IMMOLATION — Unholy Cult (review)

IMMOLATION — Unholy Cult album cover Album · 2002 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Unholy Cult" is the 5th full-length studio album by US, New York based death metal act Immolation. The album was released through Listenable Records in October 2002. It´s the successor to "Close to a World Below" from 2000 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as guitarist Thomas Wilkinson has been replaced by Bill Taylor.

Stylistically you´ll find very few surprises if you are familiar with the last couple of albums by Immolation. The music style is still pitch black blasphemous/anti-christian themed death metal featuring twisted dissonant riffs, brutal growling vocals, creative drumming, and generally just a very different take on old school death metal. Immolation employ very few "regular" power chords, and they create a rather unpleasant claustrophobic sound. Even among fans of death metal the unconventional riffs and rhythm patterns may be an aquired taste. Sometimes it almost feels like the music is being played backwards and you experience an odd "being sucked into the abyss" feeling.

As a result of how the album is produced "Unholy Cult" is actually one of Immolation´s more "accessible" releases though. While some of the predecessors feature more dense, dark, and murky sound productions, "Unholy Cult" features a sound production where every instrument is audible in the mix at all times. It´s still a raw and brutal sounding production, but sligthly less challenging than what came before. That can´t be said for the actual music though, which is still as technically well played and adventurous as ever.

Immolation are masters of their craft, and one of the few death metal acts with an original sound. It can be argued that "Unholy Cult" is just another album in a very similar style and quality to the last many albums by the band, and that argument would as such be valid enough, but on the other hand there´s also a quality in consistency if you keep producing high quality material, and that is certainly the case when it comes to Immolation. So as mentioned above expect few surprises if you´re familiar with Immolation´s signature sound, but also expect unique sounding old school death metal of the highest caliber. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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