although I wouldn't say that it's been downhill since, they certainly haven't been able to get any higher than this.

The Way's Top Ten Greatest Albums of All Time

1) Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium (1991)

What can I say? This is by far my favorite album of all time. More of a "funeral" doom album than anything and without a doubt the heaviest release by the band, 'Forest of Equilibrium' introduced to me my love of slides and string bends. The music on this album encompasses everything from colossal heaviness to autumnal beauty. I was lucky enough to have purchased this when it was released domestically here in the U.S. over twenty years ago at age 16 and it hasn't lost an ounce of its magic since. Unfortunately I cannot say the same  for the band themselves but nonetheless, 'Forest of Equilibrium' will be the album I take to my grave.

2) Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales/Emperor's Return (1984/85)

Back when I was but a wee lad, way before "doom" became a legitimate genre and way before that genre gave way to a various number of "sub"-genres including "stoner doom" and "funeral doom", this was about as slow and heavy as it got, not to mention that the vocals of Tom Warrior were pretty much the most brutal and barbaric thing I had heard yet. Almost 30 years later and this hasn't gotten old yet. Technically, this isn't an album, but a re-release of the band's first two ep's. Nevertheless, my first copy of this was on cassette with both ep's bearing the cover you see to the right.

3) Pestilence - Consuming Impulse (1989)

Not only does this boast one of the greatest vocal performances by a death metal band, but there's not a blast in sight. For my money, 'Consuming Impulse' has probably the greatest sounding down picking of any metal album, death metal or other, not to mention the absolutely stellar production by Harris Johns. To this day, no one has been able to make good on the promise of this album, not even the band themselves.

4) Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos - Slaves to Darkness (1989)

Without a doubt, the absolute HEAVIEST fucking album ever!! Had Basil Poledouris been unavailable to compose the score for the original Conan the Barbarian soundtrack, Bolt Thrower would have been the ideal replacement pick. Ungodly.

5) Immolation - Dawn of Possession (1991)

In all likelihood, this is the most hauntingly evil death metal album ever. Rich with gloomy atmosphere and never boring, 'Dawn of Possession' is a landmark in northeastern U.S. death metal.

6) Incantation - Onward to Golgotha (1992)

Along with 'Dawn of Possession', 'Onward to Golgatha' is a testament to that faction of northeastern U.S. death metal that chose not to inseminate each song with breakdown riffs. This album is about as oppressive as it gets. This is easily the soundtrack to a journey through some infernal Greek underworld complete with colossal doom riffs and cavernous atmospherics, this is about as evil as it gets. Legend.

7)  Sabbat - Dreamweaver: Reflections of our Yesterdays (1989)

Sick vocals, stellar lyrics and concept overall and just plain awesome death/thrash.

8)  Entombed - Left Hand Path (1990)

The album album that opened up the floodgates and ushered fourth the first wave of Swedish death metal. I can honestly say, without a doubt, that not one of them came close to capturing the cavernous brilliance of this album. The band would release one more solid death metal album before abandoning much of the gloomy atmospherics in favor of a more classic rock oriented approach. Fine by me, but 'Left hand Path' remains the one absolutely essential album within their entire catalog.

9) Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness (1989)

Another band that's been to aped to death yet no one has managed to come close to the eerie brilliance of this album. Smoking a joint, opening up the lyric sheet and reading along with each song is sure to blow your mind. While there was indeed a handful of early death and grind bands that were obsessed with gore and horror films, Carcass to it to the extreme by throwing in tons of wordplay and black humor not to mention impossibly technical medical terminology to boot. The pioneering dual vocals of Jeff Walker and Bill Steer are still the best of that style and the Steer's morbid riffing is among the creepiest you'll ever hear in death metal.

