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By JEFF MAKI
With their seventh album, Shadows in the Light, death metal veterans Immolation encompasses everything that is worthy of extreme metal but also falls to many of the usual problems with modern death metal.
Overall, Shadows in the Light is a solid, brutal outing from the long running American band. With crushingly heavy songs like “Passion Kill” and “Deliverer of Evil,” the band rips away low-end, hyperactive death metal, sometimes similar to Morbid Angel. It's on this material that Immolation sounds the most tight-knit, allowing songs to take structure and direction. The bulk of the rest of the release is a misguided explosion of manic drumming and cookie monster vocals at maximum velocity. While it's apparent that Immolation is in the upper echelon of the extreme metal scene, the record hits you from 20 directions. It almost sounds as if the drummer, Steve Shalaty, is banging on three drum kits simultaneously. There are so many fills, double bass parts and crashes that sometimes a steady rhythm is not apparent during songs. The drums have a tribal feel to them here and there, adding to the intensity of the album.
My other main complaint is that half of the songs here are interchangeable, sounding almost identical to the next. Of course, it is hard to change things up when you're playing as fast as these guys. I haven't heard an American death metal band play this fast since the scene that spawned out of the United States in the '90s.
If you appreciate your metal in its most extreme form, Shadows in the Light is a worthy addition to your collection. However, I have an interest in everything in extreme metal, but for the reasons above, along with some other things I can't really explain, I didn't truly get into this release like I though I might. As is the case with many bands, Immolation sounds as if they're trying to be the most extreme. But if they just mixed in some more dynamics and different tempos, they would make themselves even heavier and give a recognizable face to their brutal attack.
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