ALBUM REVIEW: Descent – Immolation
Three things are certain in life. Death, taxes and IMMOLATION delivering top tier death metal. For just shy of four decades, the New Yorkers have established themselves – and maintained – a fierce reputation as one of the leading names in death metal. Four years after 2022’s Acts of God comes their 12th offering, Descent, and it stakes a claim for one of the most brutal records you’ll hear this year.
Those accustomed to IMMOLATION‘s brand of death metal will feel right at home with Descent, but for the uninitiated, this is a record that doesn’t pull its punches. Not one bit. Instead, it holds you in a chokehold and pulls you into the abyss. These Vengeful Winds is an absolutely colossal opener – quick to deploy a cacophony of hard-hitting riffs, rapid-fire drumming and a monstrous vocal display from Ross Dolan, one which wastes no time in delivering its aural beatings.
From there, Descent continues to impress, reinforcing the fact that IMMOLATION just don’t make bad records. The Ephemeral Curse twists and turns with sadistic glee, God’s Last Breath dials up the atmosphere to create a prolonged sense of dread and would sit comfortably on 2000’s masterpiece Close To A World Below with its measured and chilling approach. Adversary and Attrition – both released as singles – offer back-to-back beatings and is some of the best work you’ll find on the album. Adversary boasts some of the fiercest riffs Robert Vigna might have ever penned and the way in which they combine with Steve Shalaty‘s drumming (which is utterly flawless throughout Descent) is nothing short of world class. Attrition meanwhile is a mid-tempo rager, one in which the classical methodological IMMOLATION approach is placed front and centre, and the sheer destructive weight it hits with could level a building.
Where death metal continues to evolve and mutate, IMMOLATION‘s template has never been to buckle to trends and this has been a fundamental aspect to why they have achieved such consistency. That, and maintaining a solid lineup helps too. The result shows throughout Descent. It’s calculated. Measured. And utterly fucking monstrous. Even in the album’s latter stages, the band refuse to loosen their stranglehold. Bend Towards The Dark has enough necksnapping velocity to induce a serious case of whiplash, and False Ascent serves a perfect soundtrack to the dark and volatile times we currently are living through.
Banished is the most left-field offering here, but even by IMMOLATION‘s standards, it’s nothing too far off the beaten path. Here, the atmosphere is ranked up to the max and the instrumental track serves as an effective respite between False Ascent and the final, title-track, giving you enough time to catch your breath before one final aural battering.
Considering the band are celebrating their staggering 40th year as a band in 2026, Descent more than proves that there’s still plenty of fuel left in the IMMOLATION tank. This is a lean, mean, killing machine of a record, one that is precise in its aural punishment. Strap yourselves in and brace for 42 minutes of some of the most ferociously sick death metal you’ll likely hear all year.
Rating: 9/10
Descent is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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