10) Therion - Of Darkness (1991)

Despite some of the thrashier sections on this album, 1991's 'Of Darkness' is one of the most "evil" sounding records to crawl fourth from out of the northern wastes of Scandinavia. Cristofer Johnsson's vocals on this record are my absolute favorite by any death metal vocalist before or since and the undeniable Celtic Frost vibe that coats the album is the cherry on top. Therion would release one more album in this vein and then it was all symphony-city from there on out. Not bad in it's own right but my preference lies with the band's older material. Cavernous gloom never sounded so good!



Honorable mentions:

Carnage - Dark Recollections
Accidental Suicide - Deceased
Obituary - Cause of Death
Darkthrone - Soulside Journey

Immolation - Close to a World Below (2000)

For my money, this is the last "essential" Immolation album. Sure, I thought that 'Majesty and Decay' was a great comeback after the relatively dull duo of 'Harnessing Ruin' and 'Shadows in the Light', but as far as the band's initial winning streak in concerned, 'Close to a World Below' is pretty much where the band made their final stand before succumbing to that great worm known as mediocrity.

While I agree that Bob Vigna deserves all the praise he receives I also think that it's a bit tragic that not much is said of former guitarist Tom Wilkinson's many contributions to the band's sound up until this point (as CTAWB would be his final album with the band). It's as if he's been forgotten since his departure so long ago. Too bad, as the difference between the last four albums and the first four is pretty obvious. From 'Dawn...' up until 'Close...' the band's compositions were loaded to the brim with bizarre eccentricities and an unmistakable "evilness" that was seemingly inherent to the band's sound, whether they could help it or not. Since Wilkinson's departure the band had lost much of the weirdness that made listening to Immolation such a unique experience to begin with.

CTAWB is a veritable smorgasbord of odd timing, eerie string bends and harmonics derived from the swamps of some misbegotten netherworld.  There is never a dull moment on this record and the band even goes so far as to incorporate a few more elements into their style previously unheard.

It's clearly evident that drummer Alex Hernandez was coming into his own this time around. That's not to say that he sounded out of place on the band's previous longplayer, 'Failures for Gods', but this time around you can hear a bit of the technique that he had employed during his time with Fallen Christ. Up until that point, CTAWB was the fastest Immolation album as the band were finally allowing full on blast beats to be added to the mix.

It's almost as if the album cover was an indication that the band's collective brilliance was at an end and there was nowhere else to go after this. The demons had won. Christ was burning in Hell and the band had served its ultimate purpose. Sure, they haven't committed any sort of musically treasonous act such as Morbid Angel nor did they jump on the black metal bandwagon as a countless sum of their generational peers had done in the years prior to this albums release, but as evidenced with Deicide and the lot of their output post-Legion, Immolation had simply run out of gas and ideas and it would take a few albums for them to realize that. Despite the fact that 'Majesty and decay' is a pretty damn good album, I do not feel that it's quite on the same level as CTAWB or the trio of albums before it, though it's certainly a level or two beyond the dull mediocrity of 'Harnessing...' and 'Shadows...'. Whether or not Immolation returns to the bizarre nethervoid that spawned their first four albums remains to be seen.

Immolation - Shadows in the Light

This album was the second misfire by the band in a row. Instead of excruciatingly boring songs, however, this album boasts Immolation's worst production job to date. If one thing can be said about Paul Orfino, it's that you don't know what the fuck you're gonna walk out of the studio sounding like. That's gotta be the most inconsistent sounding motherfucker ever!

Whereas 'Harnessing Ruin' had a very dry and almost "sandy" quality to it, 'Shadows...' is extremely muddy sounding. Now I happen to be a fan of some of the most cavernous sounding recordings ever, from Magus 'Ruminations of Debauchery' down to Crematory's 'The Exordium' and 'Wrath of the Unknown' demos. But see, that's the difference. Demos and swamped out sound quality went hand in hand back in those days. When you're on your seventh studio outing, I'm expecting a little more, especially when you've released sonic masterworks such as 'Dawn of Possession' and 'Here in After'. To some degree, there is no excuse for the sound on this album. This is what it sounds like when your album is produced by a hack.

