Immolation "Shadows In The Light"

Tracklist: 01. Hate's Plague 02. Passion Kill 03. World Agony 04. Tarnished 05. The Weight Of Devotion 06. Breathing The Dark 07. Deliverer Of Evil 08. Shadows In The Light 09. Lying With Demons 10. Whispering Death Release: 2007 Genre: Death Metal URL: www.everlastingfire.com Label: www.listenable.net

Ok, first I have to clarify, that I can't rate this review neutrally, as I'm a big Immolation fan , but I take care that this review will be an objective one ;D. Ok, cool so that point is clarified. So should I really tell something about Immolation? I hope there is no need for it, if yes you should really die now or you have to continue with living in your small pathetic world. If you don't have enough information about one of the most important and best Death Metal bands of all time, you are beyond help. The newest output of the gods is called "Shadows In The Light" and all I can say is that Immolation are back with one of the best releases of the last years. Damn, I'm just glad that I'm still alive so I can experience this, besides that the band gives a shit about all the new Death Metal trends. So Immolation doesn't play any slams or gravity blasts, they don't user any sick as fuck guttural frognoise vocals and they're not able to compete with bands like Beneath The Massacre if it's a competition about the technical skills. But does a band like Immolation really need that? Definitely not, maybe there are some faster, more brutal and more technically bands outside, but none of them got a chance against Immolation, if it goes about the song writing. I'm really happy that they have ignored this "higher, faster, better" trend that is circulating in the Death Metal scene at the moment. Songs like "Hate's Plague" or "Lying With Demons" are showing us that they haven't unlearnt how to blast and cudgel in the veins of the song "Furtherst From The Truth" from there amazing "Close To A World Below" album. The album continues with the great song "Passion Kill", which perfectly reflects the hypnotically character of the Death Metal gods. It has the typical Immolation stomp riffing, which makes that song to be the best live song of the new album in my opinion. Of course the great solo guitar melodic parts, which you can hear really good on the 3 rd track "World Agony" are again a permanent feature on this record. The dark atmosphere which the band creates again is really uniquely in the Death Metal genre. Even the Black Metal scene got the proof now, that it's possible to create evil and dark music when the band is able to play their instruments and got no shitty underground sound production. Ok, if it would only be about dark atmosphere the album "Unholy Cult" would still win the race. "Shadows In The Light" however is a way more sophisticated and got the better songs in my opinion. The sound production on this record here isn't up to date, but a overproduced sound wouldn't fit into a band like them. The sound is a little bit raw, but it really fits 100% to the new song material and it doesn't need to hide behind other sound productions in the genre. Fortunately The Line-up hasn't changed since the previous album "Harnesing Ruin". I think with this constellation they got one of the strongest line-up's in the bands history. One reason for that is drummer Steve Shalaty. His drum work is so diversified and perfectly that I'm amazed over the whole playtime. He's able to play everything on a high level, from fast blastbeats to tricky rhythms. By the way "Shadows In The Light" is in comparison with the a little bit weak previous album considerably better. I don't need to say anything about the vocals and guitars, because they're as always fuckin' great. In my opinion this release is the best since "Close To A World Below". Are there any bad songs on this album? Are you kidding? Every single song is a dark and evil Death Metal anthem, which I haven't heard for ages in such a great quality. Immolation has managed something where other Death Metal gods (Morbid Angel, Suffocation) have tried, and failed. They have created an album which is able, to match up easily with old classic albums of the band. But with this album it's the same with "Close To A World below", it needs some time to develop for the listener, so take some time for this Death Metal masterpiece and let it carry you away. I haven't really found any negative aspects on this album, even the Achilles' heel of the most Death Metal bands called the playtime is with over 40 minutes more than ok. Musically there is no reason to criticize; only the sober cover artwork and the loveless design of the booklet haven't made a good impresion. But these points are only secondary if the music is great. "Shadows In The Light" = hypnotic, evil, brutal, dark, perfect. Immolation is still one of the best Death Metal bands on the whole planet and that's because I can't give anything else as the maximum score.

Rating: 100 % | from Gore | Date: 28.07.07 | Time: 15:25	shut down