Review by Saxy S for Immolation - Acts of God (2022)

I was generally favourable to Immolation when Here In After was featured in the Metal Academy challenge last year. And rightfully so; for a band that was important to the technical death metal scene during the late 90s, it was impressive to hear how much focus there was in those songs, to go along with some great songwriting chops and melody. It was with this information that those who were a lot closer to Immolation saw Here In After as a red herring; still good, but the polish was not to many metal fans taste.

So going into Acts of God I had no expectations and I got a solid dose of technical death metal with some more solid production, while still maintaining the sheer brutality that technical death metal is known for. However, for a band this chiseled and established in the scene, I cannot really find all that much to get excited about. This sounds very comfortable and safe, but in the style of Close to a World Below instead of the more melodically driven albums. But it does not need to be pushing any boundaries at this point. Longtime Immolation fans will surely enjoy it, while newbies can certainly find some ideas that make this band stand out from other death metal acts.