The evil sound has definitely made it's way back into the songwriting though it is still miles away from the bands earlier works and despite the return of the bands more "haunting" vibe, there are still plenty of boring, "filler" type riffs that were obviously written not long after, if not during the 'Harnessing Ruin' era.

Ross' vocals sound particularly venomous on this album, which is really saying something as most death metal vocalists tend to lose their edge as the years go by. I mean, hell, what do you expect? I can only imagine the damage that abrasive style of "singing" does to ones throat, so to consider that Ross sounds this good so late in his career is astonishing to say the least.

Aside from the muddy sound of the album, I think the worst aspect is the sound of the drums themselves. I once read somewhere that 'the drums sound like someone hitting wet cardboard' and I could never in a million years top that description. Not only do the drums sound particularly horrid but the volume in which they were recorded was seemingly jacked up to the max as they pretty much overpower everything else on the album. If the drum situation was altered a bit, this album wouldn't sound half as bad as it does because as I mentioned earlier, the songwriting is much better than then the album before it.

Lastly, once again Immo have opted to employ some generic, computer generated image to use as the album's cover. The fact that this LP and the one before it have such lame-o excuses for "cover art" says a whole lot about the material within. At the end of the day, although this album is certainly more enjoyable than 2005's 'Harnessing Ruin', Immolation still have a few more steps ahead of them before their triumphant return to the realms of greatness.

Immolation - Harnessing Ruin

By far the weakest album released by the band throughout the entirety of their existence. Make no mistake... there is no radikulting going on here or anything even remotely limp wristed for that matter. It's just a weak and boring album. This is the kind of shit you would expect a posse of heroin addicts to record after three or four days of withdrawal. I guess it makes sense that after 5 albums of weirdo dissonance strewn about a flawlessly haunted atmosphere, the band would eventually crash into a creative brick wall and release such an uninspired slab of rust as this.

The vocal performance is of no consequence as this is pure Ross Dolan doing only what he knows how. I feel confident in saying that I HIGHLY doubt you'll ever hear this Man crooning on about pink dildos and broken hearts. This is also the first album to feature Steve Shalaty of Ohio's 'Odious Sanction' behind the kit. It bummed me out at first to find out that Alex Hernandez took a hike as I felt his bizzaro approach fit Immo's equally spaced out take on all things brutal like a glove, especially considering that by their third album together (2002's 'Unholy Cult'), the chemistry was at its peak and things could only get better from there. Oh well.

The real problem is in the riffs. I'm not quite sure what ol' Bob was attempting here but the end result is the aural equivalent of flat soda. No pizzazz whatsoever. Kind of makes you wince a little at first and wonder if the rest of the bottle tastes like this or was it some fluke bastion poured from out of its confines. Nope. No fluke here folks. Just a collection of songs that should've stayed on the back burner.

The guitars and production sound similar to that of 'Failures for Gods' and 'Unholy Cult'. Whereas 'Close to a World Below' and 'Shadows in the Light' have a more muddier, bassier sound, this album has a very raw and stripped down feel that sort of takes away from the simplicity of the songs themselves.  Another thing in regards to the simplicity of the song structures is that normally I have no problem with a band going for a more "minimalist" approach, I mean hell, I love Thergothon, Celtic Frost, etc, but while going minimalist is fine and dandy, the riffs chosen for such an endeavor should also be interesting, something that the rhythmic passages on 'Harnessing Ruin' are not.

What's most painful about this release is that there really isn't anything good on it. Granted, it's not a "stab in the back" betrayal such as Morbid Angel's last album or anything even remotely close to that level. It is just not an exciting album to listen to whatsoever. The very beginning drum roll and riff of 'Challenging the Storm' is decent enough and somewhat promising until it becomes apparent that the song is going nowhere and the song 'Harnessing Ruin' is the only standout track in its entirety as it could easily fit into any of Immolation's essential offerings with its evil vibe being exuded consistently throughout.

Lastly, am I the only one who was more than a little bummed with Immolation's persistence in using that shamefully pretentious logo that they've been sporting since 'Failures...'?