By Matt Lewis

Immolation, for those unfamiliar, is a tried, tested and true death metal band from New York and Majesty and Decay, the band’s 9th studio album, is almost upon us. This album isn not for the faint of heart, it is blast beating death metal all the way. No clean vocals, no hardcore breakdowns and absolutely no quarter is given to the listener. The album starts with an ominous intro that leads straight into pounding death metal with lead singer Ross Dolan spewing anti-Christian, anti government all the way through the album. Collaborating once again with longtime producer Paul Orofino at Millbrook Studios has left the band at its most focused. Reading the recording blogs, the band went into this album having most of the ideas and songs put together due to some home computer work. Thanks technology! The pre game work definitely shines through with tight playing, even when it slows down on the occasion it all fits together nicely.

The production is thick with stone crushing drums, heavy gauge bass lines and crispy crunch guitars – you know, the ones with the think crunch. There is a sense of complexity on this album but as a listener I never felt overwhelmed. That has a lot to do with how clear the production is. The levels are great, nothing drowning out the other sounds so your ears can process everything going on. As always the solos have an outstanding and clever build to them; it’s almost never 0 to 100 in two seconds. It climbs, climaxes, falls and climbs again with thought. The album is a nice forty minutes, not too long and not too short. It’s all about the groove.  Absolutely one of the best death metal albums this year, Majesty and Decay has set the standard to beat.

(Nuclear Blast)

Rating: 8.5