Album review: Immolation – Acts Of God

Immolation have been at the death metal mill for so long now that even impressed remarks about the length of their habit feel vintage. And yet, even 31 years since their Dawn Of Possession debut, the New York maulers continue to shine in both blunt reliability and heavy creativity.

So it is that on Acts Of God – their 11th album – what you get is death metal so expert in its craft that it also knows exactly how and when to colour outside the lines. Even frontman Ross Dolan has noted the "dream-like quality" of some of the sections, and throughout there's frequent shades of haunting atmosphere to give the aggression an extra dimension.

An Act Of God is a superb blast of technical heaviness, while Noose Of Thorns rides in on a superbly weighty doom riff. The apt The Age Of No Light sits on a base of technical death metal riffs, topped with a knowledge of minor-key melody that lifts it into something far more grandiose than something with such intense, deep vocals as Ross' would normally be. But for all the imagination and off-piste moments, everything is absolutely ripped, delivered with a no-fuss punch, direct and to the point.

So, once again, Immolation have proved they're ageing better than a great number of their contemporaries. Now scoring 11-not-out, they remain one of the most skilled and forward-thinking outfits of their class.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Morbid Angel, Blood Incantation, Gorguts

Acts Of God is out now via Nuclear Blast

Read this: The 15 greatest death metal albums of the ’90s