American death metal legends Immolation are back, just in time to soundtrack the apocalypse, with Descent – their twelfth album and their first in four years. With the line-up that first came together for 2017’s Atonement still intact and longtime collaborator Zack Ohren behind the desk, Descent finds Immolation on unstoppable form as they tear through ten densely packed and fiercely imaginative tracks of caustic death metal.
Descent starts out as it means to go on. Following a short prelude, the evil churn of These Vengeful Winds emerges, with Ross Dolan’s remorseless bark leading the charge. Backed by a rock-solid production, it’s clear, right from this virulent opening bars, that the four-piece are out for blood, having achieved a level of malevolent proficiency of which most bands can only dream. It’s followed by The Ephemeral Curse, a dark maelstrom that sees layer upon layer of guitar adding a touch of depth and melody to proceedings. With the band deftly shifting tempos and Ross once again demonstrating his innate ability to dominate his environment, it’s both a fiercely memorable track and a potent reminder of Immolation’s stature as one of death metal’s leading exponents.
The band remain on astonishing form with the imperious savagery of God’s Last Breath. A mid-tempo piece, it carries a weight and momentum that more or less demands the listener headbang themselves into a neck-brace. Honestly, it’s hard to image that Immolation, at this stage of their immense career, could refine their sound any further and yet here, they have done exactly that – and continue on the hyper-brutal Adversary. A frenetic blast of icy death metal it’s delivered with a confidence and power that is irresistible.
The album hits its halfway point with Attrition. Once again changing things up, the track has a dark elegance to it, the remorseless mid-tempo groove of the opening riff simply trampling the listener into the ground. It returns, too, during an extended outro that just seems to grind away at the senses, marking the end of a flawless first half.
Opening the second half, Bend Towards The Dark is a masterclass in extreme metal dynamics, the band weaving in tempo changes, melodic lead breaks, and pummelling percussion, all topped with Dolan’s formidable vocals. It’s followed by Host, which serves as a showcase for Steve Shalaty’s immense skills behind the kit. Death metal stripped right down to its fundamentals; the verse is a sonic battering ram that finds the drums competing with Ross’s percussive rasp. Once again, the strength of Zack Ohren’s production is a key component here and he slowly weaves in additional elements, building the pressure until it finally explodes outwards in a welter of molten riffs.
No such sense of tension and release awaits on the coruscating False Ascent. As short, bloody, and brutal as a street brawl, it’s one of the album’s heaviest tracks. In contrast, the eerie, cinematic Banished offers a moment of sublime calm. With Robert Vigna’s understated lead guitar swirling in a miasma of synth and strings, it’s the perfect soundtrack to Milton’s Paradise Lost, and it neatly paves the way for the album’s epic title track. A final noxious blast of ruthlessly refined death metal, it condenses the band’s remit to a quite remarkable degree, leaving the listener aware only that they have spent the last forty minutes or so in the presence of greatness.
Immolation are one of those rare bands who have an impeccable track record. They have an unmistakable passion for their art, know their genre inside out, and have honed their songwriting skills and musicianship to such a fine point as to be largely unparalleled at this point. With Zack Oren’s steady hand at the helm, Descent is simply flawless and it is hard to imagine a better death metal album emerging in 2026. 10/10
Descent is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
