Passion Kills (Shadows In The Light - Immolation)

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	Shadows In The Light - Immolation
Date:	18/03/09 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb drums, great riffs and harsh yet intelligible vocals

Disadvantages: Sags a little in the second half.

New York death metal stalwarts Immolation have been churning out stellar technical death metal albums since the early 90s, and they show no sign of slipping with their seventh full length, "Shadows in the Light" (2007). Whilst the relentless, crushing and cavernous drums and pounding riffs are reminiscent of peers Suffocation and Incantation, this brutality is tempered here with a depressive, downcast atmosphere.

Though intensely heavy throughout, furious, galloping sections are contrasted with more open, doomier parts, accentuated by bassist Ross Dolan's guttural yet intelligible vocals, which showcase some fairly intelligent lyrics. These are in keeping with Immolation's antichristian ethic, but the band continue to eschew the cartoon Satanism employed by many death metal bands in favour of somewhat more mature expressions of anger and despair towards both Christianity and religious fundamentalism in general. The at-once furious, ominous and despondent nature of the album is successful in conveying feelings of horror and hopelessness at the observation of widespread religious indoctrination and perceived abandonment by an illusory God.

The tracks continually gallop then slow, with pinch harmonics marking the peaks and troughs, whilst insanely melodic, jazzy and somewhat lamenting guitar solos punctuate each song, adding an air of hysteria to the crushing and portentous rhythms. Whilst technical death metal can easily sound dull to the casual listener , "Shadows in the Light" remains a powerful and engaging listen, although the opening songs are considerably stronger, especially "Passion Kill" with its solid and unstoppable slowly-building backbone riff and eccentric solos, and "World Agony", which starts with a dense and furious opening riff before taking a chuggy, doomy, mid-paced nosedive into despondency.

Overall then "Shadows in the Light" is a crushing yet intelligent album and is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in death metal and doom, with only the fact that the second half of the album sounds a little samey at times stopping me from giving it five stars.

Summary: Crushing yet intelligent USDM