Atonement

With more than 35 years of experience in their distinct genre of metal and 11 records to their name, Immolation can definetly be viewed as death metal professionals. As a matter of fact, I am always looking forward to their music. The reason for that being on one hand the long 5 years we have to wait until they release their newest metal upon the world, on the other hand because they are simply a force to be reckoned with every time they bring out new tunes for the eager masses. It seems like Immolation always releases good stuff, which makes it worth the wait. Albeit all of this, I would say this is one of the weaker full length albums of the New York quintet, but it is not bad by any means! It's even better than most releases other bands have put out in a similar number of years (I am looking at you, Suffocation). So without further talking let's get right into the details of my review.

One thing I always admired about Immolation is their consistency. Not only throughout their carrer, but also when talking about their releases. I like to compare it to an well oiled machine. Everything fits together nicely, the music and lyrics are both equally well crafted, every single one of the band member holds their own and understands their task to perfection. This is especially true for the first 7 tracks of "Atonement". The start to the album (The Distorting Light) is a well crafted bastard of churning and chugging guitars, blasting drums and dissonant growling. Striking the same chord with the next two songs (When the Jackals Come / Fostering the Divide) the album escalates further with extremly fine guitar playing and drumming to my highlight of the album (Destructive Currents), while the following title (Lower) has some insane riffing and fast blast-beat passages, as well as some serious shredding during the solo.

Now we come to the downside of "Atonement": The final 4 songs are lacking behind the rest in quality as well as atmosphere. During the first few listening sessions I was quite sure that I maybe missed something, but no. Those tracks are just strange. They are either extremely forgettable (Atonement) or have unmotivated riffs and solos (Above all / Epiphany). It even makes me a bit angry if I think about how sick this release could've turned out, would those songs just be better or at least memorable. So instead of a special album we have one that is just good. "Just good", even sounds pathetic, but it is a sad fact.

To conclude matters. I enjoyed the first 2/3 or so of "Atonement", but I am pretty indifferent to most of the rest of the songs. As with every other Immolation album I still can recommend giving this one a listen without being biased based off my review on here. If you haven't checked out Immolation before though, I would highly advise you to listen to their older music first so you don't miss out on the really good stuff!